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I’m not brilliant with improvised traps but I do well enough with Talpex, Fenn traps, magnums and snares. I know that isn’t really what the OP was asking but it’s difficult to get any practice with something that doesn’t appear on the approved traps list here in the UK. People can be funny...

I first heard one in StJohns in the vale up in Cumbria fifty years ago, I didn’t hear them again until I moved to my current home in mid Wales..I guess there are still pockets of them. There is more bird life here than I ever remember seeing elsewhere.

We used to hear them here in spring each year but then a mouth breathing Neanderthal felled a large area of trees to build three executive houses facing the river Irfon and we didn’t hear it again this spring. Ask me next year.

Tapeworm are rarely a problem for hens, roundworm and gape worm are more common but easier to treat by adding wormer to their drinking water. To treat tapeworm use thiabendazol at 75mg per kilo orally repeated after two weeks but you must confine them and completely clear away all faecal waste...

We get there in the end..

I think you’re spot on with that Chas..

Possession of a sharpened spear, an item with no credible purpose other than as a weapon would indicate premeditation. You could certainly forget using self defence as a legal defence in a court of law.

If it was actually issued to a chaplain it would either have a War Dept. mark or the broad head arrow. My guess (and it is only a guess from looking at the handle and hasp) is that this is Indian, much later and not military in any way.

Surely a tinderbox has to seal air tight in order to smother tinder and keep it dry? My guess would be that it is an incense burner or similar

True, 11 miles as the crow flys is impossible here in my part of mid Wales and there are large areas of the uplands that are waiting to ensnare you in a bog or stymie you with a steep gorge or a sneaky convex grassy slope that gets steadily steeper and turns into a sheer drop into a lake. It’s...

The advice to carry a compass (assuming a person knows how to use it) can be a life saver for those who expect to be able to navigate the wilder parts of Britain using an app on their mobile phone. (Moronic but it does happen) 11 miles is just the daily dog walk for me so obviously I don’t...

It is estimated that around 5% of the population are either psychopathic or sociopathic, this isn’t to suggest that they are all a physical danger to the rest of the population. Just that one in twenty people that you meet are statistically likely to have either of those disorders.

Yup, we seem to have more than our fair share of hornets this year. No stings but plenty of irritating batting against the windows. We have placed better guards on the beehive entrances. There are also quite a few wasp colonies out in the fields which the hornets will be raiding soon.

Certainly a more popular legal decision than the last one. I have my doubts that the Darwalls will be given leave to appeal unless they can introduce new evidence to support their position.

It is considered to be best practice. Treating your snares to remove the scent of oil and humans and using weathered wooden pegs (not fresh cut) will increase your chances whatever wire you use. Humane cable restraint is the current UK term for best practice snaring and it does away with twitch...

I think there are a few who carry them like a religious talisman (expecting this little tin to ward off catastrophes and allow them to walk around in a warm smug glow without ever realising that they would be much better off just wearing more sensible shoes.)

I would like to raise one small point. A little roll of brass snare wire (actually only the same as for hanging pictures but doubled up into 4 strands during the process of making the snare) will not catch anything without first being seasoned by boiling, rinsing, boiling again with grass and...

If your personal survival kit (usually a pocket sized tobacco tin) has got a sleeping bag and brew kit we are probably talking about different things. I know that area well though and I must admit you’re wise to carry a sleeping bag and extra winter clothing for six months of the year.

Tightwad.

Carrying a PSK…? Probably not my thing but I do carry certain things depending on where I’m going or what I’m planning to do. I’m not exactly John Wiseman’s greatest fan so the whole survival kit in a tobacco tin thingy passed me by. I do always have a way of starting a fire and a Swiss Army...