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Under threat – a whole way of life
Tomorrow sees the first hunt of the season for the Holderness. If the Government gets its way, there won't be many more. Bill Bridge has been to East Yorkshire to meet people who will be most affected by the ban, and he will be following them over the coming months.
HUNTING is Robert Howarth's life, no more no less, and his passion for his chosen way of life is as clearly defined as the weal on his forehead caused by a policemen's baton during the latest Countryside Alliance protest, in London.
Raised in Derbyshire, the son of a dairy farmer, Howarth took to hunting with his local Pony Club, and on leaving school at 16 went into hunting for a living with the Meynell and South Staffordshire.
In the last 20 years he has graduated from whipper-in to huntsman of the Holderness, the man charged with organising the centuries-old chase in a vast spread of East Yorkshire, running from Driffield and Fridaythorpe in the north, to Pocklington and Shiptonthorpe in the west, North Cave and the M62 in the south and, in the east, Holderness itself, all the way down to Spurn Point.
He loves riding – he has won the last two renewals of the Kilplingcotes Derby, the oldest horse race in the world – and he loves dogs, especially the Old English foxhound breed used by the Holderness and kennelled at Etton, not far from Beverley.
He and his wife, Karen, have raised money for hunt charities by cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats, they have visited the Prince of Wales at Highgrove, and Robert has hunted on several occasions with the His Royal Highness.
"He is a great supporter of the countryside and knows that managing the countryside is crucial," says Howarth, a man for whom the word managing is a mantra.
For Howarth, foxhunting is a pleasure, a living, a business and a tradition, not necessarily in that order, but most of all it is about managing the countryside in association with the farmers and landowners, about controlling the population of vermin. Like foxes, rabbits and hares. For him, controlling means conservation.
"The fox is a beautiful creature," he says. "But everything has to be managed to a degree where a sustainable fox population in England is best achieved. In towns, foxes are not controlled. Some well-meaning people release town foxes into the countryside where they are not able to fend for themselves. They also carry mange.
"Without control, the countryside would be overrun with foxes, especially with the present farming methods, re-introducing hedges and the set-aside of land which provides cover for the foxes. My job is to use hounds to control foxes.
"The ban will crucify the fox population. People will shoot everything that moves, and the fox may become extinct. The 50 brace we kill every season keeps the fox population viable and stable. The farmers know where the foxes are on their land but are not equipped to deal with them. We are."
He is eager to stress that partnership element of foxing, which has carried on down the centuries. "I have two lots of people to please," he insists.
"On one hand, the landowners who give us permission to hunt over their land, and on the other, those people who pay to enjoy the chase, the cross-country, the equestrian side of it."
That morning he had been calling on farmers to make sure their land was available for the next run-out for the hounds. He can, on occasion, consult up to 100 landowners for one day's hunting.
And if one landowner does not want hounds – or, more likely, horses across his land for whatever reason – he and the huntsman will work out the options, which usually means the huntsman follows the hounds alone whilethe rest of the field is diverted over more friendly territory.
Landowners and farmers welcome the hunt because they know the hounds will keep the numbers of foxes under control.
So they charge no fees for opening their post-harvest fields to horse and hound.
For those who follow hounds, either on horseback or by vehicle, the excitement of the chase, the thrill of watching the hounds at work, the pleasure at being out in the fresh air in marvellous countryside, is well worth the fees involved.
"We have people from all walks of life who enjoy hunting with us," he says. "The East Riding has a mixed bunch of people who are into their countryside. Critics see only the mounted field, but we have lots of people who follow the hunt on foot or by car.
"We have barristers and magistrates, postmen, greenkeepers, factory workers, policemen, firemen, lorry drivers and care assistants.
"Critics of hunting point at things like the cry of 'Tally Ho' as being ridiculous, but it is tradition, just like a golfer shouting 'fore'. Everything in hunting is done for a reason."
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Weather for Yorkshire
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: North west
