Video: Gamekeeping undergoes a feminine revolution

LIKE many young women of her age, Ruth Lumley loves to horse ride and can often be seen galloping through the estates and fields near her home in West Tanfield, near Ripon.

However, most of the time 20- year-old Ruth is not just riding for fun, she is working. Her job is that of a gamekeeper, a role that for centuries has been predominantly male.

However, just as more and more women are turning to shooting, so, too, has the occupation of gamekeeper begun to take on a more feminine touch.

From a tender age Ruth displayed all the hallmarks of a young girl in love with the traditions and rituals of Yorkshire's countryside.

She became deeply interested in animals, the local estates and shooting – honing her skills with guns from around the age of 12 when she and her friends used to take potshots at rabbits.

By the age of 16 she had her own shotgun and was earning a small living on the side of her studies as a beater, driving game birds into the sights of shooters on the local estates where the birds were reared.

When time came for her to finish school, she had only one career option in mind. "I have never known anything different. I just love working outdoors, I could not work in an office I don't think. It's not for me," she said.

Today, Ruth works for an estate near Grewelthorpe. She has not exactly followed in her family's footsteps – her mother works for a veterinary surgeon in Ripon and her father works in engineering.

However, her love for the outdoors meant that when she completed her school studies she had her career path laid out.

She attended Bishop Burton College in East Yorkshire where she studied for a diploma in Game Keeping. There she learnt the basics of the job such as fence building,how to recognise different breeds of birds and animals as well as the all-important legal side of things, particularly what and when you can shoot. She was also taught the difference between legal and illegal traps.

The fact that she was entering a highly male-dominated industry was apparent on her first day at college when she looked around at the other students. "I was the only girl," she said. "I have hardly heard of any female gamekeepers at all. There are very few of us." But she was a natural for the job and quickly dispelled any raised eyebrows or looks of consternation that she might attract from people more used to seeing a man carry out her work.

"It was just something I got into straight away. You get the occasional woman beater. And you do get some women coming to shoot. There are definitely more coming, that's for sure – but it's still far from half men, half women," she said.

"It is not really something I think about much. I just get on