We've had rain, we've had gales, now it's frost that made for tricky riding conditions at Upper Farm, Bradley. We were also short of a Quarry as the day approached and we are grateful to Ray Bulman and Joint Master Mark Stent for stepping in at the last minute; although it may be a day Mark will want to forget! Mark started the second hunt very confidently as he "knew the area well". Unfortunately, as often happens with people who "know the area" they don't check the map and notes too carefully, and Mark started in the wrong field! Poor Mark, he ran about 3.5 kilometers and yet Jeremy couldn't lay the hounds on, because he couldn't be sure Mark was running over permitted ground. Fortunately Ray stepped in to re-run the second hunt. All the hunts took place on the Gibbons family's land and we are most grateful to them for accommodating us.

Ray was the Quarry for the first hunt, which started on the farm drive, running north, parallel to Red Lane. As he came into the field by Down Wood, Ray put in a giant loop of the field, which the Master was not expecting, before going back on track to run by Brick Kiln Copse to cross Spain Lane well in front of the Master and Field. Racing across the rape, hounds checked by Herriard Common, where the Quarry had turned down to Bagmore Lane. Un-helped, they were soon running on, before turning back to Red Lane where the Quarry was caught.

After a bit of a delay, the second hunt started on Spain Lane, with hounds running between Down Wood and Brick Kiln Copse. Hounds were wrong here and started to run back towards Spain Lane, possibly on the heel line of Mark. The Master had a bad fall with Impy on the road here and Kim picked up the hounds. Laid back on the line, hounds ran on to go wrong again by the pits. This may have been interference from Mark's line, or it could have been the 20 fallow deer Mark told us he had seen on his run. Either way, hounds were stopped very quickly and put back on the line. Hounds had difficulty in settling to the line, but did manage to hunt down by Bradley Wood, To catch their Quarry short of the farm. Unfortunately Impy was a bit sore from his fall, so we didn't do the planned third hunt.

This was a very frustrating day for the hounds and hunt staff and demonstrates clearly that hunting with bloodhounds is anything but predictable!

Photographs by Ann Brewer (Click to enlarge)