Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Pennines, Catlow's shooting diary records his year as an amateur pheasant rearer, gamekeeper, forester, dog-handler and all-round shooting enthusiast. But he also records his thoughts as he goes around his small shoot: his views on the right to roam, on why he loves the birds he shoots, his wine cellar, his other sporting interests. He airs his opinions on subjects as diverse as sport and the nanny state, game cookery, friendship, disobedient dogs and beloved hats.Interspersed with pheasant shooting are magical evenings duck flighting and expeditions rabbit shooting. He controls vermin such as mink, crows and foxes - all familiar activities to those who run small shoots.Catlow is shooting's most articulate exponent and this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking book.

“I need to start thinking like a shooter, for shooters and fishers, even though they are often the same person, think very differently.”So writes author Laurence Catlow as his fishing season on the lonely northern rivers comes to an end, and he prepares for his next shooting season on his own small shoot on the edge of the Pennines.Many sportsmen enjoy both shooting and fishing, and in That Strange Alchemy, Catlow examines • fishing and shooting memories and why they differ• why both sports are so important to him• the loss of his shooting dog and the undertaking of a new one• best fishing days and how these differ from best shooting days• the anxieties of running a guest shooting day• fishing in middle age compared to in youthCatlow writes with great wit, modesty and insight.

When Laurence Catlow, a classics master at a Cumbrian boarding school, sees a beautiful pheasant in flight, he wants to reach for his gun.In this diary of his sporting year, he asks himself, between days on the local rivers and shoots, why this is so.His answers are surprising, controversial and convincing. They provide an articulate response to the anti-fieldsports arguments, and he presents them in an entertaining, frank and amusing manner.Throughout 1995, Laurence's diary records his hopes of buying some precipitous shooting ground in the Pennines, his fishing days on the Eden, Wharfe and other rivers, the arrival of a second gundog and days spent together on shoots. All this activity is interspersed with Laurence's quest for his true motives in killing what he most loves. He looks at foxhunting, vegetarianism, man as a hunter, man as created in God's image and man as a creature doomed, himself, to die.Nearly 25 years later, this diary remains highly topical, thought-provoking and original. yet its tone is also very human and it comes from the pen of a true nature-lover.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of the Pennines, Catlow's shooting diary records his year as an amateur pheasant rearer, gamekeeper, forester, dog-handler and all-round shooting enthusiast. But he also records his thoughts as he goes around his small shoot: his views on the right to roam, on why he loves the birds he shoots, his wine cellar, his other sporting interests. He airs his opinions on subjects as diverse as sport and the nanny state, game cookery, friendship, disobedient dogs and beloved hats.Interspersed with pheasant shooting are magical evenings duck flighting and expeditions rabbit shooting. He controls vermin such as mink, crows and foxes - all familiar activities to those who run small shoots.Catlow is shooting's most articulate exponent and this is an intelligent, funny and thought-provoking book.

“I need to start thinking like a shooter, for shooters and fishers, even though they are often the same person, think very differently.”So writes author Laurence Catlow as his fishing season on the lonely northern rivers comes to an end, and he prepares for his next shooting season on his own small shoot on the edge of the Pennines.Many sportsmen enjoy both shooting and fishing, and in That Strange Alchemy, Catlow examines • fishing and shooting memories and why they differ• why both sports are so important to him• the loss of his shooting dog and the undertaking of a new one• best fishing days and how these differ from best shooting days• the anxieties of running a guest shooting day• fishing in middle age compared to in youthCatlow writes with great wit, modesty and insight.

When Laurence Catlow, a classics master at a Cumbrian boarding school, sees a beautiful pheasant in flight, he wants to reach for his gun.In this diary of his sporting year, he asks himself, between days on the local rivers and shoots, why this is so.His answers are surprising, controversial and convincing. They provide an articulate response to the anti-fieldsports arguments, and he presents them in an entertaining, frank and amusing manner.Throughout 1995, Laurence's diary records his hopes of buying some precipitous shooting ground in the Pennines, his fishing days on the Eden, Wharfe and other rivers, the arrival of a second gundog and days spent together on shoots. All this activity is interspersed with Laurence's quest for his true motives in killing what he most loves. He looks at foxhunting, vegetarianism, man as a hunter, man as created in God's image and man as a creature doomed, himself, to die.Nearly 25 years later, this diary remains highly topical, thought-provoking and original. yet its tone is also very human and it comes from the pen of a true nature-lover.