I took Bandito (1 of my working jill ferrets), purse nets, collars & locator, and my air rifle and arrived at 11:30am.

I started by ferreting the small bury.

I lay my ferret box 20 yards from the bury, and went to set the nets on the 4 holes.

With the nets set, I got Bandito from her box, put a collar on her, tested it and entered her into the bury.

She was in the bury about 30 seconds when there was a thudding sound near one of the holes.

I watched the hole in anticipation, to see a large buck hit the net, which pursed perfectly and held him fast.

I retrieved him from the net and despatched him, re-set the net, and put the buck in my game bag.

Bandito came to the exit, looked round and went back in.

After a couple of minutes there was thudding again.

I watched the hole nearest the sound, to see one of the 'forbidden' rabbits hit the net.

I untangled him, and let him go.

He ran straight into one of the other holes, and back-netted himself. So I untangled him again, and walked away from the bury to release him.

Again he ran straight into the bury.

After around another 10 minutes of Bandito chasing the rabbit underground, I spotted her trying to drag him out by the skin above his eye. I reached into the bury and touched her back, she let go and the rabbit disappeared down the tunnel. I lifted Bandito, and collected my nets.

I took my ferreting equipment back to the car, and walked around the land with just my air rifle.

As I reached the bottom boundary, I saw a rabbit sat sunbathing near a Nettle patch, so raised my rifle and squeezed the trigger.

He slumped, and gave a couple of kicks of his hind legs. I collected him, put him in my poacher's pocket and continued around the boundary.

I had crossed 3 large fields, and as I approached the stile, I spotted a Magpie rummaging in the shade of a large tree. As I raised the rifle, he spooked and flew into the wood in the next field.

There was a lot of commotion in the wood, a couple of Magpies and 3 Jays were mobbing one of the young Sparrow Hawks.

I sat in the undergrowth and watched their movements for a couple of minutes.

They kept landing in a large tree that was 1/2 dead from a lightening strike, so when they left the tree, I slid down the bank and got into position for their return.

Sure enough they came back, and I was waiting.

A Jay landed in full view.

A single shot knocked him from his perch, and he hit the floor stone-dead.

A 2^nd Jay was sat a couple of branches away, but flew off as I put my sights on his chest.

I sat for a while, but they didn't return, so I headed back up the valley to the farmhouse.

The pigeons were sat on the roof, so I took aim, and took the shot...

He crashed to the ground, and lay dead on the stone flags.

I walked round the rear of the buildings, and 2 pigeons were sat on the gutter.

The pigeon fell from his perch, and his friend took flight.

I went to the barn (adjoining the farmhouse) and talked with the farmer's son as he was connecting the baler onto one of the tractors.

The pigeons returned as we talked, so I excused myself for a moment, took the shot, and...

Another pigeon fell from the farmhouse roof.

It wasn't long before the rest retuned, so I got another shot, but missed.

We chatted again for a short while, then I headed around the fields, back in search of the rabbits.

A large buck was sat at the edge of a reed bed, a squeeze of the trigger and he jumped 2 foot into the air. He ran about 3 yards, and stopped, so I scoped him again.

He rolled onto his side, and lay kicking. I waited a moment, and the kicking stopped, so I went to collect him.

As I walked towards the reed bed, I spotted another rabbit sat in the next field, so I gathered my bag, and crept towards the wall.

The stalk seemed to take an age, as I had no cover, and each time I moved the rabbit stopped feeding and watched me.

After a couple of minutes, I'd got about 15 yards across the field, and made it to a bit of a gully, so was able to use the cover and get within 15 yards of the rabbit.

I slowly raised the rifle, and got off my knees to take the shot.

As I peered into the field, I saw that the rabbit had moved, thought I'd blown it, and started to relax.

Big mistake! He'd only moved closer to the wall, and as I relaxed, he moved back into sight, so I quickly raised the rifle as he hopped back up the banking.

He paused for a second, and he wished he hadn't.

He rolled back down the banking, and lay in the grass, dead.

I headed home at 4:30pm with my bag of 4 rabbits, 3 feral pigeons and 1 Jay.