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Four years ago, the Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Act was passed in the Scottish Parliament. Prior to the change in the law, the hunting community feared the legislation would effectively end both hunting with dogs and a centuries’ old rural tradition (as well as destroy the livelihood of those kept employed by the sport and result in the death of hundreds of fox hounds). However, in many respects, it appears to have had the opposite effect.
In reality the ‘hunting ban’, as it is often misleadingly referred to, did not signify an end to the practise, but merely changed its regulations. Under the new law it is still permitted to use dogs to flush foxes from cover, and for these dogs to be followed by humans on horseback. The principle difference is that the fox is now killed by a shotgun, not by the hounds. In Scotland, it remains a valuable pest control service that helps to help protect livestock. But it is also, as I soon discover, much more than a mounted police force to safeguard the interests of chickens and lambs.
In order to try and get a flavour of the revised form of hunting, myself and photographer Roy Summers were kindly invited to attend a meeting of the Berwickshire Hunt. When I spoke to their Hon. Secretary, Ailie Tullie, I was reminded that it’s a dangerous occupation both for the hunters and for the hunted. Tullie informed me she was suffering from several broken ribs and her ‘girls’ (grooms) had both recently been thrown from their horses. Consequently, having only ridden once before, when asked if I wanted a horse for the day, I decided that discretion might be the better part of valour and elected to follow ‘on foot’.
Reached through verdant parkland, which was adorned with a scattering of beautiful oaks and beeches, the courtyard outside the castellated walls of Kimmerghame House provided the perfect setting for my first experience of a traditional meet. The sturdy stone wild boar on either side of the entrance to the yard, framed a view that must have remained largely unchanged for hundreds of years: immaculately turned out men and women sat astride equally immaculate horses as drinks and nibbles were gratefully dispatched.
The most obvious anomaly in this scene, which could otherwise have almost been from the 18th century (when fox hunting first became popular), was the presence of two black and white figures directing a speech to the huntsman. Not priests wishing the hunt Godspeed, it turned out, but two members of the local police force, who are now required to read the rules of the new legislation to the huntsman before any meet.
