The RAU beagles were seen hunting a hare around Aston farm by someone out walking and it just goes to show what one person with a camera can do. Once spotted, the hunt moved away from where they had been seen actively hunting a hare and her life may well have been saved.

“I saw a hare being chased, it ran into a field of rape so I couldn’t photograph it as the rape is quite tall. I spoke with a whip, who told me they had been invited onto Aston Farm. When I saw them the whip and dogs were on a public footpath, but as I approached with my phone camera, the whip dodged onto the field, ie he was then on private land. However, one of the photos clearly shows him and dogs on the public footpath. I walked on and spoke to an elderly farming type who was carrying a long whip (not in hunt dress), I asked him where the trail layer was, and he said something like we don’t have one of them, haha”.

Aston farm is part of Princess Anne’s Gatcombe estate and is signed up for the badger cull. The land is either owned by Zara and Mike Tyndall or they are allowed to live there by Zara’s mother, Princess Anne.