First it was a quad with 2 terriermen right by a stickpile… which the hounds were then encouraged to have a sniff around. No fox in residence luckily.

Then in some maize hounds put up a fox who ran past several foot followers who can be seen in the picture raising their hats and pointing to show where he was to the huntsman. Mark Melladay encouraged his hounds onto that fox.

A sab did slow them down a bit in the field but he took the pack on and they hit the line again only to lose it. That fox escaped.

A couple of hours were spent sett checking and none recently blocked. Setts were also checked in Gloucestershire zone 1 just south of this area. The 6 week culls in Gloucestershire zones 29, 46 etc are now over but zones 1 and 9 continue which is north Gloucestershire and part of Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Herefordshire zone 10 is also a supplementary zone. Cage trapping will finish on 30th November and free shooting could go on until 31st January.

Hats off to all those out in the field checking setts, gate sitting and doing their utmost as we enter the winter months. These zones started killing in June.