We headed south this morning to join up with members of Cirencester Illegal Hunt Watch who continue to show amazing dedication to tackling wildlife crime. The Beaufort met in Long Newnton just outside of Tetbury and headed towards Shipton Woods where our sabs caught up with them.

North then and back towards Long Newnton where we believe a brace of foxes (two foxes) were flushed from a covert, one spotted escaping from the hunt past our driver near the road, one of the foot teams stopping the pack temporarily which gave the foxes some valuable extra seconds. The pack picked up again with help from hunt staff, but the line took them to a covert which had been pre-sprayed before the meet, where they struggled to find the scent of the fox, again giving the fox extra time.

The pack were gathered and headed back south where another sab was waiting for them (splitting into small teams means we can relay info to each other and different teams can get in front of where the hunt is going, especially with the expert local knowledge of CIHW members). By Newnton House two holloas were heard in quick succession by the sab, indicating sighting of a fox and as we descended from different directions hunt staff were calling the pack off.

Towards the meet now, hounds picked up on another fox, a small vixen who ran down a hedgeline only 3 or 4 metres in front of lead hounds who followed her across a minor road. We rated the hounds, while alerting a couple of cars to their presence until hunt staff came to gather them and move them away.

We weren’t with the pack all day, but enough to hamper some of their efforts!