Trees gone on left of Stickledown

[GazMorris]

Afternoon all,

Was down at Bisley for the first shoot of the season to find that much of the tree cover that had grown up on the lefthand side of the range over the past 15-20 years has now been razed. This is going to a) make the range much fairer with Range 0 being much more exposed than it was previously, and b) generally increase the amount of wind across the whole range. Over the past decade or so this has become a bit of a topic of discussion among some shooters (and particularly windcoaches) as it made the Queen's final and some team matches a bit of a lottery. The way that the draw was done was even changed a couple of years ago to make it a bit fairer (i.e. no more 2-0 draws.) Perhaps IWR could comment?

Got to the range at 08:10 to see a massive band of rain come through. Waited for it to pass before (trying!) to put the gazebo up just as the wind started to strengthen. Decided that was probably a bad idea when the guy ropes pulled the eyelets of the cover! Got it down with some help from my fellow shooters (and more offered from a group of F/FTR/Practical shooters a couple of targets over.) It was an entertaining morning with winds from 17 - 23 minutes and very blustery. There were shots where the rifle could have been pointing anywhere on a diagonal from outer at 2:00 to outer at 8:00 because of buffetting, but fortunately seemed to go bang mostly at about the right time. Home for roast beef dinner and a glass of red!

Cheers,

Gaz

[MartinS]

Shame! I used to shoot very well that side! Wonder why?

That wind will whip across there now!

[Christel]

I thought that area was SSSI?

[ovenpaa]

I thought it was the range itself that was SSSI not the woods to the left

[knewmans]

Looks as though the whole area is SSSI - http://www.natureonthemap.naturalenglan ... k/map.aspx

As its designated scrub heath then removal of the trees may be allowed, not sure exactly how it would work

[Mail2pete]

Bit of a mute point really, if they have gone.

[The Cupcake Kid]

If trees were removed to create a firebreak (which I believe was one of the reasons) then it's helping the conservation process presumably?

[rox]

[rox]

Afternoon all,

Was down at Bisley for the first shoot of the season...

Hey Gaz!

Acclimatising for Glasgow already! I didn't make it back this weekend, but I have your present ready to bring back next weekend. I spent Saturday pm on a very very cold indoor range, but fortunately the kit facilitated rather quicker shot release than my usual.

...

[Steve E]

Woo Hoo! about time that they were cleared, now it just needs some of the trees on the RHs of Stickledown cut down as well.