We had a hectic day on Monday with the Eggesford wildlife killers.
They set off from their meet at Crabdown Farm, north of Ashreigney, and began drawing the valley towards North Heale. Hounds went up and down the valley in full cry and were repeatedly encouraged into a large maize field by the whipper-in and other hunt followers. This was exactly the kind of place a fox would lie up and where no human would have laid a trail.
In what would become a pattern for the rest of the morning, huntsman Jason Marles stayed some distance away, quite deliberately not in control of his hounds. If they killed a fox or caused any other harm, he would claim it was an accident and not his fault.
After flushing all the wildlife out of the original valley, the hunt crossed the road towards Austins and Northcott Wood. Here hounds marked a fox to ground in a small sett but were moved on by sabs. Hounds were taken further towards Furze Barton where they marked another fox to ground, this time in a thick hedge.
We flew a drone above the terriermen as they climbed into the hedge to begin digging-out. We quickly guided foot sabs to their location and dig-out attempts were abandoned. The valley below Northcott Barton was their final draw and a fox was marked to ground in yet another sett in a hedge.
We saw the fox run along the valley just metres ahead of hounds before it dove into the sett. Sabs were on hand to rate hounds out of the hedge and were then set upon by two masked terriermen. One of them, James Wooldridge, who likes to pretend he owns every field in Devon, ripped a sab’s shirt in the process. Countryfile’s “farmer of the year” Helen Dunn and her boyfriend Dave Cole got in on the action, with Dave continuing to push and shove sabs on the road. We reckon they’d forgotten to eat their porridge before coming out. Or perhaps they just weren’t very happy to have their fox-killing plans ruined!
The hunt headed back to the meet, leaving several hounds behind in the valley. We stayed in the area and could still hear lost hounds howling three hours after the hunt had left. Although we will not reveal their exact locations for obvious reasons, sabs covered the scent lines of several foxes fleeing from hounds that day.
Five foxes had a very narrow escape, with less than 100m between them and the baying hounds in each case. However, despite only having a small team out, we were well-positioned to help each of the foxes we saw and ensure they got away.
Please continue to send in your tipoffs.