Somerford Hall, Brewood, Staffordshire 
17^th December 2024
By kind permission of Kevin Hall and friends  

Judges : Mr. E Kania (AP 3364) & Mr. S Patterson (NP 4175)
Weather : dry day, overcast with a light wind, temperature 6-9
Ground : mixture of open field but predominantly woodland, ditches and hedges 

In total we had 12 runners on the day with a really good mix of the HPR breeds, which added to the day:

3 German Wire-haired Pointers
1 Italian Bracco
2 Italian Spinones
1 Large Munsterlander
3 German Shorthaired Pointers
2 Hungarian Wirehaired Viszlas 

4^th  Number 3 – Gilleyfield Cosmos of Valkaiser – GWP – Ms J M King

Her first run was in an open field with a ditch and reeds/ bracken running down the right-hand side of the beat. The wind was moving around, starting as a head wind, and then moving to a cheek wind, but no consistency to help the dog settle into a natural pattern. The bitch moved in to work the reeds and ditch and a hen pheasant lifted, the dog sat immediately, and the pheasant was shot, the dog remained steady to the shot and had then marked the fall. The bitch was sent for the retrieve, some 50 yards away and she returned and delivered tenderly to hand. The bitch was sent out again and she automatically worked the wind covering her beat with very few commands. Working a further ditch and reed bank to her right-hand side, she started to slow down and indicate game, a cock pheasant lifted,  a shot was taken but missed the bird, throughout this the bitch continued to edge forward before locking up on point, flushing on command another pheasant lifted, the dog sat to flush and shot, but unfortunately this bird was missed. It was very clear that the bitch had been fully focussed on tracking and holding the 2^nd pheasant. We turned left-handed to work back to the next part of the beat and the bitch continued to cover her beat well, showing pace and style. Quietly handled. 

On her second run the terrain couldn’t have been more different, in thick woodland, heavy cover and rhododendron bushes. There was a slight cheek wind, but it was very changeable and not really helping. However, the bitch continued to hunt enthusiastically, covering her beat with pace. The second run was blank, overall, well done  

I would like to thank the Italian Spinone Club of Great Britain for the invitation and also applaud the organisers, competitors, guns and my ‘A’ panel Judge, Eddie Kania, I had a thoroughly enjoyable day!