Haring away from the Hunt

It was a glorious day, just the right sort of day to head to Hopes reservoir. But while there was a soaring Buzzard and a close-passing Kestrel and a perched Stonechat and even a microlight to give real interest to the walk, there was also the ever present noise and attention of a hunt going on.

A proper, massive pack of dogs, tweeded riders on horseback, landrover-follower, quad-biked, blawin'-the-horn hunt. It appeared to be a drag hunt (as it should be, unless they're driving foxes to guns, of which there were none); but as a pack of ten dogs or so bolted past us Mel had seen their prey, a white Arctic Hare, desperately trying to get away as they disappeared behind some trees then over the hills, with a bloke shouting entirely ineffectually after them; the voices of some of the riders carrying across to us, just nattering about something or other back in the 'real world' (with ever-so-stereotypical plummy accents).

As a meat eater I don't actually have too much of a problem with hunting per se. Going out with a gun for subsistence purposes, eating what you shoot. After all the animal you kill has likely had a better, certainly less constricted, life than something living on a farm, and the killing blow is pretty much out of the blue. It's rather the killing for 'sport' that gets me - people paying to come up from London and sit in a butt with people driving grouse towards you. Har har har, I shot one, oh and another, and all with having been driven the butt, and the birds served up on a platter. Hunting with dogs takes it a step further, given the dogs will tear apart what they catch (a pack like this isn't 'retrieving'). The hare today will have been collateral damage, and it annoyed me.

This chap, a Brown cousin of the chased Arctic, was safely further down the hill, and happy to be shot (photographically, obviously) from the stopped car alongside the field. Strange that he then took such fright at a runner heading by.

In other news I've had a wander through the T&Cs for Blip - going all geeky boring lawyer on it. Just as well I didn't have a red pen on me. I may yet write down a few concerns, and what Joe has to say today might allay anything anyway, but the right for 'us' (which isn't defined, ambiguously covering Blipfoto, but possibly also Polaroid) to use any materials uploaded to the site for promotion purposes, oh and for any 'others' acting on their behalf to do so as well, is a little wide-ranging and (I think) new (and might be a little concerning for those people who are professionals on here). Limiting liability for any damages caused to any of the users to £100 is a bit on the stingey side too.

The debate over the changes, though, is reminiscent of the Indy Ref stuff, with both sides utterly entrenched. I'm not sure anger is the way if you're unhappy about it; but equally those who like the changes shouldn't be referring to everyone else as whingers and moaners and cryers... As I said yesterday, I can understand why it's been done, but from a personal point of view also find it disappointing. I'll wait to see what comes out of everything - it's testament to this site that people feel so strongly,