Courting an attractive woman (the glamourpuss) and inviting her shooting is not a crime. Few sights are more comical when you roll up than the reaction amongst the regulars with said glamourpuss; the beater dribbling into his tie, the shoot captain furiously tidying his hair while sucking on a mint before the introductions etc. Nevertheless, it will not do if this initial excitement at the presence of such a glamourpuss guest transforms into cold-shouldering and backbiting as the day progresses. The gun is borrowed, the wellies spotless and the shooting jacket tailored, but isn’t that just making an effort? The authorities therefore insist that everyone play nicely and realise that if we are truly welcoming to all comers we should prove it. Anyone found guilty of making snide comments about the glamourpuss will be required to dye their hair white-blonde (think Draco Malfoy) - and then be known as 'glamourpuss' for the rest of the season!

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With the cold weather seeming to drag on indefinitely and no real end in sight for the shooting suspensions in Scotland, there have been plenty of opportunities to take care of the wild birds as they struggle through the cold weather.

When the big freeze finally hit the grouse moor, I gave up all hopes of making it over the three miles of farm track each day to check my traps and keep an eye on the black grouse.

The car slithered all over the ice as I drove up on Tuesday to spring my fenn traps, and heading back down the hill again, I wondered when I would next be able to get up there again.

In the meantime, I have been helping on a flightpond for wild ducks down near the Solway Coast.

Every year, I am lucky enough to be invited to shoot wigeon and teal on a well fed pond a few miles inland from the mudflats, and when the ban came in last week, I offered my services to the keeper, who has 101 other things on at the moment to keep him busy.

As I expected, my offer of help was snapped up, and I headed up to the pond with a sack of barley on my back.

Being one of the few ponds in the local area that is really well positioned and fed, it was hardly surprising that it should’ve been covered in birds, but I was unprepared for the sheer quantities.

Over 100 teal were the first to rise from the pond, followed shortly after by a torrent of wigeon.

More than two dozen pintail rose out of the rushes in the distance, and a scattering of mallard swirled overhead as I smashed up the ice and scattered feed into the water.

I’m not normally invited to shoot the pond until the last week in January, but if there are as many birds on the water as there were this morning, it looks like I’m in for a real treat.

The views expressed on Patrick Laurie's blog are the author's and not the views of Shooting Gazette, ShootingUK, IPC Media or its employees. www.gallowayfarm.wordpress.com

The temporary bans on shooting wildfowl and waders came into place in Scotland and Northern Ireland last week, and there was a period over the weekend when it looked like England might follow this sensible practice and suspend shooting until a thaw came in.

The Solway geese were behaving very strangely around 10 days ago, forming massive flocks and smothering fields under their webbed feet.

Woodcock were beginning to appear during the day, and a few that were being shot were starting to look a little on the thin side.

There’s no doubt that wildfowl and wading birds really can struggle in cold weather, and they shouldn’t be shot during periods of sustained cold, however, perhaps “national” bans are not the answer.

Owing to the fact that the shooting suspensions follow political boundaries rather than geographical ones, it is still perfectly legal to shoot geese ten miles south on the English coast of the Solway.

It might make more sense to make the bans more regional, on a coastal or county-wide basis, so that when cold conditions hit a wildfowl hotpsot like the Solway Firth, the birds are protected across the entire area, rather than according to where we humans have decided to put up lines and boundaries.

Scotland and England are big countries for the weather to ever be sustainably good or bad without any exceptions, and it might serve shooting people and wildlife better to put more thought into the scale and technicalities of these bans.

From the perspective of the grouse moor, a great deal has changed up on the hill since last week.

Much of the heather and bog has been revealed from beneath the snow, and bit by bit, the streams have started trickling again.

The same quantities of snipe, golden plover and woodcock are still swirling over the wetlands, and because Dumfries and Galloway was only mildly hit by the recent cold weather and the birds still look very lively.

I’m looking forward to seeing the ban lifted!

The views expressed on Patrick Laurie's blog are the author's and not the views of Shooting Gazette, ShootingUK, IPC Media or its employees. www.gallowayfarm.wordpress.com