HIMALAYAN HUNTING

Himalayan Balsam

Some idea of the cover, but it's difficult to get the scale and Imposible to photograph a dog!

Last weekend it was actually hot!! ... Training down by the river, although still hot and very humid, was at least, in part, shady. The Himalayan Balsam which, but a couple of weeks ago,  was barely knee-high, has shot up to gigantic proportions . . . seven or eight feet in places! The fertile river silt, the excessive watering and the recent heat have lead to an amazing growth spurt! This thick cover combined with equally giant nettles, willow scrub, banks of jetsam (well, not strictly jetsam, because it did not come from a ship, but stuff that has been washed up!) and the odd bramble provided a paradise for a hunting Barbet!! The nose was down and the thrashing the cover was given was the most thorough I’ve ever seen from Nénu! She was hunting flat out for at least half-an-hour!

The session ended with finding a real trophy . . . a washed-up “dead” (deflated) football, which provided a fun retrieving article to swim for and allowing a cooling off in the river!!

The sun disappeared two days ago ... will it ever return??