That parakeet video

Good grief, the tabloids had a field day with my short video on AirHeads, about decoying a parakeet that was shredding my apple trees. I was labelled "deranged" by the Evening Standard, and "super posh" by the Mirror.

In fact this destructive alien invader has been on the General Licence for a while, for the specific purpose of allowing people to protect things like... well, fruit trees. That didn't stop the RSPB, Animal Aid, PETA and other loonies making misleading statements to the press, giving the impression that shooting parakeets was probably illegal and I would most likely be banged up.

The video attracted some classic "hate" comments - the usual threats to kill or maim me (you gotta love these animal lovers), including one from a chap so incompetent that his mobile phone number is still just two clicks away from his threat to "put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life". My favourite was the one that said I deserved to "be sodomised by a large African man". Tautology, racism and homophobia in one short phrase - that's got to be some sort of record!

Anyway, enjoy the video!

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Airgun hunting on Skye

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AirHeads - shooting ginger rabbits on Skye

Postscript: My Mum found this one on YouTube and I got a right telling off, cos she doesn't like us to shoot the ginger rabbits!

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Slow-mo squirrel shooting

Here's my latest piece on AirHeads. They're uploading the show as a playlist instead of a single video - apparently it's the future, but I just find it confusing.

Continuing my earlier experiments with placing a camera near the bait point, I've improved the slow-mo settings for the camera and worked on getting better lighting. This squirrel happened to show up at the right moment for some strong backlighting from the sun, which shows up every detail of the dust and what-have-you thrown up when it was hit.

I notice there have been some negative comments on Facebook recently about slow-mo kill shots, and I agree they can be over-done. What I like about this one is that it shows a totally clean kill, with the squirrel dead within a couple of frames, or less than 1/25th of a second.

Does this sort of thing 'encourage' the wrong attitude to pest control? I'm not sure. People are what they are, and if someone has a responsible attitude to killing pests this video isn't going to turn them bad. Likewise a hooligan is a hooligan, he doesn't need to watch this to help him become one. Maybe you disagree? I'd be interested to hear your views.

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Squirrel shooting on AirHeads

Filming shooting is always complicated; filming yourself shooting can be downright impossible! I've been experimenting with ways of leaving a camera running near the spot where I expect the quarry to appear. This one worked rather well, almost too well in fact. The full footage is gory and horrible, and needed to be cut for inclusion in the show.

My bit starts at 10:45 but as always the whole show is worth a watch.

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Baiting crows and magpies for AirHeads

This one was an interesting challenge - I set out to film crows and magpies eating some eggs that I put out as bait. It took a few attempts, but with patience and some cunning camera placement I got some good footage in the end - I particularly like the bit where the crow smashes into the egg, and if you turn up the sound you can even hear him swallow! I was amazed to see that I'm berated in some of the comments for wasting opportunities to shoot. Some people are never satisfied!

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Rat shooting with an air rifle

Here's the latest episode of AirHeads, in which I visit some friends who are somewhat over-run with rats. They're running about the place in broad daylight, which gave me the opportunity to get some unusual daylight rat footage. My bit starts around 16:35.

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Squirrel assassin

Fieldsports Channel have put up my garden squirrel shooting video as a standalone item - and it seems to be proving popular with close to 5000 views in the first four days.

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AirHeads: a mooch down memory lane

In the latest episode of AirHeads, I'm out in the woods with an old springer, a BSA Meteor, just like the one I had from the age of 11. My bit's at 18:35, but watch it all!

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I'm an Air Head: official

I spend most of my time behind the camera, so it's odd to see myself on video - but here I am in the latest offering from Fieldsports Channel, Air Heads, in a self-filmed piece (does that make it a selfie?) about shooting a squirrel in the garden. My piece starts at 17:50, but the whole programme is worth a watch.



I expected some leg-pulling - and I got it! Some say I look/sound like Michael Caine, which I can live with. Less kindly souls have compared me to Bricktop in Snatch - not a nice chap at all, a villain known for feeding his victims to the pigs. I blame the glasses, although the grey hair and eye bags might have something to do with it.

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