Foxglove July 28

On the stubbles just after the crop has been taken is a good time to carry out some pest control. Rape stubble is hard and high; not a lot to be done with that except shooting, but the barley was more promising. It was a while since I had been out with a longnet, but the team of three that we made up always works well together.

We were using modern nets: much as I favour traditional ways, there are times when modern is a distinct improvement. Who can afford a silk net nowadays? And the weight of wet hemp in a hundred-yard net is considerable. Spun nylon does not fret at weather, and while netting in Sussex picks up a lot of debris if you are not on the right land, the nylon does not collect any more brash than hemp. Fibreglass pins replace the old hazel wands, and are easier in clay or chalk. Summer nights never really get dark, but we had the wind, cloud cover and a smattering of rain, the grain was newly taken, and we were in business.

One of us played out the 'web' across the stubbles and fixed the pins in, the second set the 'kill' which is the term for the amount of slack in the net, for it is that which catches the rabbits, and the third was nowhere to be seen but waiting for the call.

Mobile telephones have their uses too, especially when the ringtone is a country sound. Soon all was in place, and the third member of our party took an unhurried zigzag stroll from the bottom of the field towards the angled-out webs, sending rabbits hopping unhurriedly towards their fate.

As they neared the net, he put some pressure on them so that they ran into the net before they saw it. This is only ever partially successful, for rabbits are more than smart at surviving, and inevitably some scoot out at the sides. Sometimes a rabbit will leap over the net like a steeplechaser, but most of them tangle in the loose folds.

We stood either end of the net, each with a finger on the drawcord, which must be as taut as the net is loose, feeling for the first rabbits to hit the net.

Soon we were busy despatching them in the darkness, leaving them white side up for ease of finding when we had finished.

That first 'drop' was most successful. Though many were immature rabbits, they make good eating and do plenty of damage.

With myxomatosis already in many parts of Sussex, thinning out the rabbits would benefit the survivors as well as the farmers, and fewer rabbits would go into the winter crops.

We folded up the nets quickly and brought the vehicle over to collect our rabbits before setting out for the next field.

We took two more drops that night, but neither was as productive as the first, though we still had a good number of rabbits caught. It's a funny thing: longnetting always makes me feel like a poacher.

It's an old skill now enjoying a revival, and in the right places produces good results.

Maybe all those old poachers of bygone times are looking at us and laughing benevolently, remembering their own nights and the greater risks they had to take.

n A book, entitled Foxglove's Field of View, has been published and contains delightful anecdotes by Foxglove, illustrated by colour and black and white photographs. It can be obtained from Kingswood Press, Fen Farm Cottage, Fen Lane, New Boling Broke, Boston, Lincs PE22 7Q, price 26. (22 for the book with 4 for postage and packing).