10 great high bird shoots

Last week we published an article suggesting that people maybe get a little too hung up on high bird shooting. However, there’s no denying that tall driven birds are among the most challenging and entertaining quarries to be found in the UK. With this in mind, here are ten of the best high bird shoots currently listed on GunsOnPegs. Naturally these shoots are somewhat clustered in parts of the country that are topographically blessed, so we’ve grouped them by region.

Great Welsh high bird shoots

Brigands, Powys

Bettws Hall’s stable of shoots boasts some impressive shoots on both sides of the Welsh Border, but with those in the know, Brigands is famed for showing birds well in excess of 60 yards high. Driven from bracken-clad mountainsides over the valleys of Powys, when they’re at this height you can’t take the line for granted - you need to get the measure of the “slip” or “slide” as much as you need to get the lead right.

Listen to Gerwyn Jones singing the praises of Brigands:

Dyfi Falls, Powys

This relatively new shoot takes its name from the waterfall that forms the backdrop to one of the signature drives. Long sweeping steep-sided valleys create swirling winds that can deceive the most experienced high-bird shots. The pheasants and partridges are driven from the tops out of bracken, woodland and strategically planted cover crops. Marry this with a luxurious new shoot lodge and you’ve got the ingredients for an unforgettable day out.

Plas Dinam, Powys

The second Bettws Hall shoot on our list, Plas Dinam benefits from, if anything, even more vertiginous topography than Brigands. The estate’s 4,000 acres of prime mixed shooting country provides a diverse collection of drives, though where Brigands is best known for its pheasant shooting, Plas Dinam has more of a reputation for partridge shooting.

Great West Country high bird shoots

North Molton, Devon

Covering 15,000 acres on the fringes of Exmoor, there’s a thousand foot difference between the high and low ground at North Molton. Deep valleys, goyles and combes, carved by fast-flowing streams running down off the moor provide the ideal landscape for some classic West Country high bird drives.

Pentillie, Cornwall

The shoot at Pentillie is world renowned for presenting high, fast and challenging birds. The exhilarating pheasant shoot takes advantage of some of the deep valleys that run into the River Tamar. A day testing your skills against high, challenging drives is bookended off by breakfast and tea in the castle itself.

Great high bird shoots in the North of England

Warter Priory, East Yorkshire

Warter Priory is a world-class shoot set 12,000 acres of rolling East Yorkshire farmland. The deep, open valleys and ancient woodland provide the conditions for driven pheasants and partridges that make shooting folk weep with joy and exasperation. Head keeper Frank Croft and his team pride themselves on their reputation, and with in excess of 50 drives to choose from, each day is as different and just as exciting as the next.

Place Newton, North Yorkshire

This 7,000 acre estate sits on the edge of the Yorkshire Wolds, where the landscape is truly breathtaking. The shoot’s southern escarpment features some amazing glacial deposits, and the rest of the topography is not to be sneezed at. Place Newton offers consistently high birds and later season the Cradle drive can be more than challenging to the best of shots. The team drive the birds from wooded banks and cover crops, and by moving birds over long distances they are able to show some memorable birds that maybe don’t do quite what you were expecting them to.

Whitfield, Northumberland

Whitfield Estate is one of the UK’s top Shoots, offering guns the opportunity to shoot Grouse, Pheasant and Partridge. Set in fabulous countryside, the shoot is run by Stuart Maughn, the Head Keeper who has been at Whitfield since 1982 and has developed the shoot's fine reputation over the years. Whitfield’s pheasants are legendary. They are presented in deep wooded valleys and from woodland off the moors. Drives can be selected from intermediate, high and extreme. - there’s no easy pickings here!

Listen to Rachel Carrie discuss her favourite shoots in the North

Great high bird shoots in Scotland

Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire

Spanning 90,000 stunning acres the natural beauty of the Drumlanrig Estate offers a unique setting for a day on the peg… and the perfect ground for challenging shooting. There are also pheasant beats at Drumlanrig, each with 25 exhilarating drives, varying from extremely high gliding pheasants on bracken-clad hills, to perfectly positioned game covers and mixed mature woodlands. Drumlanrig can offer some of the best, diverse, top quality pheasant shooting in Scotland and up to a week’s sport can be arranged without covering the same ground twice!

Bowmont Valley, Roxburghshire

Situated in the heart of the Cheviot Hills, Bowmont Valley is without doubt one of the the best high bird shoots in the UK. The shoot has over 50 drives for both pheasant and partridge. Drives like Sourhope, Auchope cottage, Gloomy Cleuch, The Kings Seat and The Red Gyle deliver pheasants that need to be seen to be believed. The partridge drives are also exceptional both in terms of quality and quantity. Testing even the best of guns, drives such as Gloomy Cleuch, The Banks, Cheviot Burn, and Dry Slack have few equals. If you are looking for an extreme challenge - look no further.