Purdey Technical Tweed Field Coat Review

Moments after leaving Purdey store on South Audley Street with my new Technical Tweed Field Coat an almost-Biblical deluge fell from the ink-black clouds above. This was the first real test that the coat would face. Fortunately the Sympatex® liner makes the coat waterproof and the tweed has a Teflon® coating which causes water to bead and roll off. Although it was thumbs up in London, the coat faced a very different trial in the not-so-distant future.

When you review a coat it can be extremely difficult to choose a day that allows it to show what it’s made of. Typically, in England, it feels that it rains when you don’t expect it to and it doesn’t when you need it to; ask any farmer or gardener, who at times earlier this year were gasping for a drop. So, when trying to find a day to test the new Purdey Technical Tweed Field Coat, I decided that I should not rely upon the weather and take it somewhere that in my opinion can be one of the most inhospitable yet beautiful places in the UK; the foreshore. 

A true test for a fieldcoat

My theory was that if this Purdey coat could keep me warm and dry when wildfowling on a cold mid-November morning, sitting up in the mud against the salting, then it should be able to do its job pretty well in almost any situation. It was -2ºC when my companion Tom and I entered the marsh and although the forecast of clear skies and bright sunshine didn’t make for brilliant conditions, it still felt ‘ducky’. 

Decoys arranged, I had a quick look around.

When I was being shown the various features of the coat in the store it occurred to me that many of them were perfect for wildfowling. The high collar to keep the wind off, the lightweight material and the action back seem to make it an ideal garment... though it is, of course, far too beautiful to wear on the foreshore and is certainly not designed to wade in. Fortunately it was low tide, so this wasn't too much of an issue. 

In the half-light of dawn I started off setting up my decoys in my chosen spot, governed by the wind direction and the tide. Setting up - wading to and fro from decoy bay to the pattern - only leads to overheating, so I left the coat off until I had finished. I found a ‘comfortable’ muddy seat at the edge of the estuary, in a position where I was concealed from the direction that I thought the majority of duck would come from and I had a 360° view of the marsh, and I donned my coat. It being a fairly windy day I was glad of the high collar which stopped the wind slipping going down the back of my neck.

It was a fairly slow start to the day but it after spotting a few duck in the distance things started to liven up. That is what I love so much about wildfowling, you watch nature awaken around you and whilst we were being mesmerised by flights of dunlin, awe-struck by the huge skeins of brent geese and fascinated by watching grebes diving for their breakfast we were caught off guard by the first group of duck. They took us by complete surprise and we didn't even have the chance to lift our guns.

This may look like a comfortable spot, however the majority of time was spent further down the bank surrounded by mud

The next duck wasn’t so fortunate, as the wigeon spotted our decoys from a distance and worked its way along the edge of the estuary towards them. Tom took it with aplomb and it dropped onto the mud in front of us. I told Tom to load up whilst I picked his duck and the whole marsh erupted with activity. This is where a tweed coat might frustrate on the foreshore, being too heavy and cumbersome for moving through the mud and into spots where you are concealed from the birds. However, being technical tweed, the fabric is one third lighter than traditionally woven tweed accomplished through a combination of yarn twist and the introduction of a very small amount of nylon making it more comfortable when it’s necessary to move around a bit.  

I picked Tom’s bird and tried to hide up against the muddy bank as large groups of waders, teal, wigeon and geese were heading downriver with one nicely sized group of wigeon heading over the top of us. Again Tom made short work of a nice drake whilst I rather sloppily missed  with my first shot before dropping another with the second over my head. As Tom went to pick my bird and I waded around the bend of the estuary to get his second, birds continued to move around the marsh. Despite the coat's action back which allows for plenty of arm movement when swinging, I did not swing nearly enough as another big group of wigeon came fast over the salting in front of me, splitting in two directions and I missed cleanly with two shots.

3 wigeon in hand and ready to head home.

On Tom's return with my bird, we noticed a number of teal and wigeon heading for our decoys. Frustratingly I also spotted several rowers heading down the middle of the estuary and decided it was best to hold off taking any shots whilst they were nearby. Unfortunately, the rowers decided to turn around not far away from our position and so spoilt the next 15 minutes when the majority of duck were heading for our spot. The rowers were not to know and it must have been a glorious morning to spend on the river, as it was for Tom and I. 

We packed our things up and headed back to the vehicle. While watching clouds of brent geese settling on a nearby field we discussed what we thought we could have done better, our favourite duck recipes and how the coat had performed. I was very impressed with the coat and that whilst I would not recommend buying one specifically for what we had been doing, I told Tom that it nevertheless passed with flying colours. Once the coat returned from the dry cleaners it was retired from wildfowling, to be saved for on the smarter driven days for which it was designed. 

Minus my waders, and base layers, the Purdey Field Coat was a little out of place with my  usual kit for wildfowling, but kept me warm, dry and comfortable nevertheless.

You can try on the Technical Tweed Field Coat at the Purdey store; 57-58 S Audley St, Mayfair, London W1K 2ED or find out more by visiting the Purdey website.

This is what the coat looks like when it hasn't been covered in estuary mud.