One of the most enjoyable aspects of beating is that you will get to see a huge variation of different terrains and landscapes, usually on private land and in unaccessible places.The terrain and the going can vary tremedously from shoot to shoot and from drive to drive on the same shoot.

And it can be lovely, as can be seen from these September views from high on Exmoor. The same place in mid-January often seems less inviting..

There are very steep slopes which you frequently traverse. Most career-beaters have one leg longer than the other, after many seasons on these slopes

Other places will be steep, you may cross brooks, rivers and goyles ( goyles exist only in the west-country)got through ancient beech-forests, or worse, modern thickly planted christmas-tree plantations. These are very inpenentrable and the dog come in handy. Beaters are liable to end up with a lot of pine-needles in their very under-wear.

Other woodland areas have huge rhododendron thickets or gorse. Brambles are the bane of the regular beater’s life. The birds are, understandably, fond of hiding in the gorse and brambly regions and this is where the working dogs, or the indisbensable beaters, really have to prove their worth.As can be seen in the photo the woodland beats can be quite gloomy late on in the day, especially if the shoot is short of beaters and you can’t see your neighbours. At least it is usually warmer in the valley bottoms and up the wooded slopes. And sometimes you get to see very beautiful, fairytale like woods, like the ancient beech-wood on the right. This really is one of the joys of beating, you do get to see some unexpected things and some wild-life too.