Black Mountain
15.5c. Sunny. S 2> The air felt much warmer than what it said on the thermometer. Events bore that out.
Nelly and I took Judy, Basso & Coco to the hill.
This was Coco’s first real run on the hill. I cast him off on his own at first and he shaped up quite well but he got bored after about five minutes so I picked him up and cast off the other two. Later on I ran him with Judy who was the slower of the other two and he ran with her for a time. What was interesting was that this was heavy going and Coco never even looked like giving tongue which was good. Later on when they were free running he also ran around quite well doing his own thing and he was at least two hundred yards away at times, quite happy to be on his own. He is looking very big and very powerful.
There is no doubt that Coco’s attitude to hunting has changed since he had those few finds. He realises that there is fun in them thar hills.
Basso and Judy ran hard for ten minutes and for a good while after they had a wallow in a bog hole. They covered a heap on ground and both handled beautifully. Basso was head and shoulders better than Judy. He covered more ground, was faster and if anything handled sharper than the Old Girl.
The Signal Centre.
Took Coco for a point at the Signal Centre. Did everything right and still got no satisfaction. Two woodies conspired to wreck the outing. They were foraging for seeds just down wind of the launcher and when Coco flushed them he wasn’t going to do any more running in case he made a mistake. Then to really snatch defeat from the jaws of victory the launcher wouldn’t release. I was however greatly relieved when Coco lept about four feet in the air when I flushed it manually. I was , paradoxically, pleased to see him have a greater desire to catch the pigeon. (Apologies to Muttley.)
Going to The Wildfowler for tea so Tam can have a swim in Strangford Lough.
