Patrick started shooting at around the age of 11 and continued doing so until he moved away to follow a career as an itinerant motor racing engineer, travelling all over the world and working too many hours.

On returning to his roots in rural Devon, he resumed his passion for the countryside and helping out local farmers – before long, he found himself doing night-time fox control over something like 60,000 acres. During the day he does technical consultancy, ranging from the computerised control of agricultural machinery to establishing sustainable methods of reducing phosphate and nitrate pollution in vulnerable environmental locations. During his ‘spare’ time, he has also established a small nature reserve on a friend’s farm.

General qualifications and training

Patrick holds a doctorate in Engineering and has written for various shooting magazines over the years, but these days concentrates on Sporting Gun. He also writes books, most of which have been on natural history and the environment, but has also penned other titles covering such diverse subjects as military history and photography.