Phil Drabble

Richard, a commentor below, was kind enough to tell us of this obit for Phil Drabble

Drabble was an old- fashioned naturalist, conservationist, and hunter of the kind we may not be breeding anymore. He kept lurchers and pigeons and hawks, and wrote books like A Weasel in my Meatsafe, Badgers at my Window, and Of Pedigree Unknown.

He was not easily crossed, either. From the Guardian obit:

"Just after Phil Drabble started his 90-acre nature reserve, hunting hounds invaded it and began scattering the deer. When Drabble asked the huntsman to remove them, he was told that the hounds had followed their fox into the reserve, as they were legally entitled to do. After some discussion Drabble went back to his house to fetch his rifle. In full view of the hunt, he pushed in a cartridge. "Now are you going to take them out?" he inquired. They were taken out. Somehow, after subsequent frank conversations with the hunt, he found himself invited to its supporters' dinner."

Read, of course, the whole delightful thing, and raise a glass to his 93 well- lived years.