At this time of year we get one of natures plentiful and most delicious foraging treats - blackberries.

Many will get consumed during the foraging and collection.

The sloes are also ready early this year - August. I always freeze my sloes if there hadn't been a frost, before I make sloe gin, as this stops the enzymic activity and splits the skins.

INGREDIENTS

4 litres hot water

700g sugar

Juice and zest of four lemons

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

About 15 elderflower heads, in full bloom

A pinch of dried yeast (you may not need this)

METHOD

How to make elderflower champagne

1. Put the hot water and sugar into a large container (a spotlessly clean bucket is good) and stir until the sugar dissolves, then top up with cold water so you have 6 litres of liquid in total.

2. Add the lemon juice and zest, the vinegar and the flower heads and stir gently.

3. Cover with clean muslin and leave to ferment in a cool, airy place for a couple of days. Take a look at the brew at this point, and if it's not becoming a little foamy and obviously beginning to ferment, add a pinch of yeast.

4. Leave the mixture to ferment, again covered with muslin, for a further four days. Strain the liquid through a sieve lined with muslin and decant into sterilised strong glass bottles with champagne stoppers (available from home-brewing suppliers) or Grolsch-style stoppers, or sterilized screw-top plastic bottles (a good deal of pressure can build up inside as the fermenting brew produces carbon dioxide, so strong bottles and seals are essential).

5. Seal and leave to ferment in the bottles for at least a week before serving, chilled. The champagne should keep in the bottles for several months. Store in a cool, dry place.

PIRI PIRI SAUCE

• ½ red onion
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 4-12 chillies depending on hot you    like it?
• 1-2 Peppers
• 1tbsp sweet smoked paprika
• 1 lemon
• 2tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• A bunch of fresh basil/ corriander
• Olive oil
• Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
• I sometimes at sugar if I want a sweet sauce/ jam
• I just play around with it and make my own take on things. I've added cherry tomatoes before as well

I've just swapped a muntjac leg for some home grown honey and eggs. Awesome!

I've got a dozen quails eggs in the incubator. Fingers crossed in 17 days we will see if it has worked!

The next venture. Bantam Chicks. My kids love them!

Purdey and I waiting on a flooded splash next to the River Severn. Decoys out, hoping for the chance of a duck or even a goose. Wildfowling is a truly wild pursuit requiring significant amounts of fieldcraft to be successful, with any kind of regularity. Ducks flight mainly at dusk and dawn. Using decoys and calls, all add to your chances. A high tide will push more ducks off of the river. Bad weather will make the ducks fly lower, increasing our chances. Bad visibility tends to make the ducks follow land features. The moon also has an effect. It's nearly always bitterly cold and often we are up way before first light. But the time and effort is rewarded occasionally with a wild duck or goose. To me this is wild hunting at its best.

My latest venture "Jumbo Quail". Well they aren't exactly jumbo, smaller than a coconut. I keep them in a large rabbit hutch. We now get fresh quails eggs every day!