We interrupt our usual programming for a special episode packed with exciting dates for your diary. Do not adjust your set!

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After months of anticipation, the moment of truth is finally upon us - we're testing Avian's cider. Will we all die, go blind, lose the power of speech... there is only one way to find out.

We also celebrate a Shooting Hero, find out why Jake doesn't suffer the close-season blues and why Sam is venturing 'Up Country' in the coming weeks.

Matt Ridley (aka Baron Wensleydale) is back to tell Chris and George about his estate - East Carnigill - which was recently awarded the 2025 Purdey Gold Award. We also dig into some of the systemic challenges that estates like East Carnigill face, and how these stifle progress. The estate was praised by the judges for its incredible black grouse conservation efforts, and these birds are a real passion for Matt. We dive into his book - a study of the phenomenon of lekking, and reveal perhaps the most surprising and baffling bird in the world.

Should peg dogs be held to the same standards as their picking up counterparts? Are sticky-out chokes better or worse than a barrel-mounted camera? Should you warn your host that you're a terrible shot?

Matt Ridley, zoologist, author, journalist and conservationist joins Chris and George to tackle these pressing issues, as well as the challenge of introducing work colleagues into shooting, and whether food comes before sport when planning a shooting trip.

It has been a momentous week in the world of conservation, land management and shooting, with the Eat Game Awards dinner, plus three major announcements about how shooting might be regulated in England and Wales. George and Jake battle through the effects of the awards dinner. Avian regales us with stories of an evening's snipe-tagging and Sam sets fire to his drink. All that plus a rather more serious discussion in which the boys ask what we should make of the government's raft of announcements.

Eddie, Duke of Norfolk is the driving force behind the Peppering Grey Partridge project. Faced with the reality that wild grey partridge could disappear from the Sussex Downs he took the bold and ambitious step to make sure that it didn't happen. Join Chris and George as they discover the story behind the remarkable recovery of these iconic birds, and Eddie explains why they are so vital to the UK's ecosystems.

His Grace the Duke of Norfolk (aka Eddie) is the most senior non-Royal member of the British aristocracy. He's the man who organised the late Queen's funeral and the coronation of King Charles III... so obviously we asked him about training gundogs and stuffing your trousers into your shooting socks.

Deer have been in the news a lot recently, with a new government deer management strategy for England, the announcement of a major new market for venison, and a major music festival considering reversing its 'plant-based' policy to welcome venison onto their menus... Jake, George, Sam and Avian gather around the mics with some questionable drinks to talk venison, spring foraging and the joys of sticks

The Loddington Shoot - part of the GWCT's Allerton Project - is a fully functioning game shoot, but it is also where the organisation's boffins can test theories about habitat creation, predator management, stocking densities and a host other important factors that impact the running of a shoot, helping to shape best practice and advice for gamekeepers and farmers up and down the land.

Alex Keeble is a Game and Wildlife Advisor for GWCT and has the honour of managing the Loddington Shoot. He joins Chris and George to discuss the shoot, the findings, and the idea of a million pound pheasant.

Before joining GWCT as a Game and Wildlife Advisor, Alex Keeble was a fulltime gamekeeper and deer manager. He joins Chris and George to tackle some listener questions that range from the benefits (or costs) associated with maintaining your own personal standards and stingy beaters' pay to whether gundogs should wear goggles in the beat.