RCM&E Magazine

Welcome to the November 2025 issue of RCM&E. With all the sunny weather we’ve been lucky to have over the summer, my local flying patch, where sheep are usually put out to pasture, has not offered a terribly good menu for grazing. Of course, what goes in must
come out, to put it plainly, so one benefit of not having any animals around is that there were a lot fewer ‘obstacles’ to avoid when taking off and landing. And those that were there were rather desiccated
and largely scooped up during mowing sessions.

The resulting ‘clean’ strip has been great for flying from but with everything greening up following recent showers and thunderstorms
I suspect it won’t be long before our woolly friends return.

Another benefit of their absence is far fewer flies wafting around over the patch. Unfortunately, larger chaps like me are somewhat of a beacon in this respect and when the sheep are around, I often find several of the annoying critters flying overhead, divebombing my scalp like mini airgun pellets.

I find a wide brimmed hat is a great help to keep them out of my vision and I rarely fly in summer now without my Tilley. But sometimes
I can still hear our tiny friends pinging off the fabric. I’ve long been thinking of trying out a fix that I believe was used by filmmaker
Johnny English, who was well known for having feathers in his hat band. The reasoning is that the little devils will float around the highest
point of the CO2/heat generating beast they are targeting - i.e. me! So, raising that point by several inches by pinning on a long feather is
claimed to raise their flightpath.

And by golly, even though it’s early days, I think it works! Please don’t go using found feathers though as it’s illegal to use feathers from protected species. So, unless you are sure of the breed that donated your feathery find then best give it a miss.

Happy Flying, Kevin Crozier, editor