With the proposed hunt ban being debated in the House of Lords, reporter Robert Brooks saddles up to look at how the opposing factions are facing what could be the last legal fox-hunting season in England.

The Hunters

There is an air of anticipation at the Percy Hunt this week, but it stretches far beyond the forthcoming season when huntsmen and hounds will once more take to the open countryside around Alnwick.

Alongside the usual enthusiasm for what is the highlight of the hunting calendar for the centuries-old pack, there is a tinge of apprehension over whether this will be their last legal outing.

With the Animal Welfare Act currently coursing its way through the chambers of Parliament, their ancient way of life could be all but extinct within two years if the Government decides to outlaw hunting with hounds.

For professional huntsman Martin Claxton, who works for the Percy Hunt and lives in a cottage provided by the Duke of Northumberland's estate at Hulne Park, just outside Alnwick, the season began in April.

Getting the 70-plus hounds ready for three days of pursuits a week is in itself a highly labour-intensive business.

"Being a huntsman is like being player-manager of a football team," says the 47-year-old, who is married to Valerie, 53. "I've been connected to this particular hunt for over 40 years, and through my father, the family connection stretches back over 65 years.

"It's the job of the people behind the scenes to produce the best team we can, and that takes time, dedication and effort. We work with the pups and hounds from April - to get what you could say is a first team and reserves.

"We spend until July out on bikes exercising them daily, and then we spend around five weeks on horse before they go out hunting. It's like training any athlete, it takes time to build them up."

The hunt has six horses of its own, which are kept at a local livery, and again they need to be kept at peak fitness.

Numbers of riders taking part in a chase normally peaks at around 50 for the Saturday hunt, and all those horses also require stabling, grooming, exercising, care and attention.

Mr Claxton said: "We are the boys in the background. The very visible part of hunting - the riders in their scarlet coats - is just one small part of a very big team, which works well together to help look after the countryside."

For the Joint Master of the Percy, Bamburgh farmer Michael Hutchinson, this is only his second season at the head of the hunt, a position he shares with the Duke's sister, Lady Victoria Fellowes.

But despite the undercurrent of uncertainty, he says it has been - and will continue to be - business as usual until the Government decides the final direction his pursuit will take.

The 52 year-old, who leads a busy life running Newshoreston Farm with his family, said: "All of the arguments have been very well rehearsed. We believe if this was about animal welfare, it would have been decided a long time ago.

"The issue of fox hunting has been rattling around Parliament for years, and Tony Blair's Government have been in power since 1997. If they wanted to ban hunting on those grounds, if it's such a vital political issue, it would have been done by now.

"For us it's not just about hunting, it's about our way of life. Hunting is simply something which people have done out here in the countryside for centuries.

"The hunt itself is just one part of the social calendar, which includes point-to-point trials. parties and fundraising.

"I have been hunting since I was a child. It's not about peppery old colonels in red coats, it's very much a family activity, something that passes from father to son, mother to daughter." The last year has seen a whirlwind of activity to prepare the Percy Hunt for the start of the winter season, which begins on November 1.

While they remain poles apart from the anti-hunt lobby on the effectiveness of hunting foxes with hounds, experienced huntsmen like Martin Claxton and Michael Hutchinson are in no doubt to its effectiveness.

Mr Hutchinson said: "The beauty of the hunt is that it produces no wounded foxes. Practically any other method, including shooting, produces injured foxes which then manage to escape.

"The so-called `clean shot' doesn't always work, whereas the pack does when it catches a fox." But camaraderie and the experience of being out in the open countryside on horseback cannot be overlooked, he says.

"We only hope that a compromise can be agreed, for everyone's sake."

The Saboteur

James is what you could reasonably describe as a `middle-England' type of man.

He's in his 50s, has just retired from a successful career in the Civil Service, where he worked in providing services for the disabled, and devotes his time to doing voluntary work for animal welfare organisations.

James is married to Carol, they have no children, and live a comfortable, quiet life together in a three-bedroomed detached cottage in a picturesque village in the heart of the North.

The couple are close friends with their neighbours and feel very much part of their community and country life.

You might, therefore, think they would be model hunt supporters - but you would be wrong - James has been an active hunt saboteur since he was 17.

While he doesn't widely broadcast the fact, he makes no secret of his dislike for hunting, which he describes as a "barbaric" practice, and is regularly out disrupting pursuits.

But with what could be the last fox-hunting season before a ban is introduced by Parliament, James says most saboteurs will carry on following the hunts to monitor their activities, no matter what kind of Bill is passed.

He said: "So long as there are people like this out on horseback in the open countryside, willingly posing a threat to wild animals, then we will be there also. "Most of the followers on horseback aren't around to see a fox being killed, so it's not about the privileged few simply indulging their blood-lust. It mainly falls to the hunt workers.

"Neither is it about ignorant townies - an image promoted by hunts themselves - feeling the need to go out to disrupt the so-called country way of life. I live in a rural area, and my own family includes a gamekeeper. I was simply brought up to be considerate to animals."

James is gearing up for the season, and says he and his colleagues will be out to try and throw hounds off the scent of foxes and prevent foxes which have gone to ground from being dug out.

He's quick to condemn violent confrontation, however, particularly the kind associated with images of balaclava-clad thugs rampaging across fields to aggressively confront their hunting rivals.

James said: "I abhor violence, and it's a hard fact that it is largely one-sided and comes from the hunt supporters themselves, not the great majority of saboteurs.

"I have sustained minor injuries in the past, but people have been seriously hurt or even died after being attacked by hunt supporters.

"There have been cases where protesters have been deliberately run over by vehicles or horses, even shot at.

"We tend to use hunting horns, and some of us have become so good with them that we can call the hounds away from the huntsmen. Another tactic is to use sprays like citronella or garlic water to destroy the scent of the fox.

"We might also try to hold the hunt up by closing gates which have been left open by the organisers, and if a fox does go to earth, it's not unusual for saboteurs to sit in front of dens. I've done that myself."

So what drives people like James to take such drastic action?

"Saboteurs come from all walks of life and all political persuasions.

"Traditionally, foxes were seen as poor sport for hunters because they are so easy to track by their strong scent. However, when stag, wild boar and wolf populations were decimated in centuries past, something else had to become a target.

"It's just like otter-hunting, which gave way to mink-trapping when the species became protected.

"As a form of pest control, the whole concept is woefully inefficient. The hounds are not as fast as the fox, but they have greater stamina. That prolongs the pursuit, which provides pleasure for the riders.

"If controlling foxes with hounds was the real agenda, then why not send terriers in to flush them out and then use lurchers? Simply, it would not be sport.

"It's not only inefficient, it's unnecessary." But James's activities won't necessarily end if a ban comes into force.

He said: "I won't believe it until this Bill gets Royal Assent. Even then, there will be a need for organisations like the Hunt Saboteurs Association to go and observe.

"If we have to, we will continue to check that the law is being upheld, and we hope that any people still illegally engaged in this activity will end up being prosecuted as a result of any evidence we gather."

* Names have been changed and addresses withheld.

Page 2: Soaring numbers taking part in France