Many years ago shooting live pigeons released from boxes, or 'traps' was a fashionable competitive sport, often involving large sums of money.

Then, at the beginning of the last century glass balls were substituted for live birds and these in turn were superseded by 'clay pigeons' - saucer shaped discs of baked ceramic material (often re-cycled mineral waste.)

Today clay pigeon shooting is a popular sport that covers all social classes, many women are enthusiastic competitors and it is one of the few sports in which the disabled can compete on level terms with able-bodied people.

Most shooting is done through clubs with their own shooting grounds where there will be a series of traps - or launchers - which catapult the clays into the air to simulate a variety of wild quarry.

A number of different disciplines has evolved, such as 'down-the-line,' 'sporting' and 'Olympic skeet' which offer different kinds of challenge. Many people begin their shotgun shooting by learning on clay pigeons and it is the ideal way to gain experience without committing yourself to a large outlay. Shooting grounds will invariably have guns which the novice can borrow while making up their mind about taking up the sport in earnest.

Clay pigeon shooting can be a particularly attractive for those who live in towns or are limited in the amount of time that they can give to their sport. It can also be relatively inexpensive, compared with paying for a day's live quarry shooting.

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