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Hunt supporters - like these following the Quorn hunt in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire - turned out despite the ban on hunting foxes with dogs coming into force.

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The York and Ainsty Hunt South show their defiance at the ban during one of around 250 hunt gatherings taking place across the country.

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Dogs, like these used by the East Kent Hunt, can no longer be used to kill foxes, but they are allowed to follow scent and can be exercised by their hunts.

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Two dogs can also be used to flush out foxes to be shot. Here, a member of the South Durham Hunt, near Sedgefield, holds up a dead fox which had been shot.

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As well as anti-blood sport protestors, police were out in force to ensure the new rules were not broken and to prevent clashes between pro and anti campaigners.

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There was hostility toward the government and here an effigy of Tony Blair was dragged across Easingwold Market Place, as the York and Ainsty South hunt gathered.

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Countryside Alliance chief executive Simon Hart rallied supporters - including this girl with the East Kent Hunt - saying the Hunting Act would be dismantled.

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The traditional method of hunting may be history, but the end result is still the same - a dead fox, killed by a gunman rather than a pack of dogs.