turbo33 Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Well, bang on schedule, the pigeon have started their migration here in the south. Yesterday and today from first light, flocks of 200 ish were flying over my house. Very high, approx. 100 metres heading south. I sat in the truck for 15 mins and saw 3 groups go over in that time. Working 8 miles away, the pattern continued with groups of 50+ to 100+ until the tap turned off at around 10.30. Quite strange to see as for the last 3 weeks, you'd be hard pressed to see one or two pigeons. The last two trips to the farm, I literally didn't see one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 I saw similar a few days ago. As I was about to get in the car and go to work 07.30 I happened to notice that there were a load of pigeons & rooks all heading south. At this time there was a sheer line of thick low cloud traveling Eastwards along the line of the road and I just thought that they might be moving to avoid a soaking. In all I recon that there were in the region of about 80 > 90 birds all flying south, spread out along the cloud line as much as I could see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Well, bang on schedule, the pigeon have started their migration here in the south. Yesterday and today from first light, flocks of 200 ish were flying over my house. Very high, approx. 100 metres heading south. I sat in the truck for 15 mins and saw 3 groups go over in that time. Working 8 miles away, the pattern continued with groups of 50+ to 100+ until the tap turned off at around 10.30. Quite strange to see as for the last 3 weeks, you'd be hard pressed to see one or two pigeons. The last two trips to the farm, I literally didn't see one! which way were they heading....as im off out on the sugarbeet tops tomorrow ............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 (edited) Well, bang on schedule, the pigeon have started their migration here in the south. Yesterday and today from first light, flocks of 200 ish were flying over my house. Very high, approx. 100 metres heading south. I sat in the truck for 15 mins and saw 3 groups go over in that time. Working 8 miles away, the pattern continued with groups of 50+ to 100+ until the tap turned off at around 10.30. Quite strange to see as for the last 3 weeks, you'd be hard pressed to see one or two pigeons. The last two trips to the farm, I literally didn't see one! I saw similar a few days ago. As I was about to get in the car and go to work 07.30 I happened to notice that there were a load of pigeons & rooks all heading south. At this time there was a sheer line of thick low cloud traveling Eastwards along the line of the road and I just thought that they might be moving to avoid a soaking. In all I recon that there were in the region of about 80 > 90 birds all flying south, spread out along the cloud line as much as I could see. Both of the previous posts state South Edited October 22, 2014 by fortune Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lloydi73 Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Both of the previous posts state South I think Ditchman was enquiring as to which town or county wise Fortune, rather than magnetic heading!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 They were just going in a southerly direction. The first poster is in Surrey and I am in Kent so we are both well south of Norfolk. But they are on the move. I hope that Ditchman finds a few and has a good outing on the tops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuy Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Saw thousands this morning in biblical numbers pouring down the valley, in hereford it was an amazing sight, jdog was impressed! We still have alot of birds that I think will stay, hopefully Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harnser Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Where do they migrate to ? I allways thought that we have winter visitors from main land Europe and Russia . Harnser Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Where do they migrate to ? I allways thought that we have winter visitors from main land Europe and Russia . Harnser for gods sake dont start the "migration thread" again.....................wherever they do migrate it aint here..........(anyway i aint got enuff ammo if they do) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yickdaz Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 (edited) Where do they migrate to ? I allways thought that we have winter visitors from main land Europe and Russia . Harnser spain/Portugal border holds 100s of thousands into the millions of them, every year for the last 4 I have looked on a website in spain, torcaces.com and it has pics videos, similar to pw, I don,t speak or read Spanish but you can read between the lines on there and they say every year they get a mass migration of pigeons from all over Europe and mainly from Britain, last year they clocked over 1.6 million woodies arriving into spain through the pyranees mountains were they have spotters spread out all over the mountain range and they collect the info, the majority end up in the sierra san pedro N/W spain,portuguese border so all the big flocks being talked about heading south are more than likely ending up there Edited October 22, 2014 by yickdaz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuy Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 Down through france , on to northern Spain, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuy Posted October 22, 2014 Report Share Posted October 22, 2014 spain/Portugal border holds 100s of thousands into the millions of them, every year for the last 4 I have looked on a website in spain, torcaces.com and it has pics videos, similar to pw, I don,t speak or read Spanish but you can read between the lines on there and they say every year they get a mass migration of pigeons from all over Europe and mainly from Britain, last year they clocked over 1.6 million woodies arriving into spain through the pyranees mountains were they have spotters spread out all over the mountain range and they collect the info, the majority end up in the sierra san pedro N/W spain,portuguese border so all the big flocks being talked about heading south are more than likely ending up there +1 exactly , I am a believer in this, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) I had a look at that Spanish site and it is a bit interesting in that they use live tethered decoys. It look like they like to use 36 g # 6 shot charges. a lot of birds there. some of the bag pictures are very large. a couple of weeks ago we were out in Manorca and the woodies were coming down onto the lawns to feed on clover in the grass. I could have shot them with a 410 Edited October 23, 2014 by fortune Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 On another thread Catamong let his feelings be known about pigeon migration and asks if anyone ever sees them going the other way in such numbers in the late afternoon of the same day. This is a perfectly sensible question but I for one have never seen it and I doubt that others have. Yesterday morning I saw 5,000 at least heading south. When I drove back along the same route in the late afternoon I never saw a single bird on the return journey. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 On another thread Catamong let his feelings be known about pigeon migration and asks if anyone ever sees them going the other way in such numbers in the late afternoon of the same day. This is a perfectly sensible question but I for one have never seen it and I doubt that others have. Yesterday morning I saw 5,000 at least heading south. When I drove back along the same route in the late afternoon I never saw a single bird on the return journey. Well, if ever you went roost shooting you would see them, the big difference being they don't head back to roost in vast flocks, but they trickle back in smaller, less noticeable numbers over a longer period of time. Cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cranfield Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 Apparently, most of the birds in Spain come down from Scandanavia and the mountain areas of France and Spain , rather than from the UK. This is an extract from British Garden Birds website and I have been reading the same opinion from other sources for many years. " Movements The Wood Pigeon is resident and mostly sedentary though in the autumn and winter they fly twice-daily between roosts and feeding areas. Scandinavian Wood Pigeons are migratory and many pass through Britain on their autumnal migration to France and Spain, some inevitably stay for the winter in Britain." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fortune Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago when we were out in Menorca. There was a lot of clover in amongst the grass. The pigeons would flight in and around most of the day and I watched as they would set their wings and come in just like when they commit to coming into the decoys. Most mornings the were about 30 > 40 pigeons out on the lawned area. I didn't see really early but this was about 9 in the morning. As more people came to use the lwan area they would move off away. IF I could shoot there over decoys then a fair old bag would have been possible. I wouldn’t need a 12 as a 410 would have enough power. Edited October 23, 2014 by fortune Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 I know that pigeon in the foreground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 Just to add to the confussion I spoke to a friend in Greece yesterday and he said the the recent bad high winds we had on Monday have moved south to Greece and it has brought rain and Pigeons from Europe . The hunters are out in the mountains shooting birds from Russia and Albania as the weather has started to cool also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turbo33 Posted October 23, 2014 Author Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 On another thread Catamong let his feelings be known about pigeon migration and asks if anyone ever sees them going the other way in such numbers in the late afternoon of the same day. This is a perfectly sensible question but I for one have never seen it and I doubt that others have. Yesterday morning I saw 5,000 at least heading south. When I drove back along the same route in the late afternoon I never saw a single bird on the return journey. Well if CAt is right and we are all wrong, there's some stonking roost shooting to be had somewhere with 5000 returning to roost Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 Saw thousands this morning in biblical numbers pouring down the valley, in hereford it was an amazing sight, jdog was impressed! We still have alot of birds that I think will stay, hopefully All heading for the wintering grounds around the forest of dean I suspect... some then hop over the severn in huge numbers and spread out into the Cotswolds and surrounding counties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fisherman Mike Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) Where do they migrate to ? I allways thought that we have winter visitors from main land Europe and Russia . Harnser They are not British migrants as such but a passage Migrant from Northern Europe and Scandinavia... many track down the East Coast and some central England and from the West coast of Scotland. None of the main research and survey organisations have ever recorded British residents migrating to Spain or Portugal to my knowledge and the British birds are completely sedentary. However they are such strong fliers it wouldn't be unheard off for some to make the trip during extremely harsh times. A good friend of mine who sold his dairy farm and moved to Portugal in 1990 is besieged with Millions in his olive groves each year. these birds come across France and Spain from Germany and Eastern Europe and are at least an inch or more smaller than British residents. Edited October 23, 2014 by Fisherman Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr D Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 Ive said it before. Last year i think on a similar thread. We get some of these birds. I dont believe they are just passage migrants as such, because they come in high across the north channel from scotland. Around about the 2 week november is the usual time. Some years we get loads, some year only a few. They stay til end of december. Then they are gone. They are smaller. Behaviour is very different to the local birds. For example for the first while they often move all over, with no predictable flightlines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuy Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 I know that pigeon in the foreground. thats the one you missed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catamong Posted October 23, 2014 Report Share Posted October 23, 2014 (edited) Well if CAt is right and we are all wrong, there's some stonking roost shooting to be had somewhere with 5000 returning to roost Yeah, but I'm not telling you where..! Edited October 23, 2014 by Catamong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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