Changing Times better or worse. Two flights 40 years apart

[anser2]

I did not start to shoot the grazing marshes until the early 1970s, At that time it was under the control of a local Wildfowlers club close marsh to where I was living in the Broads. Later a friend started to work for the farmer who owned them. There were some some problems with fowlers leaving gates open and one night a cross bred bull got into the heard pedrigree cows with disasterious results and the wildfowling club lost the shooting rights and my friend took them on. 30 years later I started to shoot in the Broads again regularly and I was asked if I would like to share the shooting with my friends as a third gun had recently dropped out of the syndicate. I jumped at the chance to again be able to revisit my old shooting ground.

 

Back in the 1970s it was rare for the grazing marshes to flood. The dykes were kept low and only in times of gales, high tides and heavy rain did the marshes flood and on the rare occasions they did the water was quickly pumped off and within a day or two all trace of the floodwater had gone. It’s very different today, modern conservation schemes have resulted in the dykes being kept full and in some areas shallow scrapes have been dug to flood in even moderate rains. Standing water is widespread across the grazing marshes for most of the winter and they now draw a lot of duck and waders.

 

In the old days the main attraction of the marsh was its weedy dykes. In November some of the water plants came into seed and for the next two months were a great attraction for the mallard. I had few flights without at least one in the bag.

 

There follows an extract from my game diary of 1976\77.

 

H came into the pub lunch time for a pint or two and very soon our conservation steered into guns and duck shooting. Outside the fine morning lost its shining sun and heavy clouds threatened rain later. I told H that the omens looked good for an evening duck flight and he whole heartily agreed with me. "We will try our luck on the grazing marsh", I shouted as he went out of the door. Of course I had forgotten I had arranged to meet up with Sue, my soon to be wife that afternoon, but she had nothing planned and was happy to join us for the flight. It was just after five o’clock when we loaded up, Sue came along acting as gillie carrying the game bag and decoys. We had only walked along the dyke edge a short distance when a snipe landed sixty yards in front of us by the waters edge. H stalked it while we watched. He got quite close before the little bird jumped up , zig zaging away across the grass. H took a very long time about his shot and it was all but out of range before he fired , but the snipe tumbled onto the marsh and was quickly recovered. “ poor little thing “ Sue uttered as she fondled its delicate plumage “ but they taste so nice”.

 

H hid next to the main dyke with a handful of my decoys scattered in the water before him. Sue and I picked a small ditch with a scattering of big sedges growing along the bank; With the lowering sky and the dim light of dusk any duck were unlikely to see us until it was too late. However I did remind Sue to keep still and not to look up when any duck appeared or they would see her pale face.

 

As the light started fade a sight mist developed making the distant skyline fuzzy and indistinct, but the sky above was fairly clear and the birds easy to see. Now the duck started to move, mallard and a good bunch of them came out of the mist right over head, but they were high, too high for a sensible shot. A pair next and they settled in the dyke close to Herbi. We both watched as he creped up to them and then a flurry of wings as the mallard jumped. Alas both of his shots went wide and the mallard went off in search of a quieter place to find their supper.

 

I had almost given up hope of a chance at the duck when three mallard appeared out of the murk. They saw the decoys and swung round us just out of range. In they came again and again just before coming into range they swung aside circling us. “Keep your head down” I hissed to Sue. For a third time they came around and this time there was no mistake, they were going to come into the decoys. Banking around they dropped their feet as I swung on to the drake. He fell with a splash into the water and back peddling the duck slipped sideways and desperately struggled for height. But again I fired and she dropped forty yards out on the marsh. They say pride comes before a fall, but I was pleased with both of the shots. Big headedly I turned to Sue saying “that’s how you do it “. Only to find her still crouched in the rushes with her head tucked down so the duck would not see her and of course she never saw the shots. Still we had a nice brace of mallard making a comfortable budge in the game bag as we walked home.

 

The marshes forty years later outwardly look very similar, but the habits of the wildfowl that use them are very different today. Mallard once the major quarry of the area have now become a much less important quarry. No longer could I expect a brace or two walking the dykes after morning flight, indeed its uncommon to even see any away from the rivers at dawn. Today most of the mallard leave well before first light and it’s usually quite late before any return. The reasons for this are unclear, but the big increase of wildfowling in the area, new birds reserves and perhaps the increase in fed flight ponds may all have a bearing. Back in the 1970s very few people shot on the marshes away from weekends so most marshes were quiet all week. This encouraged the duck to linger a while after dawn. Indeed sometimes the duck stayed all day. Many marshes were unshot or only shot over very occasionally, but today when ever a marsh becomes available one of the several clubs in the area ( there are 5 clubs ) will attempt to get hold of it. Most allow shooting six days a week and so the disturbance on the marshes is much higher these days. Its very noticeable that on some of the marshes higher up the river valleys where the clubs hold little ground the duck still use the dykes all day.

 

The area now has a number of wetland bird reserves along the Yare and Bure which provide a sanctuary from disturbance on the grazing marshes. Given the increase in wildfowling activity this can only be a good thing and in addition the large areas of flooded marsh on the reserves has attracted other species in large numbers. Where once mallard accounted for over 90% of the duck in my bag, today it’s less than a third with the bulk of the bag being made up of wigeon, with lesser numbers of teal and gadwall with a few shoveller and pochard and an ocasional pintail. I am unsure about the effects of the fed flight ponds, but some syndicates hold large flooded areas and fed heavily. Such areas must attract a lot of the duck that would other wise have been scattered across the grazing marshes.

 

On the plus side many of the marshes are under HLS with Natural England insisting they must be wetter than in the past. Sometimes this is achieved by raising the water table and sometimes by scraping hollows on the marshes that flood in winter. However this does attract wigeon onto the scrapes and flashes in areas where they were rare in the past and in most years wigeon now form the core of the wildfowlers bag. The other big change has been the massive increase in grey geese using the marshes. Back in the 1970s a lucky fowler would have perhaps one or two chances to shoot a goose during the season and that was likely to be a Canada or maybe in a cold winter a white front. Today however feral greylag flocks have increased across the whole Broadland marshes and pink feet , once a rare wanderer now arrive in massive numbers and today’s fowler has the opportunity to bag a goose almost anywhere in the Broads.

 

From November until the end of the season our grazing marsh usually holds hundreds and sometimes thousands of pink feet. At first they used them as a feeding ground, but if the splashes are large enough many will roost on the marsh especially during the period of the full moon.

 

An extract from the 2014\15 game diary.

 

By late October the autumn rains arrive and the cattle are moved off the marsh to their winter home in the stack yards to be fattened up, the scrapes and hollows start to fill up with water to spill over into the grass and we can plan an evening flight. One of our scrapes floods early, before other marshes in the area and this early water can be a great attraction for the duck. Back in the 1970s I would arrive well before sunset, but these days there is little point as no duck will move until deep dusk, but never the less I am early, just because I love to relax with the sunset, watching the gulls wing their way out to the estuary and the flocks of lapwings wheeling and diving over the flashes. After a long walk from the car, Meg ( my dog , not wife ) and I arrive and survey the flash. Well its a bit more than a flash realy covering over an acre of ground. All along the windward edge of the water a yard wide fringe of uprooted grass leaves and feathers has drifted onto the shore, wigeon feathers in the main, but with a few teal drake feathers too and the odd mallard breast feather. Here and there little green and white wigeon droppings are scattered in the wet grass sometimes piled up where they have slept during the night. A goodly flock of duck were here last night , will they come tonight or will they taken it into their minds that they have had the best off this flash and have another in mind for tonight? There a few goose droppings too, larger and so obvious, an odd party rested here recently. Was it a chance visit or have they developed a liking for this pool? Time will tell.

 

Before we settle I wade out a few yards into the flash and put out half a dozen decoys. I am unsure about their usefulness here. They may attract the odd early duck, but most will come in the very last glimmer of light and it is doubtful if they will see the decoys as they come out of the darkness. There are a few scattered clumps of rush along the eastern side of the flash, just enough to break up my outline to any incoming duck and importantly I will be facing towards the fading sun giving me a little better light to shoot by. I settle Meg on one clump so she can keep her behind dry, at least until the start of the flight and I settle on my shooting stool and await the coming flight. Its very still tonight and already I can feel the prickle of the coming frost. It may only be late October, but the air feels sharp and the grass will be white by dawn.

 

The lapwings return swooping about the large flash until as one they settle on a muddy bar across the far side. First one, then a second, a third and then a stream of single golden plover pass by, low, barely knee height, but they do not tarry around the water instead making for marshes further up the valley. Then silence, not a bird moves as the sun slips below the western uplands , save a distant barn owl like a pale ghost in the gathering dusk.

 

The silence lasts well into the dusk, no longer can the land marks been seen distinctly when it’s broken by a single teal tearing across the water before I can react and breaking the mirrored surface on the far side. A bunch of five or six follow them, but this time too far for a shot. Should I move out into the open water I ponder, but I know it’s too early yet and stay to be rewarded by a drake gadwall curving into the decoys. He is an easy shot as he crosses my front and in an instant Meg is splashing through the cheast deep water to retrieve it. The lapwing rise crying, vanish into the darkness and the silence returns.

Far out towards the uplands a party of mallard appear, but they are not coming my way. They pass along the marsh edge and disappear to the north and I wait. For a long time no other duck appear. Far down towards the river a swelling sound of the grey goose chorus drifts across the marsh. A good bunch by the sound of it, but they like the gulls pass away to the estuary. As their sound fades a black silhouette comes across the marsh out of the after light of the sunset. Climbing al the time it comes straight at me, this duck does not want my flash, its mind is elsewhere. I am going to have one chance at this bird and as it comes overhead at the limit of range I give it a hell of a lead and for a second it hangs in the air before disappearing into the darkness behind me to be followed by a loud thump on the grass. Again Meg is off and after a few seconds I hear her returning snorting as a hen mallard’s feathers tickle her nose. I hardly have time to take the duck off her when a pack of wigeon appear over the water. I put two shots into them and am rewarded by a double miss. Whistles behind, I am ready for the next flock and trim one out as they tear over my head. I miss the next a singleton , but a lucky shot drops a cock bird on the far side of the flash. While Meg is away looking for it more come. Again I have a double shot and one falls with a surprising splash in front. By the time Meg has found this bird all is quiet again.

 

The light is almost gone now, I hear birds landing close by, but they are unseen. More come, but again I can’t make them out in the darkness and for the first time I realise the stars are shining brightly, tiny pricks of light from the heavens, their reflection rocking in the flash before me. Another splash in front as a wigeon pitches in, the dog stares in front unable to believe I can’t see it and in a welter of wings it’s up only to cross the faint after glow of the sunset. Just time for a quick snap shot and unbelievably its mine and Meg quickly delivers a hen into my hand. Its time to go , the light is just to poor to shoot duck by now and before setting off for home I pick the decoys out of the now freezing water and stow them in the game bag already heavy with a gadwall , a mallard and four wigeon. Hardly had we cover a hundred yards than the sound of geese comes out of the night. Not many by the sound of them, a family party, but they are low, very low. I slip a couple of shells back into the gun and they are almost on me. But they swung right over the flash and for a brief moment I can just make out their faint shadows as they pitch in. They seemed so close, but I knew they were out of range. Quietly the dog and I stole away leaving them a peaceful night. Next time perhaps!

 

Two very different flights both took place within a few hundred yards of each other, but nearly 40 years apart. Today the bag was more varied and as long as we have standing water the wildfowling is a lot better that the old days. But water is the key these days , when you have it a dozen duck in the bag in a single night can be quite frequent, but get a dry winter and I will struggle to bag a couple of duck all season on this marsh.

 

 

Footnote. In the Broads a "marsh " means a grassy meadow surrounded by water filled dykes , but marshes referrs to a block or area of them.

Edited April 2, 2015 by anser2

[Ttfjlc]

A truly fascinating read, thankyou for sharing.

[Hares Ear]

A really enjoyable read. Thank you.

One sentence hit me immediately.

 

"On the plus side many of the marshes are under HLS with Natural England insisting they must be wetter than in the past."

 

I live and work in an area of Heather Moorland, which has been designated SSSI, and overun by the spotty young runts from Natural england. They are insisting that they can make sloping hillsides hold water. Why? I don't know. A sponge can only hold so much water, then it will run out whatever you do. To hold this water back, they are blocking up all the grips, (Dykes). But not only the ones dug within the last hundred years of driven game shooting, but the natural grips that have existed for thousands of years.

In efect, they are trying to create an environment that has never existed. In doing so, they are likely to destroy a unique upland ecosystem.

[fenboy]

Brilliant , that will keep me going till the new season is here !

[Penelope]

Another good and thought provoking read.

[scolopax]

I have been shooting my coastal marshes for nearly thirty years and there have been huge changes to the wildfowl population and therefore the bag. When I first joined the club there were good numbers of Mallard, wigeon and teal. It was a rarity to even hear a goose. A few September Canada's, and the occasional skein of local Greylags that soon learnt where the reserve areas where and rarely left them. Pinks had abandoned the area twenty years previously.

 

Now the duck numbers have declined drastically, mallard and wigeon in particular. A great deal of previously wet grazing marsh has reverted to reedbed and also dried out considerably due to accretion. The wigeon seem to have transferred their wintering grounds to any large areas of inland water and seem to be much less of a foreshore duck. The mallard declined in the nineties and and I did not shoot a single one last season. Teal can be seen in big numbers, but now with a variety of new flood protection projects on the estuary which provide large areas of unshot shallow water they chiefly stay within these sanctuaries.

 

The positive change though are the geese. In fact for the last few years I have shot more geese than ducks. Greylag are just about our main quarry species now with a healthy population of resident birds for the last twenty years or so. Quite heavy shooting pressure, mainly inland, seems to have stabilised their population or even caused a small reduction locally there are still enough around right through the season. The Pinks have also made a most welcome comeback and significantly outnumber the greylag at times but are much harder to get on terms with. The count of Pinkfooted geese last season on the river was the highest since the 1960's and for the first time I can recall at least some stayed all season. Previously they had departed in November once the last of the stubbles were ploughed in.

Edited April 3, 2015 by scolopax

[malmick]

anser2, many thanks for a fascinating and enjoyable read.

[marsh man]

Excellent account of two flights 40 years apart from one another ,on a area I have spent a big part of my life, and as my wife often says too bigger part , but she is only joking .......well I think she is .

 

I have been lucky with having shot the same block of marshes for well over 40 years plus one or two other farms which were on the boundary , so at one time I could spend a day walking about the dykes and fields without walking the same land twice , the changes to the landscape have been more or less unnoticed but the amount of wildfowl have changed quite a bit , mainly Mallard and geese .

 

Last year one or two members reported a good year for Mallard , it might well have been round there way or if they were referring to the last 4 or 5 years but I don't think I will ever see the amount of mallard I have seen in the late 70s when three farms touching each offer down the marsh grew Barley , some of it laid and the duck found it in big numbers where it wasnt uncommon to see 5 or 600 coming from each point of the compass , some of it got left uncut due to wet conditions so when the season started getting double figures was a regular event until they learnt there lesson and moved on to quieter pastures . Now there are commercial flight ponds on some of the best fowling grounds in the area so seeing big numbers now are a thing of the past.

 

What we have lost with the Mallard we have gained with the Geese with numbers increasing most years , there was a time when White Fronts were more common than Pinks even though they were still difficult to get and getting the odd one every 3 or 4 was about all you could hope for. A mate of mine who recently died once shot five on a morning flight ( all White Fronts ) on the estuary wall and up until now its never been beaten and I don't think it ever will be, although shooting 5 Pinks on the marsh is hard but not that difficult with 18,000 in the area like there was last season.

 

So the landscape has changed very little and hopefully it will be the same over the next forty years , weather there will be large amounts of fowl using them and more importantly will there still be people like us still wildfowling on the Broadland marshes ?......Only time will tell.

[Mentalmac]

 

 

I suspect the biggest threat may come from within as we get fewer younger members coming into the clubs , but this is a nation wide problem as the kids of today prefer computers and football to a day freezing their boll***s on on a wide swept marsh and a larger pecentage of members who just want to shoot and take little interest in the running of the club. In the past I have held positions on one clubs comitttee and held a senior officers position in one of my clubs and much as I would like to be more involved with my other club distance makes it difficult. And yet every year the number of members attending the AGM and other meetings seems to be falling. At one clubs AGM a few weeks ago there were more committee members than normal club members present.

That's interesting you say that, most kids now days are just keen on virtual reality, as it's warm and you can pause it and have a break any time you want....

 

But when you get them out there and once they get stuck in, they really enjoy it. I think that arguably a lot of younguns don't often get the chance to shoot because of all the vast security measures in place to demonise shooting and popular media suggesting kids and shooting is a big no-no.

I take my 11 year old step daughter out with me a lot and she loves being out there often spending more time looking at different bird species that wanting to shoot but once she gets a shot or two she's a blooming happy kid - I also see a big change in her personality when we drive home from shooting and that evening, mature, well rounded, talking on my level... alas, one night slept and in the morning she's back to her 'where's my mobile phone and make up' attitudes again.

 

I have a belief that the years when some of our well esteemed fowlers here were young, I'd vouch they/you were a lot more emotionally matured at a younger age than the kids of today. As a society we spend too much time teaching these kids about relationships, mortgages, coital positions, debt and drug issues and through social media they believe that they are mature - but in reality they don't know about real life, where their food really comes from, how to get it, how to appreciate anything and they always give up to easily (part of the video game society of just being able to 'reload' the level when killed perhaps?).

 

Personally, I'm in the throes of joining Colchester Wildfowling club (my local) after last year being inspired by the great write ups on here from you 'orrible lot, and being lucky enough to go out with Marshman last year which was great, hearing some fantastic stories and really enjoying being out on a marsh and haven't stopped thinking about it since. I am planning on attending any club gatherings I can including the AGM, which is soon, as I believe it's important to all be involved and judging on the intake of some other younger chaps to CWCC I wonder if this will change for the better in the future.

[Penelope]

You'll love every minute of it.

 

That's interesting you say that, most kids now days are just keen on virtual reality, as it's warm and you can pause it and have a break any time you want....

But when you get them out there and once they get stuck in, they really enjoy it. I think that arguably a lot of younguns don't often get the chance to shoot because of all the vast security measures in place to demonise shooting and popular media suggesting kids and shooting is a big no-no.

I take my 11 year old step daughter out with me a lot and she loves being out there often spending more time looking at different bird species that wanting to shoot but once she gets a shot or two she's a blooming happy kid - I also see a big change in her personality when we drive home from shooting and that evening, mature, well rounded, talking on my level... alas, one night slept and in the morning she's back to her 'where's my mobile phone and make up' attitudes again.

 

I have a belief that the years when some of our well esteemed fowlers here were young, I'd vouch they/you were a lot more emotionally matured at a younger age than the kids of today. As a society we spend too much time teaching these kids about relationships, mortgages, coital positions, debt and drug issues and through social media they believe that they are mature - but in reality they don't know about real life, where their food really comes from, how to get it, how to appreciate anything and they always give up to easily (part of the video game society of just being able to 'reload' the level when killed perhaps?).

 

Personally, I'm in the throes of joining Colchester Wildfowling club (my local) after last year being inspired by the great write ups on here from you 'orrible lot, and being lucky enough to go out with Marshman last year which was great, hearing some fantastic stories and really enjoying being out on a marsh and haven't stopped thinking about it since. I am planning on attending any club gatherings I can including the AGM, which is soon, as I believe it's important to all be involved and judging on the intake of some other younger chaps to CWCC I wonder if this will change for the better in the future.

[Mentalmac]

You'll love every minute of it.

 

Thanks Penelope, I believe I will. If you saw my toddlers in the mornings then you'd certainly rather be up to your waist in cold mud than attempting the breakfast run.

[Wildfowler12]

Really enjoyed that anser2, thanks for posting

[kent]

A good read that one. Times change and we adapt

[black powder gunner]

I have found these accounts shooting the marsh land forty years apart very interesting and a similar thing a occurred on our inland marsh.We are lucky to own over two miles of flooding Ings land and have the shooting rights on another four miles some of this is managed with natural England as natural water meadow the rest as grazed Ings land the river that runs through the marsh is managed by the environment agency who fifty years ago built massive flood gates were it joins the river Ouse when it rains up on the uplands that feeds this river the flood gates shut to prevent the local town flooding so we are probably the most flooding farm in the UK.This results in al large amount of wildfowl visiting in the winter .I started shooting this land with my dad in the late sixties and the main species were mallard teal widgeon we never saw a goose till about 1985.We never over shot the land and only shot what we good eat our selves witch we still do to this day.In 1982 my dad was diagnosed with cancer thinking it was his last season shooting he decided to have a good last season so went down to marsh nearly every day apart from Sunday's from September to 31st January.He wrote every thing he shot in his diary.That season he shot 640 mallard 50 teal and32 widgeon 10 pintails a total of 732 ducks witch today is totally outrageous but times have changed.The season just gone I do not think I saw 640 mallard never mind shot them I also have not seen a pintail this season .there has been a lot of widgeon and teal as usual. The main difference is that now we get the geese.Friday night before Chrismas 2014 went down to Ings at 3pm nothing came till 4pm then 100 pinks went over my head right and left with the 8bore as I shot two Canada geese got of the flood water behind me managed to put a cartridge in the left barrel aCanada on the floor. Five minutes later 10 graylags came over managed to bag one.A lot of geese came in in the next 30minutes but just watched them .Then nearly dark 30 Green land White fronts came in managed a right and left what a night best flight of my life.

[marsh man]

Very interesting post ( b p g ).

 

That season your dad had was outstanding and I don't blame him one bit for doing what he enjoy and for making the most of what time he had left.

 

By the way is your dad still about ? A j b ....M M

[kent]

BlackPowderGunner,

 

Do you feel the geese now present have depressed duck numbers on your bit? There must be no firm general rule for this as all habitat has differences but I do personally feel its the case in general. Geese will feed off that grass at pretty much all depths of floodings while duck specialise in depth zones

[anser2]

I am not sure geese have any effect on the feeding grounds of duck as the geese are roosting while the duck are feeding , though wigeon when in numbers can graze the swath down below the length geese like ( about 4-5 inches for grey geese ). However when I used to shoot the east shore of the Wash we usually had a good population of mallard roosting on the higher muds in late September and October , but once the pinks in numbers arrived the bulk of the mallard moved down to the estuary channel a couple of miles away. In mild winters back in the 1970s the geese sometmes left in early February, heading back north and the mallard would return to the high muds in numbers. I do not think that this had anything to do with feeding grounds , but suspected the duck prefered the quieter areas of the mud flats for their roost.

Edited May 24, 2015 by anser2

[kent]

I am not sure geese have any effect on the feeding grounds of duck as the geese are roosting while the duck are feeding , though wigeon when in numbers can graze the swath down below the length geese like ( about 4-5 inches for grey geese ). However when I used to shoot the east shore of the Wash we usually had a good population of mallard roosting on the higher muds in late September and October , but once the pinks in numbers arrived the bulk of the mallard moved down to the estuary channel a couple of miles away. In mild winters back in the 1970s the geese sometmes left in early February, heading back north and the mallard would return to the high muds in numbers. I do not think that this had anything to do with feeding grounds , but suspected the duck prefered the quieter areas of the mud flats for their roost.

 

Yes, I get that but this is flooded meadow and feeding patterns are not quite the same as i experience on the shore on the one similar i have shot, its a small hop from roost to feed for the geese and the duck are there night and day (just different areas of the flood). Duck feeding behind geese? i have seen and have actually used shore line goose decoys to shoot duck.

Heck only saying what i have seen myself i might be way off the mark but some things we can only see not explain without much study. Hares seem to increase with the decrease of rabbit numbers also ( i have seen rabbits actually chase Hares off territory but there is still plenty food for both) so that's my theory on that one

Cant prove more than that but its good to hear your thoughts on the subject.

We have geese now using a large flooded area off the saltmarsh and its always been lifting with duck so i shall watch that space and see if the same occurs

[anser2]

Like you Kent I have found duck will come into goose decoys sometimes. I have found having half a dozen goose floating decoys in with 30 odd duck decoys very effective when shooting a large inland lake. I suspect the duck see the outsized magmun goose decoys from a distance and then switch attention to the duck decoys as they come closer. They have worked best when the geese decoys are a little off to one side rather than mixed togeather with the duck decoys. On several occasions I have also had wood pigeons come into shell goose decoys when shooting inland. I once tried goose silosocks on difficult pigeons on a vast rape fields , but though they caught the attention of the pigeons from a long distance the pigeons always backed off just out of shot.

[demonwolf444]

That was, in my opinion, one of the best and most sporting posts i have ever had the pleasure of reading, thank you for sharing your experiences i really enjoyed reading that. I am envious of your game book's i really should keep one.

 

I hear a lot about fewer younger members at wild fowling clubs, i think many people are very removed from game and food, and therefore removed from shooting as a part of it and therefore removed from gun ownership. The encouraging of passionate young people into the sport can only be a good thing so long as they respect and represent our long sporting heritage.

 

Being one of these "youngster's" myself i would love to do some coastal wild fowling, i have looked several times at joining a club but living in the middle of north yorkshire i am some miles from the coast. It would be cost prohibitive for the sake of a handful of flights a year.

 

There is a stretch of river near me where this season i am promised wildfowling access where i have shot occasionally the last 6 years and i can't wait to be back there, when being there i can really see the cold appeal of wild fowling, crouched on the damp ground amongst the plants as the night closes in around you and wing beats whistle in the still air as the river moves silently, silky black reflecting the moonlight, hands frozen uncomfortable against the barrel of your gun as the curlews call and then far off you hear duck, and you strain your eyes in the darkness to make out the duck approaching and you pick your bird and swing through, or the teal that curl low to come into the eddy of the river.... yes i can see the appeal.

 

Can't wait for the season.

[kent]

Cerlew inland in duck season will be missing from your inland shooting I fear. we have plenty on the fields and moor presently but they will all be gone back to the saltings once nesting is over and done, as will the lapwings and oyster catchers. For me living inland now it seems like they follow me home to await our joint return at the start of autumn

when we look at inland shooting of non fed duck on river floods on evening flight there is only very little differences to shooting the closer in flashes and creeks on the marsh (some of which will actually hold fresh rain water not salt water for the main part).

[kent]

Like you Kent I have found duck will come into goose decoys sometimes. I have found having half a dozen goose floating decoys in with 30 odd duck decoys very effective when shooting a large inland lake. I suspect the duck see the outsized magmun goose decoys from a distance and then switch attention to the duck decoys as they come closer. They have worked best when the geese decoys are a little off to one side rather than mixed togeather with the duck decoys. On several occasions I have also had wood pigeons come into shell goose decoys when shooting inland. I once tried goose silosocks on difficult pigeons on a vast rape fields , but though they caught the attention of the pigeons from a long distance the pigeons always backed off just out of shot.

 

Geese have a beak that can crop a bigger load than their gullet can handle! The duck soon lean this

[black powder gunner]

After the 82/83 season dad had many operations but still managed to get out with the gun and dog but that was his swan song never to be repeated.He lived another seventeen years and Chrismas eve 1999 he came down to the farm and wanted to go down to the river for a duck but he was eighty and very frail we managed to get on the bank sat him in a chair after about half an hour two teal flew over up went his gun one shot one teal we went home very happy.The next day Chrismas day he came to the farm for his dinner and tea at eight o clock took him home sat him in the front room while I went to make him a cup of tea came in with the tea he was slumped in the chair he had a massive heart attack and lived three hours at least he had shot his last duck 12hours earlier.The end of a fantastic life that brought happiness to me and the many who shot with him there were over two hundred at his funeral to say fair well to a true shooting legend.Back to the present day the only reason I can think that goose numbers have increased and mallard numbers have decreased is on part of the Ings that is very boggy their has been over the last twenty years a large increase in the numbers of small soft shelled snails that live in the grass these cause liver fluke in the cows.I thing the geese are feeding on these snails if the weather conditions are right there can be in to thousands feeding at one time because the grass is of poor quality I don't thing they are feeding on the grass.

[anser2]

Sorry Black powder , but you geese will be feeding on the grass. Wild Geese are plant , not animal feeders and will not touch snails.

 

I suspect the reason for your change in numbers and geese will the same as over much of the country. Over the past 50 years the numbers of home bred greylag and canadas have risen very sharply, Pink feet have increased from 40 odd thousand back in the 1950s to over 300,000 today ( with anunal fluctations ). The old feeding grounds can nolonger support this huge number of geese and they are spreading out finding new feeding areas. And they seem to have discovered your Ings.

 

In the case of mallard the numbers wintering in the UK have been dropping for the last 40 years mainly due to them short stopping across the North Sea. 40 years ago very few mallard spent the winter in countries to the east like Sweden because the winters were too cold. With global warming Sweden nolonger has the severe winters it used to so many of the mallard that had to fly to the UK by the cold now stay in Eastern European countries. There may also be other local factors , for example conservation bodies providing sanctuary for the geese , changes in crops disturbance and so on , but the underlying trend is for fewer mallard to migrate to England in winter and increasing populations of geese having to search out new feeding areas.

[kent]

Draining and building new homes on flood plains must play a part in Duck numbers. Reading about the old decoys when the fens were mostly under water and the sheer numbers harvested tells a tale. I shouldn't mind going like your grand farther did that christmas