old'un

have a look at this http://www.silysavg.com/naturespickings/mushroomreport/laccaria_laccata.html

Could be The Deceiver, common laccaria, what colour are the gills?

Went for nice walk this morning about 9ish, no gun just walking stick and binoculars, plenty of pigeons sitting in the trees, feathers all puffed out sunning it, drove past the woods about 12:30 stopped the car and guess what, yep still there. At home now and the outside thermometer is reading 60f in the sun, no wind at all you could drop a feather at head height and it would land on your feet, on days like this leave your gun in the cabinet because you will be very lucky if you find any birds on the move.

Not wishing to doubt your ability but did you walk them of and sit and watch which part of the field they wanted and did this more than once? You say the birds did not want to know you, were they decoying and flaring off or did they not come anywhere near you but dropped in the field some distance away? Were there plenty of birds coming and going, birds in the air?

Motty is correct in saying the pigeons are hungry but how hungry is another question.

Yep come Feb/Mar once the rape starts to heart-up there will be gas guns every where. Shot a lot of pigeons your way many years ago, Church Eaton, Eccleshall, Etc, hope you get onto some soon, like you said a bit of wind will help.

Yes i have seen the same thing many times over the years, one night you get birds near bursting with rape the next night they have very little in them, I sat and watched a field of rape some years back hoping to get a bit of shooting on it, i watched that field every day for nearly a week, there were on average about 800-1000 birds sitting in the trees, a few would drop down and feed for five minutes then back into the trees, these birds would then lift up and head for the roosting woods, most had very little in them and it was getting to dark for them to look for other feeding grounds, now I have seen this many times before, if pigeons are in good condition I have seen them go for 2 or 3 days and longer without showing any signs of needing to feed heavily on rape or berries and heading back to the roasting woods virtually empty, so for some reason unknown to me these birds although possibly hungry feel it is safer to survive another day hungry rather than risk any possible dangers, (survival)

Yes i know, its my age, but i do like a bit of apple strudel and custard

I will, the mind is willing but the body sometimes reminds me I am not 25 anymore

aga man, Not sure if the abundance of berries (alternative food) makes that much difference, I can remember many years ago when the hedgerows where heavy with such food but it made very little difference to the feeding habits of winter pigeons they still hit the rape just as hard, I think pigeons have learnt that its safer feeding in small numbers in hedgerows than out on the open field, if you sit and watch pigeons feeding in hedgerows they just seem much more relax about it, could also be the rise in hawk numbers making them a little more reluctant to feed out in the open, just a thought. Thank you JDog i guess we can all learn something no matter how old or wise we think we are. PC, yes it make me wonder just how much pigeons have learnt from seeing a particular decoy setup and then having the living daylight scared out of them by someone letting a gun off 20-30 yards from their ears plus the visual signal, the saying once bitten comes to mind.

There seems to be the odd few shooters that make bags well into double figures on winter rape, there are shooters happy to sit all day for 5 or 10 pigeons, it as defiantly changed from the days when I shot big bags on winter rape, if you drove around your farms and seen a field of rape going in you would rub your hands together and think I will get some shooting on there, pigeons have defiantly changed their feeding habits as regards to winter rape, I noticed the very scenario you have describe some 10- 15 years ago, but what you must remember is winter pigeon are a totally different bird to summer pigeon, their instinct for survival seems much more heightened, as regards to the weather, it is true that a bit of snow and freeze does make pigeons more likely to feed but is no guarantee, I have shot as many pigeons on a mild day with a strong wind as I have shot on a freezing cold day with a bit of snow on the ground. Don't know the numbers but there seems more people chasing pigeons today than say 20-30 years ago, whether this as caused them to change their feeding habits I don't know, but its possible, also the amount of rape that is sown does not help, I think the weekend shooter will strudel to shot decent bags unless they are very lucky and everything drops into place on that day. I dare say there will be people who will not agree with anything I have wrote but I can only go by my own experience and a couple of professional pigeon shooters I know who have the same opinion.

Closer to 70 than 60

Got more patience than me, if I am out to kill pigeons then that's what I want to do, not sit in a hide all day looking at the sky and freezing my nuts off, must be getting old.

I shoot a few rabbits and the odd fox with a .22lr, my main shooting is with a shotgun, I was under West Midlands Police and never had any problems renewing FAC or SGC, now I understand Westmids and Staffs have combined under one roof at Stafford. My tickets are not due for a bit but when the time comes surely all you need to do is send your ticket off well before the 8 weeks temporary ticket dead line (BASC recommend at least 3 months) this will cover you for using your guns until your ticket arrives, the only problem I can see for renewal is the purchase of ammo for your rifle after it expires, it might be worse if you are someone who is waiting for their first ticket because renewals are taking priority over new issues. Or am I missing something apart from the time its taking to get certificates?

very nice

Think you missed out the word 'show'

"its quite important for him to be able to make out the reg of any oncoming vehicle" I have got to ask why?

He needs an ANPR

"...England's green and pleasant land" in another 50+ years or less! It will be "...England's concrete and tarmac land"

No, so what's your point??

I guess this one as already crossed your mind. How would you be looked on by the none shooting/gun owning parents of the children you intend to tutor? especially when they see news from the US of shootings of school children.

If a chief constable in your area decides that in the interest of public safety he/she requires this additional information it seems he/she is perfectly within the law, although it is not a legal requirement, I think that if you challenged your area chief constable you might just find a brick wall and a dogmatic attitude towards you, and dare I say it deliberate delaying of your renewal/grant of certificate or even refusal, now as to whether a court challenge to these additional forms (requirements) would work is another question and something BASC legal department could possibly look at, I think there now needs to be some sort of move by our representatives (legal) that brings ALL police forces into line and not just targeting the FLD in question.

It looks like from reading the home office guide for firearms licensing law, the chief of police of any force area can at his discretion add other forms. Interesting part 10.51 about retaining your original certificate and sending a photocopy copy back for renewal 10.28 Section 27 of the 1968 Act sets out the criteria for the grant or renewal of a firearm certificate. This, however, does allow chief officers of police discretion to make further enquiries into applications should they wish to do so. To do this, forces can use their own forms in addition to those which are specified in the legislation. Such forms, though, are non-statutory and there is no obligation for applicants to complete them in addition to those which are legally required. Where non-statutory forms are used for this purpose, they should be clearly marked to indicate their status. Non-statutory forms should be avoided, but if they are required for obtaining further specific information, they should be clearly marked to indicate their status – “whilst it is not a legal requirement to complete this form, completion may expedite the application. Any person making any statement on this form which they know or believe to be untrue commits and offence”. 10.51 If a certificate expir es before a renewed certificate has been issued and the certificate holder has behaved in a reasonable manner returning the forms in good time, a temporary permit (section 7 Permit) should be issued by default. With regard to renewal, the applicant may submit a photocopy of their certificate and retain the expiring certificate in order to be able to buy ammunition.

Sad news, I bet most of us know of a friend or relative who as died from this horrible disease.

Save me searching for it where is 'guns wanted' section Thanks