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Above & beyond the call of duty by two stalwarts of crop protection. I must admit to rank cowardice by staying in & watching the football. Such a good effort that I'm not even going to mention the appalling presentation of the 'bag'. Didn't quite understand the two tier hide set-up. Did you set up two hides or were you shooting out the side & DB over your head from one big hide?

Just the idleback chair wanted for in the pigeon hide. Can collect.

Due to covid related staff shortages this last game season ,my game dealer stopped taking pigeons from last September as he was too busy with game birds; (No warning of course)! I managed to place 200 in the feather to a local pub/restaurant but then had to hunt round all the local butchers ,restaurants & pubs to get rid of the rest that I was shooting. Most places would take crowns or breasts but at a better price. So the for the rest of the game season I spent a lot of time breasting out pigeons each week... something I don't think I could have done if I wasn't retired. Thankfully the dealer is taking them again. The annoying thing is that I stopped to have a word with a lad who was poaching on of our permissions one Saturday, got a negative response & went back later by which time he & his mate had gone leaving a pile of dead pigeons in the hedge behind his hide. ****** me off no end & it reflects badly on us as the farmer may well think it was us. Bring back the 'cat'.

We need more youngsters in our fraternity...too many 'old boys' in the crop protection game these days. Keep at it Thomas! Soon be teaching your Dad.

A very enjoyable watch Big Al.... a true countryman will watch a 'hit' bird ,Mark it down & search for it later. We all have been out with people who shoot & don't care about their quarry & it irritates me; But then I'm now old enough to get grumpy I suppose. Good to see a man who does care anyway! Those dogs would die for you I think. One day they might say 'no thanks' , you go and get it.... but I doubt it. Hope you at least have one more day this season. Thanks for posting.

Late October we invariably get an influx of pigeons from a NE to SW direction; Early morning(7.30- 9am) in the main but they can just now go on all day & number well into the thousands sometimes . I am just north of Hereford. Started this year about 22nd/23rd October but funnily enough not every day with two or three days when I noticed nothing. Every farmer in this area was drilling winter wheat around 22nd. & it just happened that they lifted the spuds in the fields behind my house at that time , ploughed behind the lifters & then drilled on some fairly wet ground. The next two days saw 3-400 pigeons on these fields after seeing nothing in this neck of the woods for months. Of course ,as a retired man with time on his hands I had to have a go... & had a very good bag. Could probably have shot it the next day as well as they all returned until the surface grain had gone. These birds seemed to be slightly smaller than the pigeons I shoot at other times of the year , nearly all were in the final stages of a moult with blood feathers over head & neck, but with only a very small percentage of young birds which you would expect at this time of the year. They are now all over the place on Hawthorn hedges (where there's a huge crop of berries around here) & have also started on the rape where there are patches. They would normally go onto the acorns at this time but we have no acorns at all this year unfortunately. The usual behaviour of this influx of birds is that they stay for a week or two & then seem to disperse or move on. They were still coming over yesterday , but with family commitments over the w/end I fear they may have moved on by the time I can get out again. Also the game dealer who usually takes my pigeons has had labour shortages this year ,& once the game season started was too busy to take any pigeons. This unfortunately limits my shooting as now my only outlets are pubs & restaurants which I trickle feed hoping to make enough freezer room to justify killing some more. Never perfect is it!

Body shape , carriage & paler tail tip suggest pine marten?

Looks like a dead piglet under a net in the foreground.

Sounds like an exciting couple of hours shooting & it's good to read these reports when there are no opportunities in my neck of the woods as yet. However I would have to pull you up on your grammar GingerCat.... Surely the ever faithful Jasper could not be described as 'mad'? It would be an insult to his equally faithful owner. I think what has happened is that you've left out an 'and' after the word Jasper?

Cool & professional video Simon6pcc... you deserve a conservation medal for the work you do protecting these species that are on a knife edge these days. At least the mindset of people on this forum will appreciate the job you do (and enjoy). The old boy at the end nearly brought a tear to my eye. Old and sentimental I think! Keep them coming.

Cracking shooting there...you were really on form. There was one bird there that had obviously been shot at before & took quick & effective evasive action as soon as it saw you move to shoot. It swung down & to your right which just saved its life? The others were not so lucky. Great vid thanks.

Love the water droplets on her head. Often see them when fishing & saw one diving into a very strong current on a river in Scotland once. How they don't get washed away is a mystery to me. Great pictures once again thanks.

That last picture is something else GG. The yellow/green overtones of the Chiffchaff's plumage mirrors the colour of the algae between the cone bracts.Yet again you have smashed it with your patience & lenses. Hard to imagine that those tiny, thin legs carry skin,bone, tendons, arteries ,veins & nerves to their feet ..the same as ours. They're even skinnier than my wife's legs but not quite so bowed.

No matter where they're looking ,they always look slightly angry. Fabulous picture (as usu).

Good morning WalkedUp. We were shooting in Northeast Herefordshire & had a good view of the Malvern hills from that field. Farmer came & watched us with his new baby ( from his truck). I did tell him to go & get his gun as he has had little shooting this year, but he was too busy babysitting whilst his wife was out ( probably on her horse). A lot of the land around here has a red tinge to it & can be terracotta coloured after a shower of rain.