martinj

Entry level Nikon bins, not bad for occasional birdwatching and pigeon spotting, I'm sure that much better ones are available for a price but not sure that I would appreciate the difference. Being 10x42 they have a narrow field of view but great for bringing LBJs close up I have a pigeon guide mate who swears by 7 x magnification for pigeon spotting as you get a wider field of view

its best use was as tracing paper for us kids

wot about Black Jacks at 4 for a penny, that's 960 for a pound!! not that we ever had a pound. these are modern day ones

enlighten us youngsters "Ahem!" please, what are 3's & 2's

And fine if you don't fire a proper cartridge on top of it 💥

No it's not! it appears that there is more than one Farnham, your birds are safe (and so are the ones over here 🙂)

There are not many woodies showing up on our shoot currently but I agree Stock doves are becoming more and more common, more so than woodies at this time of year, at certain times of year we see flocks of 500/1000 Stockies. You get all excited when you see them until a few peel off and come into the decoys then you realise that every one of them is a Stock Dove!

there wasn't in the 60's, have you bought any since then? 😉

Absolutely amazing! thank you for sharing 😵 😮

Takes a while to do all 60 that's 120 eyes 🙈🙉🙊

I have used spray cans of primer in black, grey and red plus a pot of white undercoat or matt acrylic for neck flashes I have also bought pots of matt acrylic paints which work better because you can easily mix the colours to suit different areas on the decoy. You can mix acrylics and spray can colours if you have to although it's an art form. I start with a dead pigeon on my work bench then mix up a colour for the wings for example, matching the dead bird, and paint all of the decoys. Then I'll do another mix for head areas and paint all of the decoys and so it goes on until the job is done. Yes, I do bother to give my decoys rosy breasts; mixing grey and red primer to match the dead bird, it depends how far you want to go. When the paint is dry I'll add white splashes on the necks about the same size and position as on the dead bird - I don't exaggerate the size, just keep it as near as the real thing as possible, I might add a bit of white on the wing extremities, take a look at the pigeons in your garden and see how much white is visible (if any) as they walk around. What I try not to do is copy shop bought decoys, the people who paint those have never seen a wood pigeon. Have you ever been to China? I can promise you that there are no woodies there.

I have been using walking boots for decades for shooting, Beating and dog walking. I have tried Fell walking boots but didn't like them due to weight issues, I have dodgy knees and keep it light. I had a couple of pairs of Brashers which were OK, they were light enough which was the important thing. I am now on a pair of Scapas (below) they feel like the Brashers weightwise, but have lasted a lot longer, the fit is good and they are still waterproof after a couple of years, I'd definitely buy another pair, I probably will when the time comes. I waited for a Go outdoors sale and bought them for around £130, it pays to shop around

I was at a gun shop and, after looking at the guns on the rack, asked the bloke if he had a cheap 20 bore (I just wanted it for vermin days.) He asked how cheap and I just said cheap! he disappeared out the back and came back with an old Spanish 20 Bore SXS that wasn't pretty but was just what I was looking for, it had even been extended to fit someone my size. I paid around £400 for it and a slab of ammo, I was well pleased. I have since been back and took a peek in the back room, there were a number of old Berettas/Brownings etc. that they didn't want to put on their shelves - your local gun shops might do this, it doesn't hurt to ask.

I thought a merkin was an inanimate object

yes your honour they taste just like swan!