Where have all the pigeons gone?

[Cosd]

It's been a repeated discussion I have been having with my good friend Deny Essex that since the long periods of snow, there have been very few reports of pigeons here on the forum. Multiple trips out and scouring many hundreds of acres these last few months has also proved fruitless.

I don't know if people have stopped posting successful trips out but the reports have been far and few between. It's not as though large numbers died during the snow periods as I'm sure it would have been reported on here.

So what's the theory guys? Where are they?

Edited May 29, 2010 by Cosd

[thaiball]

It's been a repeated discussion I have been having with my good friend Deny Essex that since the long periods of snow, there have been very few reports of pigeons here on the forum. Multiple trips out and scouring many hundreds of acres these last few months has also proved fruitless.

I don't know if people have stopped posting successful trips out but the reports have been far and few between. It's not as though large numbers died during the snow periods as I'm sure it would have been reported on here.

So what's the theory guys? Where are they?

dont know mate having the same problem in east sussex (well where i go anyway maybe its just me)

[decoying mad]

I think PRO TOM has them all dowm lincoln :P

[proTOM1]

I think PRO TOM has them all dowm lincoln :good:

 

 

I wish its been a bit slow of late for me but now starting to see them again :unsure:

 

It could be so many things with this time of year i.e nesting feeding off buds in the woods and like round me alot on game feeders and by lakes .

I have to say ive found it hard this year on my peas but a mate of mine has been getting great bags on his peas but it is more likely to be the type they are !

[caeser]

I think it's just a case of finding out where they're feeding. In my area they're feeding mainly on clover. A few are feeding on the rape bald patches. There is still quite a few around .Don't expect big bags though.

Last two outings have resulted in bags of about 20 and 40. This is about normal for this time of year, in fact the 40 is probably good. Soon the crops will be a bit taller and we may have some flattened crop area's, then the good bags start coming.

I think this is just the usual lean period and you've just got to ride it out.

Have faith.

[deny essex]

As Cosd has said we have covered thousands of acres but the pigeon this year are way down on any previous year, to the point of the local game dealer who takes my clubs pigeon has been so down on supply he has stopped tradeing in pigeon altogether!

My clubs grounds are not void of pigeon but exceptionaly down on numbers for this time of year regardless of thousands of acres of rape and peas, i have never known it so quiet and down on numbers at springtime in 30 years shooting my essex area.

[Cookiemonsterandmerlin.]

As Cosd has said we have covered thousands of acres but the pigeon this year are way down on any previous year, to the point of the local game dealer who takes my clubs pigeon has been so down on supply he has stopped tradeing in pigeon altogether!

My clubs grounds are not void of pigeon but exceptionaly down on numbers for this time of year regardless of thousands of acres of rape and peas, i have never known it so quiet and down on numbers at springtime in 30 years shooting my essex area.

 

 

Totally agree and with all the stick I got during the cold spell about showing compassion during hard times I think some may come to rue there over zealous shooting.

 

Now I know the idear is to control pigeon numbers and the farmer will be well chuffed but at the current population levels woodies will be coming off the GL licence during the breeding season .

 

And on my way to hodnet over prime pigeon ground I saw two dozen woodies in my round trip of 300 clicks.

 

Kind regards OTH

[caeser]

After reading the last couple of replies about pigeon levels, I am surprised. Like I said in my area, (near York) there is definately no shortage of pigeon. We did have the prolonged freezing spell that everyone else had too, it doesn't seem to have affected the numbers at all.

[Cookiemonsterandmerlin.]

I think the key factor here is there are reports of good numbers in localized areas such as licolinshire etc.

 

But as a rule of thumb numbers are nationally down IMO accordding to the reports when I first joined there where regular posters reporting this and that just, look at talk from the field and sporting pictures.

 

The drilling this year same amount and type of crops very low number seen by myself and others and even less shot .

 

Kind regards OTH

Edited May 31, 2010 by Over the hill

[Guest gloker]

bags are smaller 20-30 a time, but plenty over peas round here. (humberside.)

[Fisherman Mike]

I think more perished in some areas during the cold snap than we realise. However they appear to be breeding much earlier this year in larger numbers. On three recent early morning BTO breeding bird surveys there were plenty of birds to be seen and heard cooing in the woods.

 

I dont doubt also that some birds may have channel hopped during the worst of the weather, particularly as there were reports of larger than normal numbers in parts of South Western France and Spain

 

A 30 mile flight across the channel is nothing for your average woodpigeon.

 

If trends of the last 30 years are anything to go by they will raise successive broods to bolster numbers.

 

It doesnt matter much to me anyway as there are no crops to protect around here during the summer months and ive got upwards of 7000 acres to shoot over if I wish. My guns havent been out of the cabinet since late March, even then the flocks were breaking up and birds pairing off.

[Highlander]

This is very often the case around this time of year for all the standard reasons BUT round here (Suffolk/Norfolk) we’ve noticed a decline over a longer period.

 

I can’t explain it (then who can where pigeons are concerned) but we have definitely NOT seen the numbers of pigeons around here in Suffolk that we’ve seen previously. The flocks that were about in the winter were small in number, 400/500 a good size with most not much more than 50/100 whereas last year at the same time we were seeing 1000’s.

 

We also did NOT see so many young birds (without white neck rings) in the bags during February/March that we’ve seen previously. Last year we were getting 10%/15% young birds in the bag, this year hardly any. That leads me to conclude that contrary to popular opinion the pigeons didn’t enjoy such a good breeding season as other birds/animals during the summer/autumn of 2009. At least not round here.

 

I would conjecture that maybe the birds ‘migrated’ ahead of the bad weather we’ve had this winter but there were reports of good numbers in Scotland and other parts of England which had far worse conditions than here. We also didn’t have a great time during harvest last August/September, it was over and done in 3 weeks and all our rape sown by the beginning of September. So maybe weather plays a greater part in pigeon behaviour than we think.

 

I don’t hold with any ‘die off’ theories as we’ve not seen any evidence of dead or dying birds and we’re ‘outsiders’ in the woods and fields everyday so we’d have noticed. On the contrary the birds we are getting have been and are in very good condition so the bad weather appeared not to have harmed them.

 

What then has happened...my conclusions are that a) farming methods have dramatically changed/improved, not much left at drilling or harvest for the birds so they've moved to pastures new (old), birds are now more ‘migratory’ and c) birds did not enjoy a great breeding year last season in this region perhaps because of the extreme dry weather but most likely a natural phenomenon and the numbers were low this winter due to that low breeding success.

 

Hopefully that will change as we (all pigeon shooters) are shooting more and more birds each year reliant on our (possibly mistaken) belief that they will keep producing great numbers ever more. Remember the passenger pigeon???

 

Any other thoughts?

[ironhorse]

Hampshire

Over the past 5 years I have noticed a definite decline in wood pigeon on my shoot, the estate continues the same as it has for many years, the only difference being in crops, because of government hand outs the estate favours rape and wheat, can it be that this is the cause of pigeon decline, or can it be simply put down to my regular policing of the estate. It can’t be down to weather conditions as I haven’t found any pigeon carcass on my trips out during the winter, other than shot pigeon that is. My thinking is either pigeons are in decline in my aria because of the type of crops now being grown I. E. Rape and wheat. Rape yes they hit this in its early stage of growth, but not in any number as such and then only until the rape has got away, they do drop into freshly sown fields but again not in the numbers of years ago, or secondly pigeon have left the aria for better pickings else wear but even this appears to make no sense as other shooters are reporting the same absence of pigeon.

[yickdaz]

have a look at this pigeon shooting web site in portugal called toraces.com but unless you can read portugese and i don;t its hard work but just toy around on it for a bit and if vedas comes up click on it and you will see thousands of pigeons coming in to feed and migrating also some vids of pigeons passing and coming into olive groves being shot. and they make some big bags looking at the photo galleries and you will find out where woodpigeons migrate to.

[motty]

I must say i'm really surprised by all these posts. I have seen plenty of pigeons all year and had some decent bags, too.

I would say pigeon numbers in my area are up on last year, if anything. I did hear a rumour the other day of some local guns getting a bag of 600+ between two of them. Another rumour was that the bag was over 900!

[Whitebridges]

Personally i've had my worst ever winter 2009/10 for pigeon in Norfolk and Suffolk in over 40 years . Nonetheless there are loads of birds breeding now and they'll be back with a vengeance.

[anser2]

I can only echo Whitebridges post. There were a lot fewer pigeons about last winter and they did not like the frosted rape to feed on. It was not until the growth spurt after nitrogen had been put on the rape any numbers came onto the 7,000 acres I shoot over. Even then numbers were well down on average. 50 was a good bag and I never managed any 100 + bags . Something I usually get a dozen times each winter. I have plnty of clover fields , but until recently they never touched them.

 

This decline has been ongoing for the past 5 years , but increased sharply last winter. Back in the early 2000s it was not unusual to see 10,000 coming out of the woods at dawn. Last winter a few hundred was a good morning flight.

 

The summer breeding birds seem to be only a little below average so lets hope they have a good breeding season. It will be another 2 months before I get the guns out.

Edited June 4, 2010 by anser2

[retromlc]

there don't seem to be many around,i gave up on the syndicate i was shooting on the isle of sheppy due to several visits and sometimes I wouldn't see a single bird for 2-3 visits,then I joined one local to Ashford,I saw plenty of flocks of upto a 1000,I went out early this mornig,7a.m-12 noon and I shot 1 and saw only about 15 in total.They have to eat,so I can only conclude that they have moved on,maybe Europe?even if they break up into pairs they should still be visible even if they are not using the flight lines they normally use, or decoying in any numbers, they should be in the sky but I saw none at all.