Pigeon Numbers in decline ?

[Fisherman Mike]

Pigeon numbers are certainly not in decline in my opinion. Their tendency to form large flocks in winter may be (with the exception of this last harsh winter.) If the autumn and winter is good pigeons will be found in their natural habitat which is not open farmland, it is as the name suggests, the WOOD. Pigeons prefer to eat grain, mast, acorn, berry, particularly Ivy and haw which is their staple in the wild, chickweed and clover. Rape is not a pigeon’s preferred menu. When the winter is bad and nature’s bounty is poor then the birds flock up and hit the rape, peas and brassicas big time as we all know. There is very little spilled grain in modern drilling techniques these days in fact the last 20 or 30 large fields I have inspected in April this year showed absolutely no signs of being drilled at all and although I know there are thousands of pigeons roosting in the surrounding woodlands none of these fields totalling some 1000-1200 acres were visited by anything other than a handful of pigeons after drilling. If you want to find pigeon in large numbers look in the parks and gardens of towns and villages, where numbers are burgeoning. Here they will stay until they need to congregate and move into the countryside looking for young rape and the like, although with the massive surge in the Publics expenditure on wild bird food it’s unlikely that any of them will need to move too far. If Pigeon numbers are in decline in some areas it wont be because of change in farming techniques and crop policy it will because they are being overshot.

[humperdingle]

Pigeon numbers in decline?

 

That's always been my excuse

[activeviii]

I dont think their in decline, I think there just wising up more to us, the shooter, and free food in the bird feeders. i like to think that we are now starting to see the modern pigeon and we need to find new ways to trick them to the guns. their learning from association and every time we miss one then its a wise bird that will find other ways and places to get its feed but at times the hunger will take over and it will slip up but there always a few that remember and do not come close enough, over time we get more and more, before long we have birds teaching their squabs the dangers.

 

bit like carp fishing, after you use a bait for a while and caught fish on it then the carp will no longer take that bait and you have to find something else that it will tricked with.

 

but also like you said, there are more and more people feeding the birds in the garden so pigeons dont have to work for there feed, they can just fly down to the table, fill his crop and then go up into the tree again, no need to walk around looking but just sit there eating.

 

 

 

that's my thoughts anyway.

 

 

Phil

[Spaniel]

To be honest I see more Pigeons sat on the lamp posts on the ring road then I do up the farm.

Like you say, there is alot less waste when harvesting these days plus this area seems to be heavy into dairy farming hence why i expect there is more pigeon shooting up North due to the crops which are being grown etc (just my opinion).

I dont think i have really seen any large numbers flocking but i am just happy to have a shot to be honest

[Highlander]

Woody is listed as the most prolific bird in the UK and for good reason...they're very adaptable. A true opportunist they'll be wherever the best food is and lets face it nowadays that can be almost anywhere, gardens, parks, allottments, cities as well as farmland although this last one is now so efficiently cultivated the opportunities on it are less than they were.

 

I don't think pigeons are in decline, just altering their ways in a changing environment...it's called survival and next to us they're pretty good at it!

 

Pigeon shooting is an opportunistic game and it takes patience, perseverance and knowledge to beat woody but it's still very possible. Also you don't need BIG bags to have an enjoyable day out after them.

[yickdaz]

Woody is listed as the most prolific bird in the UK and for good reason...they're very adaptable. A true opportunist they'll be wherever the best food is and lets face it nowadays that can be almost anywhere, gardens, parks, allottments, cities as well as farmland although this last one is now so efficiently cultivated the opportunities on it are less than they were.

 

I don't think pigeons are in decline, just altering their ways in a changing environment...it's called survival and next to us they're pretty good at it!

 

Pigeon shooting is an opportunistic game and it takes patience, perseverance and knowledge to beat woody but it's still very possible. Also you don't need BIG bags to have an enjoyable day out after them.

i agree with highlanders post.also my opinion no they are not in decline last year i had my best year out of over 23 years shooting them somtimes just looking for them.not every trip is succesfull you can look at a field one week and nothing there go again the week or a couple of days later and it can be full of pigeons creature of habit the woody;have seen countless birds at moment on horse paddocks and pastures dotted around all over the place. if you look at the annual running totals posted on here over last 4 years it averages around 23;500. so if this years total comes near to that it will give a good indication at end of year

Edited June 2, 2010 by yickdaz

[Fatcatsplat]

Seeing bundles of doves, but very few woodies. Even when i'm in the garden or driving down the road.

[The Sipe-ist]

I can only speak of the situation in my locality, I think pigeons are still feeding on tree leaves most of the time.

The very late and harsh frosts in May killed off a lot of the new leaves especially Ash, which they are very partial to. This means although they have started returning to the arable fields(especially peas) they still have the tree leaves to fall back on. I would estimate 20% fresh new growth.

We still managed 140 between three hides on our farm but I would have expected a lot more.

Patience will be rewarded

[MerseaDavid]

I would say that thier numbers are still growing because each year mine and dads totals get higher and higher and this year we are alreay ahead of last year so I would say there is more of them around now than last year

[Cookiemonsterandmerlin.]

I would say that thier numbers are still growing because each year mine and dads totals get higher and higher and this year we are alreay ahead of last year so I would say there is more of them around now than last year

 

 

I cant belive you think bird numbers are up looking at you post today in sporting pictures you records from march to end of may seems very poor to me.

 

Kind regards OTH

[MerseaDavid]

it always is a quieter time for us them months but we are still ahead of last year

[mossy835]

i was talking to some one today, who was speaking to a farmer up in bristol and he was saying there are loadsof them up there never seen so many.any one from up there seen many about.

[bullet1747]

it always is a quieter time for us them months but we are still ahead of last year

im a head :blink: of last years as well its my first year :blink:

[Greenhunter]

The pigeon population is doing well...most of them live in my garden

[proTOM1]

The pigeon population is doing well...most of them live in my garden

 

Tell me about it ive got 3 nests this year and all are on there secound brood

[tbox]

They may not be declining, but they sure are getting faster and smaller... or possibly I'm getting older and slower... nope... definitely them!

[FireDrake]

Loads on the farm where our horses are, and crows too, they are clever if you go past on horse they sit there in field pecking away try sneaking up on them with my air rifle and they ****** off lol.

[Jim Sarakun]

Plenty down this way. I agree with what activeviii said.

[mikee]

thousands round this way, very little chance of getting a bag though, they are all just flying about or sitting in the trees, they dont seem to feed before about 8pm at the minute, hopefully the barley will be cut in the next few days so some stubbles to have a look at

 

mikee

[Highlander]

As a follow on to this post perhaps you all like to read my other comments under ‘What goes around comes around’ and comment on sustainability in the light of what we’re talking now about and what ‘The Major’ was talking about back in 1973.

 

Answer the question; how many breeding pairs of pigeons do you think it would take to sustain an annual 'cull' of 2/3 million birds? OR if you think the figures are too low/high let's hear yours!