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Wildfowling at John Muir Country Park - East Lothian


DaveM
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Hi, Has anyone ever had a flight at John Muir Country park?

 

Just picked up a fowling permit for the 2012/13 season :yahoo: and starting to plan a couple of trips this side of Christmas and a few in Jan. Would appreciate a few words of wisdom from anyone that been shot there before, such as a good camp site etc..

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Yes I believe you are right, they only issue something like 15% of season permits to peope outside of East Lothian.... however I have one :yahoo: . Applied for it last January, recieved confirmation of my application in Feb and came through the door Saturday morning!!

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i got a permit for there but unfortunatly never got a chance to get up there to have a go

there was someone on this forum who was shooting there last season, i forget the name, i put up a post about it when i was planning to go up, maybe try search it

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Hi, Has anyone ever had a flight at John Muir Country park?

 

Just picked up a fowling permit for the 2012/13 season :yahoo: and starting to plan a couple of trips this side of Christmas and a few in Jan. Would appreciate a few words of wisdom from anyone that been shot there before, such as a good camp site etc..

Apologies Dave completely missed the fact you already had a permit. That's the trouble with late night posting after a beer or two. Never been there so can't offer any advice of any value

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just got my permit through the letter box this morning :yay::good:

very surprised i got another for this season after not using it last season.

I will most definatly be up for a few days before and after christmas this season

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  • 2 weeks later...

It's no just East Lothian residents that get automatic permits . Folk living in any of the Lothians - east, mid or west get them without limit. Apart from that there areb 100 allocated for non-residents.

 

It can be good wildfowling, especially in January, but don't expect big bags. The last wardens report I saw showed 0.8 birds per fowler per day. Mainly wigeon but also a few pinks and some resident canadas and greys that usually get wiped out by the local on the first day of the season. On the other hand it is very easy fowling. The "mud " is only 2 inches deep with firm sand below and you can easily wade the river in chesties at low tide.

 

The wardens do keep a very close watch on it and they have full powers to check permits and shells. Its against the law to even carry lead shot with you.

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Over the last few days I've been out to JMCP. Yesterday afternoon at low tide and this morning at high tide. In the pic below there are Greylag geese but I couldn't see any this morning. (you may need a magnifying glass

;) ) A link to the larger version of the pic below http://www.flickr.co...57631235470686/

 

 

7856365408_c3fb74e745.jpg

 

I did see about 10 mallard and loads of wood pigeon (allowed on the wildfowling permit).

 

The rest of the pictures of JMCP can be found on my flickr page

http://www.flickr.co...31173@N08/sets/

 

Yesterday I bumped into a bird spotter who is an ex ranger at JMCP, he's now a warden at a nature reserve along the coast. He's none too happy with wild fowlers who he says are responsible for shooting a lot of species not on the quarry list so our conversation was short and polite when I mentioned wild fowling!

 

Jimbo, where in Midlothian are you? I'm near the bustling metropolis of Dalkeith.

Edited by Laird Lugton
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It's no just East Lothian residents that get automatic permits . Folk living in any of the Lothians - east, mid or west get them without limit. Apart from that there areb 100 allocated for non-residents.

 

It can be good wildfowling, especially in January, but don't expect big bags. The last wardens report I saw showed 0.8 birds per fowler per day. Mainly wigeon but also a few pinks and some resident canadas and greys that usually get wiped out by the local on the first day of the season. On the other hand it is very easy fowling. The "mud " is only 2 inches deep with firm sand below and you can easily wade the river in chesties at low tide.

 

The wardens do keep a very close watch on it and they have full powers to check permits and shells. Its against the law to even carry lead shot with you.

Which Law forbids the carrying of lead shot is it a local bye law or just a condition on the permit ?

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Laird Lugton - Bathgate now. No the prettiest bit o the Lothians but handy for the motorways. Used to be Ratho.

 

Vulpicide - The byelaws authorise the conditions of the permit which every permit holder agrees to when the apply for a permit. So it has the fuill force of the law. Max fine is £100 for breaking a byelaw (plus any addition if a national law is also being broken - like if actually shooting with lead shot on the foreshore) and the permit would be automatially revoked. If the police had to be called by the warden, it would also almost certainly lead to the offender losing his shotgun certificate. So no worth taking the risk.

Edited by Jimbo57
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