First time fowling and a great start

[PUSC]

I'd just like to say a massive thanks to Studley on here for taking me out wild-fowling for the first time Sunday morning. Here is a quick write up .

After a supposedly quite tame night that ended up in whiskey tasting , we were up in the pitch black at 4am (how after less than four hours sleep you can be hungover is beyond me).

 

We'd already packed the gear and lined everything up so we could dash out and be first on the marsh. Leaving from his Cirencester manse in the lovingly retro Discovery we got down to the edge of the estuary at just before 5.

 

We weren't the only one with the same idea and another fowler's 4x4 was parked up, so after some nifty night parking by Studley we were out and kitting up ready to trek out to the edge of the Severn.

 

As I'd never been before, I was kindly lent a pair of neoprene waders - unfortunately they were sized for someone more generously proportioned than I. This meant I looked and felt like I was dressed in my dads clothing .

 

After waddling with gear and waders down to the estuary, fending off some inquisitive half asleep cows, we made our way down into a little inlet in the bank and set up ready to wait.

 

Studley chose an area where we could lay up against a bank facing the estuary. Here a sandbar was going to be exposed by the receding tide.

 

We were also partially obscured by a line of old salmon putsches quartering in from the right. This helped as we were sat in shin high mud so couldn't move without seriously exaggerated movements and were relying on being still, rather than to hide us from the birds.

 

The tides weren't with us and being half out by the time the sun had just about risen. However this didn't stop the morning from being an absolute corker!

 

As a complete novice, I was astounded by the variety of bird species around, the utter silence and the fantastic views of fog rolling down from the estuary, which was gentling pushing the birds towards us. An oyster catcher, cormorants and a handful of other species all flew directly above us during the first hour - so we knew our position was good.

 

A few hours later the other fowler made himself heard. He was placed about 800m or more further up the estuary and near an inlet in good cover.He had been calling a bit and managed to call in a mallard which was racing down the middle of the estuary and take a shot. Unfortunately he didn't manage to hit the bird, but it was amazing seeing this duck do a 90 degree turn and come in to see what was going on.

 

We watched around 20/30 ducks come in different sized groups throughout the morning and eventually with the sandbar being exposed some started to drift in towards our position.

 

A group of three mallard were the target and we patiently waited for them to get into distance on the other side of the putsches, which were now almost completely exposed.

 

Whispering, Studley said they were now in range and we slowly moved round in to position in order to take a shot.

 

On the count of 3 we let rip and managed to bag 2 out of the 3 . Extracting ourselves from the cloying mud we then went out, picked our birds and walked the length of the exposed sandbar.

 

After an hour or so with the sun now started to cook us in our waders we called it a day and made the return trek to the Disco.

 

So after a fantastically hung over early start to the season, we managed to bag two mallard

 

I've tried to attach the photo, however I don't know if it has worked. (Studley is on the left, if it has)

[shootgun]

Great write up mate, and hat off to Studley for taking you out shooting!

[Varminator]

Well done fellas. I hope they tasted/taste good.