SAturday Cambridge Shoot

[NickB65]

Well I had the day to myself and given the forecast I was in the fields by 10am. The farmer had been on the phone saying the flight lines where getting busy again but not much on the Rape yet. When I turned up there was hardly any wind, lovely blue skies and not a bird in sight.

 

I set-up close to a small copse where I knew the bids flew to in the late afternoon and then had a walk around the fields. It was the perfect day for walking with the gun as the sun was out but no too hot and the wind gentle but not too cold. The rain had made the fields heavy so walking was hard going at times but who cares when you’re in god’s country.

 

Coveys of partridge played chase with me flitting off as I got too close and then looping around me so they could go back to where they started. What few shots were possible where hindered as the Partridge cleverly chose to fly the other side of the hedge. I love watching them in flight as they take off then glide then fly like mad and then glide. A few Roe does meandered across the fields keeping a close eye on me but not really bothered. They nibble here and there and moved slowly across the fields and then either the wind or just for the hell of it they shot off leaping mid-field as if clearing a jump.

 

A few lone Hares watched a couple of female Hares chase each other around and spar - early one may think but given the warmth of the sun and the gentle wind I could not blame them. They chased each other and spared until I got too close and then they darted off across the fields on their long gangly legs. A few Pheasants took flight as I came to a hedge but where so close any shot from me would have turned them into mincemeat and when they were at a decent range they had looped over the hedge and dropped to fly low to the ground. Guess the day was going to be a quite one and I was resigning myself to a slow meander back to the hide when a pair of ears appeared above a ditch under a hedge. I stopped and watched as the small ear of a young rabbit twitched in the breeze. Bit of a long shot but 32g of number 6 was let loose and it disappeared. Did I hit it or was the range just too much? Well what I thought was a small rabbit turned out to be a big buck just slightly further back. He was half in and half out of his hole and I had shot him cleanly in his head. Well at least I had something for the bag.

 

The rest of the afternoon was quite with not a bird in sight. While I sat in the hide and munched of some Chorizo a pair of Buzzards glided overhead and effortlessly glided over the decoys almost eyeing them up as food. With the field glasses I could clearly see their beautiful belly plumage and their heads bobbed as they looked down at me. One or two pigeon did fly high toward me and did dip down to take a closer look at the decoys but would not commit and flew on.

 

Not a great day for shooting but an amazing day for being out and about.