kitchrat Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 I have several times described the behavoir of my few hundred local birds, how they "flock-string" up and down, to and fro from local trees, never stopping to feed long, crops never full. I say this suggests they are not what I call "HUNGRY hungry" but are just snacking when they fancy a bite to eat. One bird gets up, they ALL get up. I have shot this farm more or less once a week for 5 weeks, each time the flock string-visits my pattern a few times after re-grouping in the trees, before going off and sitting in distant trees for hours. Each time they visit I get a shot or two, after that it's just the odd Nobby-No-Mates for hours until the flock tries one more vist late afternoon then goes to roost. I have had 10-20 victims each day, but my visits seem to have made no difference to the birds behavoir when I'm not on guard. Today, I have just spent an hour watching and it's starting to change. It's still to and fro the trees to field but now mainly in pairs. They still head for feeding birds but not into the group, just near the group. Have you noticed how in summer paired couples like their own space whilst still being near the group? Each pair doesn't stop long, some landed near enough to my truck that I could watch individuals. They ate for 5-10 minutes, then back together to the trees. They flew right over me, so I could see crops were not full. Still not HUNGRY hungry. Hopefully, the flock situation is breaking up, if only they would hit the field directly without sitting in the trees and watching 1st. Any thoughts from you decades-experienced guys?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 flock ! wots a flock ? i hant seen a flocking flock since flock knows.i might as well flocking well flock off...forgotton what a pigeon (is that hoe you spell it ?) looks like..... as if a giant meteor landed here in august and wiped out all pigeons....extinction level event....even the french have stopped coming...they never hit anything, last time they came last year they (2 of them) burnt off 2 cases of catridges in one day and got 7 birds..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted March 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 flock ! wots a flock ? i hant seen a flocking flock since flock knows.i might as well flocking well flock off...forgotton what a pigeon (is that hoe you spell it ?) looks like..... as if a giant meteor landed here in august and wiped out all pigeons....extinction level event....even the french have stopped coming...they never hit anything, last time they came last year they (2 of them) burnt off 2 cases of catridges in one day and got 7 birds..... Motty has them all, just up the road from you!! OK, I know Norfolk is big....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JDog Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 (edited) You may be shooting at the same birds too often if you are trying to decoy them once per week. I never shoot the same ground more than once every three weeks. As for' 'deflocking' (your word) this lot of 300 are still very much together. Edited March 4, 2014 by JDog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted March 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 You may be shooting at the same birds too often if you are trying to decoy them once per week. I never shoot the same ground more than once every three weeks. As for' 'deflocking' (your word) this lot of 300 are still very much together. Yes, I agree about shooting too often but my visits seem to have changed things not one bit. Also, the farmer gifted me a day on his pheasant shoot, so I owe him good protection. You are right also in that there are also some firm flocks still about, I saw some this pm after my earlier post. Still, things might be on the change.... I'm hopinh that as the rape gets growing, much of it will become unattractive, thereby concentrating pigeons into fewer, well-chwed areas. Hopefully this will happen before tree buds come on line. I've already seen quite a few in grass paddocks, on clover??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ditchman Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 thats right rub it in you swines.............. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aga man Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Bit of a mixture up here really a lot of pigeons seem to be "un flocking" but there are still a couple of good size flocks (2-300] moving around as one. one things for sure they are starting to favour the grass's here as kitch says probably on clover, and if it stays dry spring barley getting drilled this week so we'll see what happens next! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 I believe that there are some flocks that are starting to break up, but there are also some massive flocks around. It seems to be pretty much the same every year. I think if the weather stays fine, the flocks will be completely broken by the end of the month and hopefully some proper bags will be on the cards. I agree with JDog that you may be shooting the same birds too often, Kitchrat. I'm not sure what you mean by paired couples staying away from the group in summer. I always thought that pairs of birds would take turns in feeding/feeding their young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 Motty has them all, just up the road from you!! OK, I know Norfolk is big....... I don't just shoot in Norfolk. I also shoot into Cambs and Lincs. I know it might be hard to believe, but there are some really huge amounts of pigeons in and around the areas I shoot. I think I may have posted it on here before, but a local pigeon shooter estimated that he put up 20000 pigeons off of one rape field near Sandringham, last year. They had big problems with pigeons last winter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted March 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 I believe that there are some flocks that are starting to break up, but there are also some massive flocks around. It seems to be pretty much the same every year. I think if the weather stays fine, the flocks will be completely broken by the end of the month and hopefully some proper bags will be on the cards. I agree with JDog that you may be shooting the same birds too often, Kitchrat. I'm not sure what you mean by paired couples staying away from the group in summer. I always thought that pairs of birds would take turns in feeding/feeding their young. I agree, it does often seem they are taking turns, either incubating or feeding and that's the excepted view. However, in the summer I have noticed lots of pairs flying together, they often seem to land to feed near, but not in other groups of birds. Perhaps they have just reared young and he doesn't want her getting impregnated by anyone else??? Who knows??? - I know I don't I don't just shoot in Norfolk. I also shoot into Cambs and Lincs. I know it might be hard to believe, but there are some really huge amounts of pigeons in and around the areas I shoot. I think I may have posted it on here before, but a local pigeon shooter estimated that he put up 20000 pigeons off of one rape field near Sandringham, last year. They had big problems with pigeons last winter. Yes last year was different!! I'm seeing better numbers now but still not up to 2013. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 I agree, it does often seem they are taking turns, either incubating or feeding and that's the excepted view. However, in the summer I have noticed lots of pairs flying together, they often seem to land to feed near, but not in other groups of birds. Perhaps they have just reared young and he doesn't want her getting impregnated by anyone else??? Who knows??? - I know I don't Yes last year was different!! I'm seeing better numbers now but still not up to 2013. I agree, it does often seem they are taking turns, either incubating or feeding and that's the excepted view. However, in the summer I have noticed lots of pairs flying together, they often seem to land to feed near, but not in other groups of birds. Perhaps they have just reared young and he doesn't want her getting impregnated by anyone else??? Who knows??? - I know I don't Yes last year was different!! I'm seeing better numbers now but still not up to 2013. Last year doesn't seem any different to me In terms of numbers right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kitchrat Posted March 4, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 I believe that there are some flocks that are starting to break up, but there are also some massive flocks around. It seems to be pretty much the same every year. I think if the weather stays fine, the flocks will be completely broken by the end of the month and hopefully some proper bags will be on the cards. I agree with JDog that you may be shooting the same birds too often, Kitchrat. I'm not sure what you mean by paired couples staying away from the group in summer. I always thought that pairs of birds would take turns in feeding/feeding their young. Too often? May well be but it's been my only real chance in the last month, all my other perms it's like picking up mercury with chopsticks. And I owe the farmer good cover, after the pheasant shoot he said he was relying on me, I have sole permission and he doesn't put up gas guns if he knows I'm on the case. Then we get back onto the "how long do we allow it to build up" discussion.... Also, day 5 was much the same result as day 1, if I'd left it until week 5, the bag then would have been bigger, no doubt, but I'd have lost the perm to gas guns - no brainer really!! thats right rub it in you swines.............. Sorry, not intended, just trying to stimulate debate!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 WellI I am off to Broadland to see if I can find a few pigeons down there this weekend. I think you must have 99.9% of the Norfolk population on your ground Motty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westley Posted March 4, 2014 Report Share Posted March 4, 2014 flock ! wots a flock ? i hant seen a flocking flock since flock knows.i might as well flocking well flock off...forgotton what a pigeon (is that hoe you spell it ?) looks like..... as if a giant meteor landed here in august and wiped out all pigeons....extinction level event....even the french have stopped coming...they never hit anything, last time they came last year they (2 of them) burnt off 2 cases of catridges in one day and got 7 birds..... But how many were Pigeon ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoggysreels Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 I have several times described the behavoir of my few hundred local birds, how they "flock-string" up and down, to and fro from local trees, never stopping to feed long, crops never full. I say this suggests they are not what I call "HUNGRY hungry" but are just snacking when they fancy a bite to eat. One bird gets up, they ALL get up. I have shot this farm more or less once a week for 5 weeks, each time the flock string-visits my pattern a few times after re-grouping in the trees, before going off and sitting in distant trees for hours. Each time they visit I get a shot or two, after that it's just the odd Nobby-No-Mates for hours until the flock tries one more vist late afternoon then goes to roost. I have had 10-20 victims each day, but my visits seem to have made no difference to the birds behavoir when I'm not on guard. Today, I have just spent an hour watching and it's starting to change. It's still to and fro the trees to field but now mainly in pairs. They still head for feeding birds but not into the group, just near the group. Have you noticed how in summer paired couples like their own space whilst still being near the group? Each pair doesn't stop long, some landed near enough to my truck that I could watch individuals. They ate for 5-10 minutes, then back together to the trees. They flew right over me, so I could see crops were not full. Still not HUNGRY hungry. Hopefully, the flock situation is breaking up, if only they would hit the field directly without sitting in the trees and watching 1st. Any thoughts from you decades-experienced guys?? Couldn't have described the past week more accurate if l'd typo'ed it myself .... today 6 hours ... grand total = 1 X Pigeon Flocks reducing, though still frequently up and away ... "away in as much, away from me" .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bleeh Posted March 5, 2014 Report Share Posted March 5, 2014 Still good numbers around North Suffolk/Sotuh Norfolk.I'll give the rape a go this weekend, but I don't hold high hopes as the availability of food and the lack of cover doesn't make very good winter shooting around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kes Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 Interesting thread. I live adjacent to a 15 acre field which is part of an organic beef farm. The grass has started growing but the mix here includes clover to prvide and fix nitrogen for the grass. The woodies get on this each year as it starts to shoot. Been seeing flocks of 50 to 60 daily on the ground with birds coming and going all day. They drop in individually or in small groups but here usually 1/2 birds. I have seen the field blue with birds as the clover starts growing properly but I reckon we are a couple of weeks away from that. Also, within 3/4 mile of that field, the woodies are roosting in large flocks 1-200 a night but still arriving in small groups - havent seen large flocks since the continental birds hopped it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddaftspaniel Posted March 6, 2014 Report Share Posted March 6, 2014 Been on clover up here for the last month. Too much choice though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 not seen a flock of pigeons all winter round here, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickymiroku Posted March 9, 2014 Report Share Posted March 9, 2014 yes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.