Virtually treeless landscapes.

[JDog]

How is it that some of the best pigeon shooting in the country is in areas with very few trees?

 

Stevo posted two videos of shooting over beans with no trees in sight and I have seen other pictures from Lincolnshire and East Anglia where the countryside looked barren. Where do the pigeons live and breed in such areas and how far do they fly to feed?

[la bala]

In Fenland, although it looks barren, there are usually some form of tree belt or spinney within flying distance.

[Continental Shooter]

Poigeon are known travellers. They can travel up to 40 miles a day to source food, so, I wouldn't be too worried if there are no trees in sight

[kitchrat]

And they can't do this dammed "sit in the trees and watch to make sure it's OK." They HAVE to go in!! In the summer they do it on the wires before dropping into the crops. I hate the wires...

[Konnie]

loads of small towns and villages, the town I live in of a evening from my inlaws patio you can see a constant stream going into the cemetery, but go out to feed

on surrounding fields

[Guest stevo]

where I shoot there tends to be lots of spinneys that hold lots of birds , there are still a good few large woods about , however theres just a fare ol distance between them

 

stevo

[marsh man]

Some of the land I shoot over is only a field or two from the sea, so the pigeons can only come from one direction and like konnie says with villages and church yards in between an area of marshland which consist of several hundred acres , there are a few small marsh carrs but apart from these that's about it. the nearest main woods are forestry commission land about 4 miles away. I more or less know where they come from, but what I don't know is how do they find it in the first place ? last year I went to Sutton Bridge to look at the east light house and walking down that road from the Bridge Hotel about half way down there were some pea fields that were huge , pigeons were going in all the time I was walking past it and I couldn't see hardly a tree any where, the only difference with there fields to ours was the size of them, where most of ours are less than 100 acres most of them ones seemed over 100 acres ,I believed the peas belong to Proctors. What the shooting is like on them big fields I don't know perhaps Motty and Fenboy who comes from that neck of the woods could let us know.

[Big Mat]

Some of the land I shoot over is only a field or two from the sea, so the pigeons can only come from one direction and like konnie says with villages and church yards in between an area of marshland which consist of several hundred acres , there are a few small marsh carrs but apart from these that's about it. the nearest main woods are forestry commission land about 4 miles away. I more or less know where they come from, but what I don't know is how do they find it in the first place ? last year I went to Sutton Bridge to look at the east light house and walking down that road from the Bridge Hotel about half way down there were some pea fields that were huge , pigeons were going in all the time I was walking past it and I couldn't see hardly a tree any where, the only difference with there fields to ours was the size of them, where most of ours are less than 100 acres most of them ones seemed over 100 acres ,I believed the peas belong to Proctors. What the shooting is like on them big fields I don't know perhaps Motty and Fenboy who comes from that neck of the woods could let us know.

 

I know exactley where you are talking about, cannot comment on the shooting as i dont shoot there. Proctors do farm that area though. Further down that area going backtowards Kings Lynn there are plenty of trees dotted around the place. The area which i frequent due to work is bigish fields but there are a few spinneys about and i've seen alot of pigeons there ( motty will know roughly where i am on about )

[kyska]

We have very very few trees on all of the farm, and since going to a contractor for the ground work, with them using huge machinery some of our fields are over 70 acres, I still do ok.

 

I have nothing to judge my shooting against though, but it's obvious I don't shoot as many as others on here.

[Konnie]

yes strange part of the world, I believe the peas are grown for proctors on several farms some I have shot over and as you say large fields my father worked on one of the farms and the pea growers don't like the fields to really be less than 40 acres because of traveling and harvest timing. So several pigeons large fields good sport but not predictable. Always thought it strange how some of the farms in the fens and wash that if they were in other parts of the country would be estates several larger than 1500 acres

[fenboy]

There are very few trees on most of the land I shoot .

As Konnie say's lots of birds tend to roost in the towns / villages then fly out to feed.

 

There may be very few woods in these parts but there are an awful lot of small spinnys etc.

 

What is very different is the birds behavior, we just do not get the concentrated flight lines that I often envy reading about on here.

 

As the spinnys are dotted about here there and every where I tend to get the odd bird coming from any direction rather than defined flight lines.

[magyar viz]

Have more photos of local area but to large to post, ah fenboy look behind my dog i second pic, have a good one of moulton seas end, but to large I was shooting a lovely flight line on sunday so was several others as i could hear them a minuet or so after me, the last 2 weekends Sat 46 sunday 27 Sat 21 sunday 10 plus a trip to sinclaires .

Yep they sit on the wires looking making their mind up weather to drop in or not v frustrating .