marsh man Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 With the new season only a couple of weeks away how do you think duck and geese have done this year ? We don't get any wild geese down hear for a month or so yet but going by the amount of Greylags on the broads they have done well in fact to many as they are becoming a pest. as for duck I have seen a few decent size lots flying about but it don't look more than average at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenboy Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 Seems to have been a good year form what I have seen on the rivers and drains , I recon several pairs would have got two broods off this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clakk Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 loads here ,plenty reared down by swarkestone bridge hopefully theyl decide to move out to the coast b4 september. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anser2 Posted August 14, 2014 Report Share Posted August 14, 2014 (edited) Its been a very good year in North Norfolk. A sample of 39 mallard brood sizes found an average of 5 young per pair brood which is very good. Many of these broods were on the point of flying. Tufted duck two have done well with a brood size of 7 per brood but only three broods were sampled. Shoveler and pochard have done less well with and average of 2.5 young per brood. Very few broods of gadwall were found , only two one of 3 and one of 2 so they too have a brood size of 2.5. In all the breeding season has been fairly good , but the total number of broods have been lower than normal. As ever the greylag have done well with a brood size of 4.5 , but some broods will not be flying at the start of the season. For some reason they were late starting to breed this spring. Given the risk of greylag going onto the GL next year I would urge for wildfowlers not to hold back from shooting a few more than normal and perhaps we can take a little of the heat out of the argument. No canada broods were found on the marsh survey though a few did lay back in the spring all the nests were lost. Edited August 14, 2014 by anser2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Konnie Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 had been seeing several mallard earlier, but think they may be shedding feathers as of late none on stubbles on my patch. saw a hen cross the road on the way to the marsh, had a couple of chicks maybe 4 weeks old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Seems to have been a good year for the ducks, plenty of young Mallard about. Also have seen Mandarin chicks in numbers this summer! Greylags and the feral barnacle population have done well, but there is a noticeable drop in the numbers of Canada's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kent Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Its been good here Westmoorland have done particularly well with their duck tunnels and rearing. The Curlew and Oster catchers etc have had a great year up on the moorland were I am and I saw the biggest number of mallard nests ever (but cant say more now as the cover is too high to see). We had inland breeding Greylag this year but I think they got Illegally killed by a near neighbour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangford wildfowler Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 On strangford lough it has been a very good year for the local Greylag geese population with sizeable skeins flying about, also the mallard had a good year aswell only this morning i seen a hen mallard with 4 ducklings so i think that it has been a good year overall, but none of this will matter as they will all go to the flight ponds dotted around the lough and get hammered which will results in another bad season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted August 15, 2014 Author Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Speaking to a bird watcher this morning up Breydon he was saying a few Widgeon have started to arrive, but nowadays some stay over from last season so seeing some in August is not unusual, there are also some late broods of Mallard in the dykes which are in the flapper stage. I say late broods rather than second brood as I haven't seen any early lots on the move. We use to see big numbers of Mallard go on laid wheat and barley fields and some years there were more duck than pigeons going on, weather it still go on in other parts of the country I don't know but I haven't seen it round hear now for several years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henry d Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 A few decent broods with one yesterday with 4x 3/4+ grown ducklings and a small skein of local greylags with what looked like 50-50 adults and young. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad63 Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Seems to have been a good year for the ducks, plenty of young Mallard about. Also have seen Mandarin chicks in numbers this summer! Greylags and the feral barnacle population have done well, but there is a noticeable drop in the numbers of Canada's. Virtually non existent here on the Exe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 Virtually non existent here on the Exe Really!! I was lucky enough to win a flight on the exe estuary (by the canal) at auction a couple of seasons ago and the numbers of Canada's astounded me. We were only talking the other day about trying to arrange another flight down there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad63 Posted August 15, 2014 Report Share Posted August 15, 2014 No problem organising a flight for you however the Canadas have dwindled dramatically these past few years. Still time for a few to show yet though so fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silver pigeon 3 Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 No problem organising a flight for you however the Canadas have dwindled dramatically these past few years. Still time for a few to show yet though so fingers crossed. Cheers bud, might take you up on that! Do you think that the reduction in numbers is related to them being on the GL or are there other reasons? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad63 Posted August 16, 2014 Report Share Posted August 16, 2014 No doubt in my mind, introducing them to the GL has done em in these parts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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