Wildfowling Season 2014 - 2015

[Grandalf]

Thank you Graham, thank you Jim.

26 - Oh how I wish I could start it all over again...

 

Yes we happy band of fowlers down here are very lucky indeed.

It may be termed as goose shooting by some and not considered as real fowling by others.

But, and it's a big but, when you are lucky enough to see upwards of ten thousand geese - or even more - in the air at one time it is truly awesome.

I have never tired of it and that's for sure.

 

Tomorrow the Memsahib and myself are having our Christmas turkey. The lady was not well on the given day. I reckon that bottle of malt will feature shortly afterwards. We are both scotch drinkers so not a drop will be wasted.

 

Cheers guys.

[anser2]

There a few reports of geese heading west and north away from Norfolk , but I hope a few remain for next week as having a few days in the Broads on my marsh a few miles from of where Ayano2 and gandalf were shooting. Finaly shook my chill\flu bug and had a flight on the North Coast , but never saw a duck or goose. I did however have a go at roosting pigeons tonight and managed 5 for 6shots , well above my normal average and all were testing shots. Never seen the woods so empty of pigeons as they seem to be this year though.

[Grandalf]

There a few reports of geese heading west and north away from Norfolk , but I hope a few remain for next week as having a few days in the Broads on my marsh a few miles from of where Ayano2 and gandalf were shooting. Finaly shook my chill\flu bug and had a flight on the North Coast , but never saw a duck or goose. I did however have a go at roosting pigeons tonight and managed 5 for 6shots , well above my normal average and all were testing shots. Never seen the woods so empty of pigeons as they seem to be this year though.

Your pigeons are all down here in Suffolk. Masses of them.

 

Knowing roughly where your marsh on the Broads is... The main army went straight to it. Down the middle of the island.

You should do alright.

Good luck to you.

I will be out again on Tuesday.

[fenboy]

Hopefully those departing geese will call back in on us !

[Wildfowler12]

It was a slow start on the marsh this morning. I had hoped to put some wigeon in the bag, but very few made an appearance (as has been the norm this year), and the ones that did were well out of range. Eventually a pack of teal came screaming down the gutter, my first shot missed every one, but the second saw a tall hen fold after they had flared.

 

Not much happened over the next half hour, then the geese arrived in their 100s. I wasn't planning on shooting any, but a few skeins came close enough for a shot, and I couldn't resist the temptation.

 

 

With 2 in the bag I put the gun away and started the long slog back to the boat. A nice morning in the end

[marsh man]

There a few reports of geese heading west and north away from Norfolk , but I hope a few remain for next week as having a few days in the Broads on my marsh a few miles from of where Ayano2 and gandalf were shooting. Finaly shook my chill\flu bug and had a flight on the North Coast , but never saw a duck or goose. I did however have a go at roosting pigeons tonight and managed 5 for 6shots , well above my normal average and all were testing shots. Never seen the woods so empty of pigeons as they seem to be this year though.

Still several Pinks on the Acle marshes but not as many two weeks ago , a lot are now using the Halvergate area

.

Plenty of duck on Breydon and that's where there staying , with only a few flighting on the marshes.

 

Been out most nights and it seem the same for duck all over , keep getting the odd one or two but you have to put the time in , both last night and tonight were clear skys so making it nigh on impossible to see duck with a clear background when it start getting dark

 

I have not seen the latest bird count yet , but it could be where geese have out numbered duck year ......How times change.

[Aled]

Good shooing all.

I made my first ever visit to the marsh yesterday, not to shoot, but to have a look at access points and to discuss safety issues. Throughly enjoyed my visit, learnt a lot in a short space of time.

Thanks to MS for showing me round. I still have to make 10 more accompanied visits before i can be taken off the probationary list, but its a start.

Cheers

Aled

[Fal]

Good shooing all.

I made my first ever visit to the marsh yesterday, not to shoot, but to have a look at access points and to discuss safety issues. Throughly enjoyed my visit, learnt a lot in a short space of time.

Thanks to MS for showing me round. I still have to make 10 more accompanied visits before i can be taken off the probationary list, but its a start.

Cheers

Aled

Aled, did you join CWA in the end?

 

I was out last night, finally managed to bag a foreshore Gadwall! Super chuffed, first group I have even seen on the shore, my mate bagged one too, I'm guessing they were the same bunch, I heard his shots go off then all of a sudden they were on top of me! I bagged one first shot, then had a jam, first jam for me with this gun, upon inspection it seems that my lack of cleaning may have been the issue! Whoops!

[Aled]

Yes i did, now a probabtionary member of CWA.

Well done on the Gadwall Fal.

Cheers

Aled

[Fal]

Yes i did, now a probabtionary member of CWA.

Well done on the Gadwall Fal.

Cheers

Aled

 

Cheers Aled,

 

I have sent you a PM.

[Grandalf]

Took ayano3 and his mate Jim out near Acle, Norfolk, last week. In the morning I got it right and several thousand pinks appeared. Some overhead, some wide, some high, some low enough - but they were there. Sight and sound just fantastic. In the afternoon we went to a different marsh - walked off a few hundred as we approached and managed to get a skein to come to the 'coys. Super day.

Yesterday, on my own this time, went to the afternoon marsh which is only about a mile from where we were in the morning.

Just on first light there was an enormous explosion of geese way out in the reserve area. Only light enough to get the impression of a rising cloud on the low horizon. The noise, and what a noise, gradually faded away - TO THE NORTH - I was to the west! That is fowling in this area - Boom or bust.

I sat it out from before first light to 1.30pm. By then me and Merlyn were on the verges of starvation. She'd eaten all the dog biscuits I could find in my pack and I had consumed my two 'energy' bars and, more importantly, the flask was empty.

We had just one pink to show for our patience. It was cold, wet and windy. Fowling is not always fantastic in East Anglia. You still need a bit of luck.

On the other had we are very lucky down here - Long may it continue.

[anser2]

Just back from a couple of good days a few miles away from where gandalf has been flighting.. Plenty of pinks , but almost no duck. Monday dawned bright and frosty with all the flashes and dykes frozen up. The pinks were late comming but when they did start to move thousands arrived. My mate and i had a guest who had kindly allowed us a couple of cracking days on the Ouse Wash in the autumn. A single goose came over my mate who left it for us . My guest missed with the first two shots , but luckly the third shot sped true. More pinks arrived and a nice party of about twenty came over us . Our guest had one and i had just a single shot that droped one on the next meadow. Then a single gave my mate an easy chance that he took. For the next hour the sky was never empty of geese and we all had a number of chances with our guest managing 4 , my mate 2 and i had 3 with one distant dropper that we could not find. 9 made a brilliant flight and we packed up and were off the marsh by 9 , o clock and as we headed off for breakfast several large skiens landed on the marsh we had been flighting.

 

The next object was to get out guest a chinese water deer. He was a keen stalker , but had never shot a CWD buck. We toured the shoot lunch time and found about thirty deer in ones and two scattered all over the ground. We selected a large buck and after a long stalk our guest was successful. He had to leave before evening flight , but he did not miss anything as I only saw one duck and never had a shot.

 

The next morning we went after some greylag a few miles away , but only a few came of their frozen roost and they kept well wide of us. There was a nice pink foot flight , but we were in the wrong place , though my friend will have a go at them at the weekend. It had been a hell of a cold dawn and everywhere remained frozen up all day. We tried a flight by one of the tidal rivers on our club ground but the duck were high as were the thousands of pinks returning from our ground ( where we flighted yesterday ) to their roost.

 

 

With so many pinks about we had a second flight on our shoot , but a mile away from mondays flighting spot. Unsure if the geese were going to come into this marsh or not, we used decoys. The frost was gone but many of the flashes still frozen. It was a very different dawn , cloudy with a stiff south east wind. The first party kept high and had their mind set else where. Then a pair set their wings giving me a perfect chance 30 yards over head. The first almost hit the dog in the hide as it fell and the second fell just across the dyke. My mate got three in sucession but my Browning jammed as I discovered as a single pink came over 20 yards above my head.. That was me out of action for the remainder of the flight . But with 14 pinks in the bag for 3 flights we had enough so we packed up and were off the marsh by just after 8.o clock. We wanted to leave the marsh quiet for the remainder of the day , but it was soon obvious the geese had found new feeding grounds as most skeins kept high and headed further south to where a couple of beet fields had been just harvested. Hopefully a few will return to our marsh for the last day of the season. Plenty seem to have been roosting on the main splash judging from the amount of droppings though all the birds we had seen had come down from the estuary to the north. But geese can be funny things and we have often done the duck flight and only seen a hand full of geese come into the flood , only to find several thousand had come in during the night.

Edited January 22, 2015 by anser2

[marsh man]

Another good report ( anser2 ) on your three days on the local marshes . Like you say there are plenty of geese about but a shortage of duck flighting on the marshes . I had goose stew last night and because I done two breasts together I am having it again tonight and with having two more in the freezer I have got enough for now, or unless somebody wants one I will be trying for duck this coming last week as the splashes have now thawed out and hopefully a few duck start a using them.

 

I did go yesterday on one of my rare early mornings outings ,as the water on the marsh was frozen and I thought there might be a few duck using the river , after standing in the reeds for what seems like ages and getting cold, the only duck I saw apart from a few Mallard going back to Breydon were some Teal going up and down the river . I did manage to get one, and it came down close to the other side of the river , my dog went in and he was soon going down with the tide looking for this duck on the surface but what he didn't know the duck had swam in the reeds and he was way down the river past it so I called him back and let him have a run round to get warm , so that was it for the time being as I was feeling the cold as well , after a cup of tea and a bacon roll I was out again only this time during a 3 mile trip to the other side of the river to find the duck , when we got there I walked him in the breeze to help with the scent and as it turned out the Teal was laying in the reeds dead, so back on the way home again after achieving what we set off to do and we both had the satisfaction of finding it.

[Penelope]

Good on ya for going back to find that teal.

 

A true sportsman.

 

Another good report ( anser2 ) on your three days on the local marshes . Like you say there are plenty of geese about but a shortage of duck flighting on the marshes . I had goose stew last night and because I done two breasts together I am having it again tonight and with having two more in the freezer I have got enough for now, or unless somebody wants one I will be trying for duck this coming last week as the splashes have now thawed out and hopefully a few duck start a using them.

 

I did go yesterday on one of my rare early mornings outings ,as the water on the marsh was frozen and I thought there might be a few duck using the river , after standing in the reeds for what seems like ages and getting cold, the only duck I saw apart from a few Mallard going back to Breydon were some Teal going up and down the river . I did manage to get one, and it came down close to the other side of the river , my dog went in and he was soon going down with the tide looking for this duck on the surface but what he didn't know the duck had swam in the reeds and he was way down the river past it so I called him back and let him have a run round to get warm , so that was it for the time being as I was feeling the cold as well , after a cup of tea and a bacon roll I was out again only this time during a 3 mile trip to the other side of the river to find the duck , when we got there I walked him in the breeze to help with the scent and as it turned out the Teal was laying in the reeds dead, so back on the way home again after achieving what we set off to do and we both had the satisfaction of finding it.

[fenboy]

Good on ya for going back to find that teal.

 

A true sportsman.

 

 

Indeed , many would not have bothered .

I have teal for tea tonight , I anticipate it will be far tastier than the shoveler

[Aled]

I live inland so not proper Wildfowling country, but there are a lot of Canada and Greylag geese around my home area (Tywi valley West Wales) at the moment. I nsaw three very large skeins this morning and 5 yesterday!

Cheers

Aled

[anser2]

Last week a golden eagle escaped from a raptor collection 40 miles away. I was a little hesitant in yesterdays post to include a raptor we saw on Tuseday because I am not sure what it was.

 

As I said yesterday we had lost a pink , it fell so far away it was impossible to be sure which marsh it was on and though we had a look later for it we found nothing. Tuseday I was glassing the marshes looking for geese when I picked a large bird of prey plucking something on the grass not far from where we lost the pink. At first I thought it was a rough legged buzzard , but when a crow landed beside it the crow was dwalfed by the raptor. The bird of prey was huge and looked at least 4 times the size of the crow. Though it was a long way off for a confirmed sighting I can only think it may have been the lost eagle . Have you seen any signs of one about Marshman ?

Edited January 23, 2015 by anser2

[marsh man]

Last week a golden eagle escaped from a raptor collection 40 miles away. I was a little hesitant in yesterdays post to include a raptor we saw on Tuseday because I am not sure what it was.

 

As I said yesterday we had lost a pink , it fell so far away it was impossible to be sure which marsh it was on and though we had a look later for it we found nothing. Tuseday I was glassing the marshes looking for geese when I picked a large bird of prey plucking something on the grass not far from where we lost the pink. At first I thought it was a rough legged buzzard , but when a crow landed beside it the crow was dwalfed by the raptor. The bird of prey was huge and looked at least 4 times the size of the crow. Though it was a long way off for a confirmed sighting I can only think it may have been the lost eagle . Have you seen any signs of one about Marshman ?

As for the sighting of the Eagle " anser2 " , no I haven't but I think I know where your talking about and if it is out there, it might be around the marsh carrs between Halvergate and Reedham , word will soon get about and if I do hear anything I will let you know.

 

This morning I took my dog up Breydon for a run before I had to go on todays shoot , when I first went around 6.45am it was starting to get light and being a calm morning the geese that had been roosting started to talk to each over , the noise got louder and louder and I thought there must be several out there but it was not light enough to see how many there was , well when I was nearly back to the little car park Peter A the well known bird watcher was setting up his telescope to watch them lift off and as I had a little time on my hands I decided to stay and watch , by now it was light enough to see them through his scope and what a sight it was , just about every goose was walking round and stretching there wings and then they started to take off in there thousands and I don't know how they count them but he estermated between 14 and 15,000 , and I know one thing , when I finally hang my guns up I am going to treat myself to a decent telescope as you can intrude on there way of life without causing any disturbance and learning about how they live at the same time .

[Big Mat]

 

Out this evening, weather was far from ideal but managed to get one cock teal and missed another one!

[Konnie]

you sure your not fibbing mat dog looks like it's asleep.

[fenboy]

you sure your not fibbing mat dog looks like it's asleep.

It also must be laying on the teal

[Big Mat]

It also must be laying on the teal

Teal was retrieved on the way off the marsh so no photo!

[fenboy]

Teal was retrieved on the way off the marsh so no photo!

 

What you found one someone else shot

Only Joking well done on getting one , I have had so many over me this season its unreal but have only shot two on the foreshore, its nearly always to dark to see the beggers .

[harrycatcat1]

Teal was retrieved on the way off the marsh so no photo!

 

Nice one Mat, well done

[Big Mat]

 

What you found one someone else shot

Only Joking well done on getting one , I have had so many over me this season its unreal but have only shot two on the foreshore, its nearly always to dark to see the beggers .

I've managed a couple of teal this season, this one made the mistake of calling as it came up the creek and then turned giving me a nice easy going away shot at around 30 yards, stone dead from the first barrel of ounce steel 4s, homemade of course.