What are they on near you ?

[Cranfield]

After disappointing results on the drillings this year, the peas are finally chitting in my area and some fair numbers of birds are appearing.

I shot 37 yesterday afternoon , none were really committed to the decoys, but came close enough.

Checked 10 crops and they were all stuffed with what I am sure were hawthorn shoots.

I think up until harvest time, the peas are going to be the crop of choice round here, plus some birds on laid cereals.

[ditchman]

the birds that im trying to shoot are mainly on....... Paracetermol...........

 

 

(they are still "budding" around here but are also on the grass picking the clover out and suchlike)............and in the evenings near woodland...dropping down into the margins of chomped rape ..before bedtime......

 

 

the times we are seeing reasonable numbers of birds for this time of year...is 5-8 o'clock in the morning....and late in the evening 5-6 o'clock onwards......

 

 

you dun well shooting 37 in an afternoon...that was a pleasant little outing..

Edited May 12, 2016 by ditchman

[JDog]

The hedges here in the Lincolnshire Wolds are very well managed and the new shoots are attracting good numbers of pigeons.

 

Other buds are also of interest.

 

I have just driven past a number of fields where the peas are coming through and there were no pigeons on them.

[fenboy]

From what I have seen mainly buds and clover.

[Penelope]

Poor rape, peas and tree buds on my ground, not in any great numbers or regular pattern though. Out Saturday for a look.

Edited May 12, 2016 by Penelope

[ditchman]

There you are......replies from right across the mid to the east of england................and all say the same ..

[Ashd13ntt]

I too are from the same area as JDog, and can confirm that the birds are on buds big time with a few returning to rape that has been hammered throughout the winter. I have peas, probably the same ones as JDog, that are chitting but I haven't seen a bird on them since they were drilled. I expect that the peas will come good in the next 3/4 weeks.

[Catamong]

Cranners, not seen any birds on Hawthorn bushes in our area, but they have been on Beech buds..?

 

Peas are typically a " Marmite " crop around here, they either blitz them non-stop or pretty much ignore them completely, which looks to be the case in this area.

 

Cat.

[aga man]

They seem to be mainly on top of each other here . The rape has shot up now and the pigeons are on clover and up in beech trees probably on buds.
I have fresh pea and bean drillings with no birds on and some peas that are well on drilled early March, that a few (20 or so) are starting to feed on.
Hopefully the peas will provide some sport soon.

Edited May 12, 2016 by aga man

[7daysinaweek]

i was watching two last week no the buds of next doors Hawthorne

Edited May 12, 2016 by 7daysinaweek

[pigeon controller]

In the centre of England they seem to be on clover, buds Hawthorne , Beech, and peas, we still have numbers around the rape fields.

[saddler]

Mad Dog 20/20 & Buckfast from the look of the lazy ******* sitting in their garden getting ****** in the sun-she-ine....

[ditchman]

eh !

[Cambsman]

Holiday or viagra here by the look of things.

[marsh man]

Seem to be as many ( if not more ) Peas around our area this year than other years , most of them have been in the ground for 3 to 4 weeks and a few Pigeons are starting to give them a look .

 

This afternoon I shot 18 , it was the first time this field has been shot since it was drilled , although the area I was in you can normally decoy a few pigeons down on most crops as there are a lot of Pigeons in the woods and it is only now that some of them are beginning to leave the woods now some of the buds are in leaf .

[kenholland]

have a look this week end peas have got going now, weather looks o k , missus wants to go to a car booter on sat so sunday it will be .

[marsh man]

We have heard a fair bit about Pigeons not going on the peas this year , and the last 2 or 3 years if my memory serve me well .

 

So why should this be ??

 

On the drilling you can put it down to , lack of seed or coating on the seed , although I have shot plenty of pigeons in the past on the Pink coated seed , then when they come through the ground the dressing shouldn't be a problem but still no sign of pigeons.

 

I passed a field down the marsh the other day that had Peas about 3 to 4 inches high , no guns , flags and above all , no Pigeons .

 

Do you think with the amount of Rape grown now they get so used to eating it they now prefer Rape than they do to early Peas ?

[Catamong]

We have heard a fair bit about Pigeons not going on the peas this year , and the last 2 or 3 years if my memory serve me well .

 

So why should this be ??

 

On the drilling you can put it down to , lack of seed or coating on the seed , although I have shot plenty of pigeons in the past on the Pink coated seed , then when they come through the ground the dressing shouldn't be a problem but still no sign of pigeons.

 

I passed a field down the marsh the other day that had Peas about 3 to 4 inches high , no guns , flags and above all , no Pigeons .

 

Do you think with the amount of Rape grown now they get so used to eating it they now prefer Rape than they do to early Peas ?

 

I believe that their feeding habits have changed over the last few years, they do prefer rape at times, although they did hit the peas pretty hard during late Summer, and I had some good bags on the pea stubbles immediately after the field was cut, it was just that they never showed much interest during the early part of the year....that certainly would not have been the case 25 years ago, when they would have been hammering them non stop from the day they were drilled.

 

Cat.

[marsh man]

 

I believe that their feeding habits have changed over the last few years, they do prefer rape at times, although they did hit the peas pretty hard during late Summer, and I had some good bags on the pea stubbles immediately after the field was cut, it was just that they never showed much interest during the early part of the year....that certainly would not have been the case 25 years ago, when they would have been hammering them non stop from the day they were drilled.

 

Cat.

We used to get a lot of new perms by seeing large amounts of Pigeons on the Pea drilling, then enquiring whose land it was and 9 times out of 10 we would get the go ahead.

 

We keep telling people looking for Pigeon shooting to find the crop Pigeons are going on first then make the enquiries , in the case of Peas you would have to be very lucky to find a fresh field of early Peas with good numbers on to start making the enquiry process.

 

They might be out there somewhere , but sadly not on my little bit of the Norfolk countryside.

[kitchrat]

We have heard a fair bit about Pigeons not going on the peas this year , and the last 2 or 3 years if my memory serve me well .

 

So why should this be ??

 

On the drilling you can put it down to , lack of seed or coating on the seed , although I have shot plenty of pigeons in the past on the Pink coated seed , then when they come through the ground the dressing shouldn't be a problem but still no sign of pigeons.

 

I passed a field down the marsh the other day that had Peas about 3 to 4 inches high , no guns , flags and above all , no Pigeons .

 

Do you think with the amount of Rape grown now they get so used to eating it they now prefer Rape than they do to early Peas ?

Better seed drills don't help. Nowadays, when I see a newly drilled field, it is usually very difficult to find out what has been drilled, I don't like digging 3-4 inch holes in the ground in case the farmer doesn't understand!

Perhaps, in the "good old days", pigeons feasting on surface peas just naturally graduated to chitting peas, then flowering peas as the available food source at their favorite field changed. Now, they have no reason to favour that field (in fact have never visited it) and have made other arrangements???

[Jay_Russell]

On my perm they just seam to be in the hedges and blocks off woods. The odd low patch of rape attracts a dozen or so but walk them off they don't return. I habe had some fun shooting the odd bird as they fly around the woods but a lot of time spent standing for 3-4 shots. I'm just walking evenings shooting bunnies at the moment. But missing the pigeon shooting!

[felly100]

Clover here.

[dawntredder]

Cane'd rape....nowt really were I shoot all to far ahead or barley and wheat!!

[kenholland]

had a ride round today 20 acres of peas nothing nowt zilch , then on to the next 3 fields of rape same there, cabbages going in on another patch so with a bit of luck that might produce. just have to keep riding round .

[kippylawkid]

 

Mad Dog 20/20 & Buckfast from the look of the lazy ******* sitting in their garden getting ****** in the sun-she-ine....

That's made me laugh - You need to be familiar with the Scottish phrase book though!