Geese arriving

[Badgerpig]

Hundreds of pink footed geese this morning over South Lanarkshire, sky was absolutely full of V formations coming in from the North, what a cracking sight in the morning sun 😊

[Stonepark]

2000-3000 on forth last few days

[Fisheruk]

Thousands in Southport

Canada geese galore. Counted over 700 on one lake last weekend.

Canada geese galore. Counted over 700 on one lake last weekend.

[marsh man]

Strangely enough I was going to post a similar new post with the same title .

 

Not having a lot to do today I thought I would have a few hours on some wheat stubble that had been left , when I got there just after dinner I noticed they had put some lime all over the field and with not many pigeons about and the lime on the field I decided to give it a miss.

 

While sitting in the motor having a drink of coffee a skein of Pinks came out of the clouds , spinning and twisting about and landed on the next field over , getting the glasses out there were already 100s of geese feeding on some old barley stubble and all the time there were new geese arriving every few minutes until there were geese in the sky as far as the eye could see all the while . some were little lots of ten , twenty and so on , and now again there would be a big skein running into a few 100.

 

I left there about 4.30 and by then I recon there were well over 5000 and the new geese arriving look as if they were landing on the backs of geese already feeding as there was very little room left for any new comers .

 

Also today was the first time I saw beet being lifted so we can safely say now the geese have arrived Autumn is here and the season have now started , maybe a couple of weeks late , but like they say , better late than never

[6.5x55SE]

Strangely enough I was going to post a similar new post with the same title .

 

Not having a lot to do today I thought I would have a few hours on some wheat stubble that had been left , when I got there just after dinner I noticed they had put some lime all over the field and with not many pigeons about and the lime on the field I decided to give it a miss.

 

While sitting in the motor having a drink of coffee a skein of Pinks came out of the clouds , spinning and twisting about and landed on the next field over , getting the glasses out there were already 100s of geese feeding on some old barley stubble and all the time there were new geese arriving every few minutes until there were geese in the sky as far as the eye could see all the while . some were little lots of ten , twenty and so on , and now again there would be a big skein running into a few 100.

 

I left there about 4.30 and by then I recon there were well over 5000 and the new geese arriving look as if they were landing on the backs of geese already feeding as there was very little room left for any new comers .

 

Also today was the first time I saw beet being lifted so we can safely say now the geese have arrived Autumn is here and the season have now started , maybe a couple of weeks late , but like they say , better late than never

Good to hear John. I did tell them you felt left out so pop along and pay John a visit 😂😂👍

[marsh man]

Good to hear John. I did tell them you felt left out so pop along and pay John a visit

Really good of yer Brad , tell yer , there is a lot of good folk in the fens and around N / Norfolk who think of us poor Southerners when were going through a lean time , we will treat them with the respect they deserve and only remove the old and decrepit , if they could do the same I recon I would be the first on there list

[anser2]

John I heard a lot of them ( pinks ) coming off an estuary close to you at the weekend very early while it was still dark and later on a lot of greylags too , but all the geese kept well wide of where I was shooting.I had 4 flights your way at the weekend and only had one shot at an almost impossible bunch of teal flicking between a gap in the river side reeds. The weather did not help but, it was great to be back on my old fowling grounds again though. Where I missed the teal was the exact spot where i shot my first teal 51 years ago.

Edited October 5, 2016 by anser2

[marsh man]

John I heard a lot of them ( pinks ) coming off an estuary close to you at the weekend very early while it was still dark and later on a lot of greylags too , but all the geese kept well wide of where I was shooting.I had 4 flights your way at the weekend and only had one shot at an almost impossible bunch of teal flicking between a gap in the river side reeds. The weather did not help but, it was great to be back on my old fowling grounds again though. Where I missed the teal was the exact spot where i shot my first teal 51 years ago.

Good to hear from you Robert , the duck shooting in September was nearly a non event on the marshes due to the weather , dryness and very few migrant fowl turning up in the area.

 

Now things look a lot more promising with Widgeon building up each day now to add to a tidy lot already on the estuary , strange with the geese , as yesterday morning me and a bird watcher was looking at a single Brent Goose when a small lot of Pinks were well up coming in from the coast and apart from some Greys these were more or less the first ones I had seen , then yesterday I was out in the Broadland area and there were 100s that must have just arrived as they were nearly as high as the clouds and coming in from the sea around the Sea Palling area.

 

It is good going for you to still shoot your old fowling ground from more than a half century ago , maybe next time you go the conditions will be in your favour and you will be rewarded with something in the bag . Good luck

[TONY R]

Went over to east yorkshire om Monday morning thick fog on much of the way and dense when i got there at about half five, verey slow before anything started to move about quite a few wrens and warblers flying about landing next to me in the reeds, i had a magic moment with one of these little chaps who was perched on a angled reed not 3 foot off me for what seemed like five mins, think it was the birds way of saying what are you doing here on a morning like this.

It seemed a long wait just staring into the grey murk, but about 650AM heard forst wingbeats above me in the fog then fleating glympses of teal every now and again, two mallard came by well in shot range but i just was not ready for them.

About seven oclock i heard that distinctive musical note of canadas on the move they were low and somewhere over the river sounded real close but just could not see them, Greys folowed with a couple of canadas in with them, these were directly above and although i saw them very briefly they were not vissible for long enough to offer a chance of a shot.

A few more lots of greys up above me in the fog folowed over the next half hour or so, then at just before eight i hear Pinkfeet lots of pinkfeet, that resonating sound when they get over a hundred or so spread out above me fog was claring up above now but patchy but i could make out skeins now sssome looked not too high but slightly to my right , i jumped up and ran back to the bank top about 60 yards more or less where most of them seemed to be going.

Two more skeins went through i could make out shapes and i am guessing they were 70 yards up, then i heard a small bunch of pinks that sounded lower to my right over the elders vissibility was pretty poor but i saw them long enough to get on a bird it dissapeared but i tracked it throughthe fog swung and went for the shot , .....Nothing then what seemed like a good few seconds i heard the bump as it hit the ground , the dog was on it, i went down through the elder to be geeted with a very proud little Springer dragging his first ever pink, I was happy as larry at the result, pinks were flying above me as i took it from him, they were shootable but i was ok with that bird for today, conditions were not ideal you only had brief patches of vissibility then they were in the fog again.

I decided to call it a day i had a result and could not be happer with the litt;le dog he has come trhreough well, Awesome flight ill never forget.

Edited October 6, 2016 by TONY R

[6.5x55SE]

Top Man Tony pleased for you mate and well done to your Dog.20ga !!!!! 👍

[figgy]

John I heard a lot of them ( pinks ) coming off an estuary close to you at the weekend very early while it was still dark and later on a lot of greylags too , but all the geese kept well wide of where I was shooting.I had 4 flights your way at the weekend and only had one shot at an almost impossible bunch of teal flicking between a gap in the river side reeds. The weather did not help but, it was great to be back on my old fowling grounds again though. Where I missed the teal was the exact spot where i shot my first teal 51 years ago.

Be good if you had a photo of the spot from when you shot your first Teal and now,see the changes to the marsh or estuary.

[anser2]

That’s the thing Figgy there is very little change in the marsh. Same grazing marsh behind the river wall though in the old days you never saw any sheep, plenty today along with the cattle. Same wide reed beds running alongside the river though the salty pools have silted up these days and the same twisting deep tidal river and in cold weather the mallard still like to shelter on the same bends they did 50 years ago. The biggest change is with the geese. Pinks were a rare bird 50 years ago locally , whitefronts were our bread and butter goose then and the odd canada or greylag ( very odd ). The greylag have become much more common these days thanks to some introduction projects including one by GY Wildfowlers and we are getting a few from Orkney these days. The duck are much the same though we get more wigeon today and gadwall , a duck we never saw until the late 1970s. I will never forget shooting my first gadwall , one late autumn dusk. A dozen mallard had been waiting for flight time up river , hens quacking away as they do in the fading light. Just as the last light was draining from the sky they were up swinging over the reeds across the river , but one pair kept coming down stream and I dropped a drake in full plumage. None of the local gunners knew what it was , but at that time I had a small collection of waterfowl including gadwall so I knew. We get fewer diving duck now than in the old days. Given a bit of cold weather and the river would be full of tufted and pochard. The reed ronds were full of snipe , a bird that’s getting increasingly scarce these days. I remember once getting 5 with a shot using single barrelled Harrington and Richardson hammer 12 bore. A bird flicked out of the side of a shallow muddy dyke . I killed it as it flew down the dyke and unknown to me there were 25 more sitting in the rushes along the dyke and 4 were unlucky enough to get caught in the pattern. The coypu have gone , but we now have Chinese water deer and rare birds can still be found ( saw wedge of 3 bitterns flying along the river last year ) bearded tits still flit past chiming in the reeds and the autumn migration brings a host of uncommon waders.

 

Despite these minor changes the essence of the marsh is still the same with its wide views over the vast grazing marshes dotted with wind mills and as the landscape fades away into the far distance to be cut by ribbons of water as the tidal rivers wind their way to the estuary each with its wide fringe of waving reeds and the wide sky's you only get here and in the Fens. I was born in Kent , but lived in Norfolk since I was a very young boy and after all this time can almost call myself a native. Over the years I have shot many marshes from the South Coast to Scotland , but here in this landscape with a gun under my arm I feel at home.

I do have a few photos of the old days ( though I never carry a camera when shooting these days ) , but never sorted out how to post them on here.

Edited October 6, 2016 by anser2

[TONY R]

Top Man Tony pleased for you mate and well done to your Dog.20ga !!!!!

Yes still the 20 but i will admit it was going to be a ten but with the fog i decided to stick with the 20 still, kind of a nice touch too with the little gun.

Think i have to start taking a bigger gun now though with the geese activity about curently. Few pintail about this year compared to ussual think they must have had a decent year breeding, ive not had one yet but mate had two the other night he told me and i have seen a few at a distance.

[6.5x55SE]

Yes still the 20 but i will admit it was going to be a ten but with the fog i decided to stick with the 20 still, kind of a nice touch too with the little gun.

Think i have to start taking a bigger gun now though with the geese activity about curently. Few pintail about this year compared to ussual think they must have had a decent year breeding, ive not had one yet but mate had two the other night he told me and i have seen a few at a distance.

Even on the Foreshore the 20ga is more than capable of folding Pink's especially if using PWS-HEVI-SHOT-HW13 or TSS. Agree about Pintail shot 2 myself so far As for Pink's they are flooding in NOW i had 2k turn up mid morning yesterday and 1200-1500 so far today 😊

[TONY R]

Even on the Foreshore the 20ga is more than capable of folding Pink's especially if using PWS-HEVI-SHOT-HW13 or TSS. Agree about Pintail shot 2 myself so far As for Pink's they are flooding in NOW i had 2k turn up mid morning yesterday and 1200-1500 so far today

I think your right i have just been using steel reloads 3 inch. And even dropped canadas with them no problem, i cant say i have ever felt compromised on any geese this season with this 20 bore.

If i could guarantee geese evry day at ranges up to 40 or so i would use it full time i think.

With steel i like big steel for geese at ranges much over this, tens handle the big shot well and i must say i want to get out with the ten again.

Im out in the morning again taking the video cams have a try at filming, never done anything like this before.

[Big Al]

Im out in the morning again taking the video cams have a try at filming, never done anything like this before.

Looking forward to seeing the results.

[TONY R]

Looking forward to seeing the results.

Well i tried, i got a piece of footage of a mate dropping a grey but most of it obstructed by my own shotgun, I went for using a replay 480 i have on my base ball cap brim, i forgot about aligning it properly, i set it how i remembered i did before but never checked it, much of the footage is reeds and blured images of my fingers turning it on and off, ill try and edit the bit where he acctualy shot the goose hes 100 yards plus to one side of me and by some miracle dispite the terrible camera control off my baseball cap it did show the birds the shots and the bird starting to fall, but ill never get a job in the film industry let me put it that way.

Im going to try with the barrel cam and cap cam next time and i might set up an ordinary digital camera to video me from a yard or two away.

Any hints on setting up the cap cam so i know where its filming, its guesswork im using now, not sure i can get a cable to fit my phone, could i use a usb for my phone and the cameras medi cable check it like that.

 

What i am trying to say above is i messed it up big time i must try harder, but i will post up the goose shot footage lasts only a few secs but its there. Any hints advice more than welcome here, ill be honest im strugling with cameras.

Edited October 8, 2016 by TONY R