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Take it as you find it


GingerCat
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So earlier today I was feeling a little hungover and jet lagged.not from any nice trip abroad but from working shifts,  whilst mouching around my house contemplating not doing very much when my wife fielded a call from jdog.  

Could I shoot this afternoon from about 3? The field he shot the white wood pigeon. Sure why not. 

I met jdog in the entrance to a rather unusual field. It seems the black grass had got too much for the farmer so he had combined or otherwise removed about 100 acres of it. The rest seemed ok and the result was a stubble field in July. 

There were lots, and i means lots, of birds in the area feedijg on the stanidng barley and about 60 or so got up from the far right corner where we intended on being. 

A busy main road was 400 yards to our left and houses about the same behind and I'm front. They should all be at work though and it shouldn't be an issue. 

The wind was behind, as was the sun and there were probably 4 or 5 different lines crossing  the field. 

We set up with 2 on the rotary and a few shells and didn't have to wait very long. minutes actually and the first bird came in. This continued for the next 2.5 o or maybe 3 hours with some entertaining shots and the odd pair. About half way through the wind dropped and the lines changed but there was enough attention to keep us busy. 

A few dropped into he standing barley and wouldn't decoy at all. 

Satisified that the surrounding barley was safer than we found it we called it a day, picking 32 for around 37 or so that we shot. 

All had barley and rape seed in their crops when I breasted them. 

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This was a chance find but just to put the record straight it was standing wheat in those fields not barley.

This whole cropping must represent a very heavy loss to the farmer who has forked out for seeds, fertilisers, sprays, cultivations and labour only to find that the crop is so badly infested with black grass that it would not make sense to harvest it in the normal way. I have never seen such a large area obliterated in this way.

It was exciting shooting for a couple of hours but it is fair to say that only a small % of the pigeons we saw came anywhere near the decoys.

 

thumbnail_20190710_153302 sprayed off wheat.jpg

thumbnail_20190710_145012 sprayed off wheat 1.jpg

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An interesting report guys. I feel for you Gingercat, if you had the heat we had this afternoon it would have added to your suffering no doubt. We have some major black grass problems in certain areas here too.

Off on my jollies tomorrow so please keep the reports coming to give something to read whilst I lounge by the pool!:good:

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9 hours ago, JDog said:

This was a chance find but just to put the record straight it was standing wheat in those fields not barley.

This whole cropping must represent a very heavy loss to the farmer who has forked out for seeds, fertilisers, sprays, cultivations and labour only to find that the crop is so badly infested with black grass that it would not make sense to harvest it in the normal way. I have never seen such a large area obliterated in this way.

It was exciting shooting for a couple of hours but it is fair to say that only a small % of the pigeons we saw came anywhere near the decoys.

 

thumbnail_20190710_153302 sprayed off wheat.jpg

thumbnail_20190710_145012 sprayed off wheat 1.jpg

One of my farming friends had a similar infestation of black grass in a section of wheat last year, so sprayed it off in the early stages to kill both the wheat and black grass. After harvest, the field was then direct drilled with rape. Interestingly, the rape on the section previously sprayed off, took off and was at one stage a good 12 inches taller than the rest of the field, due I'm sure, to the boost it received from the nitrogen (fertiliser)retained in the soil not taken up by the wheat, if that makes sense. The rest of the rape however soon caught up, was sprayed off about two weeks ago, so I'm eagerly awaiting the combines to roll shortly.

OB

Edited by Old Boggy
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7 minutes ago, pigeon controller said:

Well done to both of you, a nice report of a short concise session also the agricultural information from JDog will enhance my knowledge and allow me to talk to farmers  in the future like an expert!!! 

Definition of an " Expert" , A Drip under Pressure????

Cheeky boy.

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