pigeon controller Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 Following a seventy mile bottle run yesterday in pouring rain and flooded lanes we set out today to finish off the last six farms. The main conversation was the failure of the rape crops due to flea beetle, or the amount of rain that has prevented the fields being worked. Fifty percent of the farms are stating that they will not grow rape next year. On the positive side we found four farms with good healthy rape and birds already feeding but not in great numbers yet. Some of the best numbers of birds are on volunteer rape, which is being hammered. I'm not sure how the crop protection works on these. It was getting on towards midday and we decided to watch one field of rape which had about seventy birds down and a trickle joining so we set up and straight away we had birds decoying confidently for about an hour then it just stopped and for an hour not a bird returned . As it was the shortest day we were concious that the day would finish early. It then turned on at 14.30 to 15.30 then it poured with rain so we packed up and left the field having picked up twenty five birds. No picture due to the rain but an interesting but frustrating day. With the demise of the rape next year we will have to look out our old cabbage and sprout farmers for some winter sport. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam triple Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 Farm where a mate works has lost rape due to flee beetles ,he says pesticides used to control them are now defunct due to what ever was in them now being removed , he also says without this pesticide and the lack of rape oil the implications are far greater as more people will use palm oil which he believes will mean more deforestation more Orangutans and other species being killed or displaced Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted December 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 4 minutes ago, sam triple said: Farm where a mate works has lost rape due to flee beetles ,he says pesticides used to control them are now defunct due to what ever was in them now being removed , he also says without this pesticide and the lack of rape oil the implications are far greater as more people will use palm oil which he believes will mean more deforestation more Orangutans and other species being killed or displaced Most of the farmers are saying that we are importing vast amounts from non EU countries Canada etc. If it's an EU ruling surely that is defunct after the 31st January?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sam triple Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 4 minutes ago, pigeon controller said: Most of the farmers are saying that we are importing vast amounts from non EU countries Canada etc. If it's an EU ruling surely that is defunct after the 31st January?????? Only going by what he said but I know one thing ,we have very little cover crop now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
motty Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 Not the biggest bag you have shot, ST, but at least you got a few. I have done well on set-aside and clover land in winter,when no rape is in the area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenBhoy Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, sam triple said: Farm where a mate works has lost rape due to flee beetles ,he says pesticides used to control them are now defunct due to what ever was in them now being removed , he also says without this pesticide and the lack of rape oil the implications are far greater as more people will use palm oil which he believes will mean more deforestation more Orangutans and other species being killed or displaced The INSECTicide is called neoniotinoid and it's been banned for about 6 - 7 years now. Year on year yields are getting worse. Last autumn as worst on record (avg 11% losses nationwide) but I think this year it'll be pushing 20%. Add in the rain & its looking dire for arable men. Edited December 21, 2019 by BenBhoy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ultrastu Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 No farm in north sommerset has grown rape this year .and only a couple last year .My farmer hasnt sown a single field (with any crop ) at all yet this Autumn. They are just ploughed .and waiting for dryer weather . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted December 21, 2019 Report Share Posted December 21, 2019 I cannot see any difference in you shooting on volunteer rape as you do on any other stubble fields , I thought the idea was to prevent Pigeons from damaging a crop at a later date On paper you would think by having a shortage of rape for pigeons to feed on the fields that are grown and are in good condition would be attracting bigger numbers , this is not always the case , today we were in a very area where a few weeks ago we had 100s going on the Bean stubble's , these are long gone and so are the Pigeons , yes we did see Pigeons on the rape today , no great numbers and a lot of healthy fields didn't have any on at all. What will be interesting next year will be how some of the Autumn drilled fields will turn out , the fields of Winter wheat we walked over today were saturated with no chance of spraying for weeks and large areas laying in water. Like Motty said , not one of your biggest bags , but you gave it a go in spite of the rain and a bag of 20 odd is a lot better than none at all . MERRY CHRISTMAS🎅 MM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pigeon controller Posted December 22, 2019 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2019 10 hours ago, marsh man said: I cannot see any difference in you shooting on volunteer rape as you do on any other stubble fields , I thought the idea was to prevent Pigeons from damaging a crop at a later date On paper you would think by having a shortage of rape for pigeons to feed on the fields that are grown and are in good condition would be attracting bigger numbers , this is not always the case , today we were in a very area where a few weeks ago we had 100s going on the Bean stubble's , these are long gone and so are the Pigeons , yes we did see Pigeons on the rape today , no great numbers and a lot of healthy fields didn't have any on at all. What will be interesting next year will be how some of the Autumn drilled fields will turn out , the fields of Winter wheat we walked over today were saturated with no chance of spraying for weeks and large areas laying in water. Like Motty said , not one of your biggest bags , but you gave it a go in spite of the rain and a bag of 20 odd is a lot better than none at all . MERRY CHRISTMAS🎅 MM We have always said that the birds choose a farm/ fields . We have some farms that grow rape yet never have a problem with major pigeon damage, others will not grow rape as it is devoured by the birds. Thirty odd years ago we had little rape at all so the main food source would be sugar beet , potatoes, cabbage and sprouts over the winter period . As far as the bag you can only shoot the birds that return, I did count the empties bag and for 25 birds we had 30 empties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marsh man Posted December 22, 2019 Report Share Posted December 22, 2019 (edited) 8 hours ago, pigeon controller said: We have always said that the birds choose a farm/ fields . We have some farms that grow rape yet never have a problem with major pigeon damage, others will not grow rape as it is devoured by the birds. Thirty odd years ago we had little rape at all so the main food source would be sugar beet , potatoes, cabbage and sprouts over the winter period . As far as the bag you can only shoot the birds that return, I did count the empties bag and for 25 birds we had 30 empties. Average wise , very good in any ones book , five out of six at whatever presents itself over the decoys and what come into range . We were lucky in a way where we had some of the first fields of rape grown in the area which would be in the mid 70s , as we had never shot over it before we didn't know what to expect , the farmer was kind enough to leave enough small bales to set up a decent hide in the middle of the field and left us to it , pigeons started to build up in early December and my brother had a couple of goes before Christmas , neither of us had 4 x 4s and this particular field was in the middle of the marshes , I dare say a good 3/4 of a mile from the nearest place we could park , so to get the pigeons back to the motor we used a one wheel builders barrow , days of 50 / 100+ was the norm and if anything there were more each time we shot the field which was often twice a week , my brother was on the dustcarts and managed to fiddle a day off during the week and I would go Saturday or Sunday , time we finished around Easter when the crop started to take off and Spring drilling's were going in we had shot over 1200 from that one field , we then expected shooting like that each year after , but to be honest we never did , yes we did have some good years but more and more of it was grown and the numbers of pigeons never did build up again like they did on those first fields. So now with less grown maybe pigeons will get back on the remaining fields that they like in good numbers , maybe , but I have my doubts . Edited December 22, 2019 by marsh man Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mossy835 Posted December 22, 2019 Report Share Posted December 22, 2019 i was shooting over rape yesterday that had flee beetles,the farmer said shoot it he wants to try and save whats there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strimmer_13 Posted December 22, 2019 Report Share Posted December 22, 2019 (edited) I checked mine out today, hes given up with the rape, lost it all, hundreds of acres, along with all the other farmers in the area. Just wheat hes sown now. On the plus side he did give us another farm to shoot on, and access to other fields on another farm. Oh and rat shooting. Its gone from quiet to suddenly very busy 👍 Edited December 22, 2019 by strimmer_13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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