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Berries, Acorns and Clover


old'un
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Well it was an absolutely beautiful morning here, sun shining and light breeze, almost spring like, so I decided to have a walk (no gun) through the woods and onto one of the farms I shoot, its mainly grass, sheep/cattle with the odd corn field grown for feed, the woods are the same ones that a lot of pigeons have been coming from over the last few weeks, on emerging from the woods and climbing over the style into the first grass field around fifty or so pigeons got up, its a block of three fields of around 25 acres each, the middle field was sown with clover last year, looking across the fields I could see a steady stream of pigeons coming out of the woods and dropping into this clover field, they were not after acorns as they were a good 100 yards into the field, after watching them for half an hour I decided to have a walk and see how many got up, well as I approach they started lifting and then the whole lot decided to go, there must have been a good 500 birds, they did not seem in much of a hurry and dropped back into the middle of the woods, best is, there's about 50 acres of rape not half a mile away that they have not looked at, with all these berries, acorns and now clover it will be January before I see them on the rape, if the weathers right next week I might go and see if I can shoot a few on this clover field, but I think I know what they will do with the first shot.

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On 22/11/2020 at 15:52, old'un said:

Well it was an absolutely beautiful morning here, sun shining and light breeze, almost spring like, so I decided to have a walk (no gun) through the woods and onto one of the farms I shoot, its mainly grass, sheep/cattle with the odd corn field grown for feed, the woods are the same ones that a lot of pigeons have been coming from over the last few weeks, on emerging from the woods and climbing over the style into the first grass field around fifty or so pigeons got up, its a block of three fields of around 25 acres each, the middle field was sown with clover last year, looking across the fields I could see a steady stream of pigeons coming out of the woods and dropping into this clover field, they were not after acorns as they were a good 100 yards into the field, after watching them for half an hour I decided to have a walk and see how many got up, well as I approach they started lifting and then the whole lot decided to go, there must have been a good 500 birds, they did not seem in much of a hurry and dropped back into the middle of the woods, best is, there's about 50 acres of rape not half a mile away that they have not looked at, with all these berries, acorns and now clover it will be January before I see them on the rape, if the weathers right next week I might go and see if I can shoot a few on this clover field, but I think I know what they will do with the first shot.

Well done you for finding a few birds. I’m surprised to hear that clover is being eaten by the birds at this time of year but if that’s where they are feeding I’d definitely have a go. Pick a windy day and hopefully they won’t all ****** off after the first shot. Look forward to hearing how you get on!

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Of course I have no proof they were eating clover as I did not shoot any, but they were definitely pecking at something on this clover field.

Been and had a look this morning and guess what! Not a bird in sight, well tell a lie I did see three pigeons.

Nothing in the woods either, they did this a couple or so weeks back when I was flighting them coming out of the woods and then they just disappeared overnight, gawd knows where they have gone.

Had a quick drive round for an hour and could see very little in the way of pigeons but hopefully they will return to the area and start on the rape once most of these berries and acorns have been eaten or rotted, there's a lot of woodland in this area, some privately owned and some are national nature reserves, the furthest of these is about 15 miles from home, it looks like they are moving around these woods spending a few days in one area of woodland and then moving onto the next, they are proving a little difficult to pin down at the moment.

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hi old un,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     thats a rarity a field thats been sown with clover nowadays.        pigeon love it its a natural wild food they have eaten over the years.                                                                         i think if you pick a good windy day you will do well there.                                                                                                                                                                                                     birds are on the acorns this year theres a glut of them everywhere.                                       

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1 hour ago, kingy said:

hi old un,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     thats a rarity a field thats been sown with clover nowadays.        pigeon love it its a natural wild food they have eaten over the years.                                                                         i think if you pick a good windy day you will do well there.                                                                                                                                                                                                     birds are on the acorns this year theres a glut of them everywhere.                                       

Been and had a quick look a couple of times now but they are not feeding on the clover field but as the field is only five minutes from home I will keep an eye on it, like I said there’s some rape not half a mile away but they are not interested in it, think it maybe some time before they do show some interest.

Think if we had a light sprinkling of snow (about an inch) and then some hard frost to lock other food sources into the ground, that may just force them out of the woods and onto the rape.

I, like others who have been shooting pigeons for a long time can read pigeons on the day but I still don't understand them. :)

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3 minutes ago, clangerman said:

lack of education is what happens when you have to work because one of your parents has cancer and compared to your advice to stay at home saving petrol my comment is a decoying novel mate 

I'm very sorry to learn that. If your parent's cancer treatment is ongoing "take heart" as modern cancer treatments are very, very effective. A friend of mine with a massive stomach tumour has just about been brought back from death's door to near normality.  People's well-being is much more important than pigeon shooting. In difficult times, time to bury the hatchet and move on.

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14 hours ago, Balotelli said:

Yesterday, pigeons on acorns big time in my "neck of the woods".

There you are, there are pigeons in Leicestershire after all. I think that as said previously, they will be on acorns, berries etc before hitting the rape. That is why we’re not seeing them so much as they are staying in the woods.

Chance for you to have a bit of a roost shoot.

Let us know if you do and how you get on. 

OB

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6 hours ago, dead eye alan said:

How many did you shoot?

Pigeons were munching on the ground. They seemed very happy so best let them be to fatten up. As an aside and although not strictly relevant the woods are frequented by the public; walkers, runners and general nuisances who have nothing better to do.

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