40 years of shooting and a 1st for me

[mgsontour]

Thought I'd better share this as after 40 years of shooting it's a first for me. . . . 

# Columba palumbus ringed

Was obviously out shooting and had dropped a few birds and there was a pause of new birds so sent the dog on his merry way to the marks and sure enough everything going good until he arrived with a bird in his mouth and on its leg was a ring ----- O darn I thought!

Took the bird and had instinctively thought I'd shot a racer by mistake until I realised it was actually a woody

I got home and contacted the National Museum in London as per ring instructions and filled out the form and sure enough I got confirmation though to say it was found 16km away from the ringing site after flying about for 413 days until it's untimely demise

I've seen ringed wild ducks and geese but never knew they did woodpigeon, dunno if anyone here have shot one but certainly a first for me

Edited September 4, 2021 by mgsontour
Pic upload

[gmm243]

Have never shot a ringed pigeon,wasn't aware they ringed pigeons have shot a few birds with rings but mostly ducks.I did shoot a ringed woodcock.Was ringed 4 years before I shot it,was 340 odd km from the ringing site to where I shot it.Would have been interested to know how how far it had flown in the intervening years on migration.

Years ago my father shot a ringed teal near Limerick,it had been ringed 3 days before in Holland.

[Ultrastu]

Had a ringed Jackdoor last year .

[old'un]

Never shot a ringed bird myself but they have been ringing wood pigeons for a number of years now, the oldest recovered bird was 17 years and 8 months.

[marsh man]

Same here , after more years shooting Pigeons than I care to remember I have only shot one Wood Pigeon with a ring on it's leg , I did the same , sent the details away and it was ringed not far from where it met his end , I did ask the game dealer if they had come across a ringed Wood Pigeon and he gave me a look of surprise as he didn't even know they stuck rings on Wood Pigeons , and I must admit I don't check everyone I shoot as the leg feathers could easily cover up a ring .

Like one of the above members I have also shot one Woodcock with a ring on it's leg , quite a few duck and few geese , all in all I have got about 30 / 40 hanging on a thin chain in my garage , pity they wern't made out of gold as I would be worth a few bob 

[mgsontour]

24 minutes ago, Ultrastu said:

Had a ringed Jackdoor last year .

Double bonus, well done

[harrycatcat1]

1 hour ago, old'un said:

Never shot a ringed bird myself but they have been ringing wood pigeons for a number of years now, the oldest recovered bird was 17 years and 8 months.

Goodness I never thought that a pigeon could get to that age, thanks 👍

[JDog]

Good one. I believe they are ringed as squabs.

I have never shot a ringed wood pigeon but I did once shoot a ringed Woodcock which had been ringed two years previously in the former Soviet Union.

[FOXHUNTER1]

Only bird I have shot ringed was a Carrion crow.

[marsh man]

The Woodcock I got with a ring on it's leg didn't travel nowhere near as far , it was shot on the Norfolk / Suffolk a few years back in January and was caught and ringed in Suffolk about 14 miles away , and strangely enough it was in a January when it was caught , if it had travelled to a far distant place in that year between ringed and being shot I wonder if they are like Swallows and come back to the same place each year ? .

[Gas seal]

Hi mgsontour yes I have shot ringed woodpigeon. On the recovery reports I have the finding circumstances say shot , the last report I  Have is July 2020 and the finding circumstances say shot to protect foodstuffs . Maybe this is because of the new general licence. Could I ask you the finding circumstances on your report please. About 10 years ago I shot two ringed woodpigeon on the same day. They were ringed at different times in the same area. 

[mgsontour]

On 04/09/2021 at 21:09, Gas seal said:

Hi mgsontour yes I have shot ringed woodpigeon. On the recovery reports I have the finding circumstances say shot , the last report I  Have is July 2020 and the finding circumstances say shot to protect foodstuffs . Maybe this is because of the new general licence. Could I ask you the finding circumstances on your report please. About 10 years ago I shot two ringed woodpigeon on the same day. They were ringed at different times in the same area. 

I just wrote shot on the submitted form and it's what came back on the final report

[Gas seal]

Thanks for the reply . I’m sure on the recovery report’s for wildfowl it stated, freshly shot dead. I think a lot of woodpigeon are still ringed around the country.

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Gas seal said:

Thanks for the reply . I’m sure on the recovery report’s for wildfowl it stated, freshly shot dead. I think a lot of woodpigeon are still ringed around the country.

All my( newish ) wildfowl ones were sent to the British museum and many of the old ones that had W A G B I were sent to their H Q , some of the overseas ones had the address on the ring and without looking I had them from Finland and Holland and my brother once shot a Cormorant with three rings on it's leg , one was a Blue coiled plastic ring and two metal ones, this one I believe was rung twice and came from Russia.

We did find the odd Swan under Telegraph wires that went across the marshes , on the form we would put , found dead under electric cables .

The Pigeon ring information was sent to the B T O ,and I have enclosed the letter they sent back to me , it was rung 45 days before I shot it and had only travelled 3km .

 

[old'un]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

All my( newish ) wildfowl ones were sent to the British museum and many of the old ones that had W A G B I were sent to their H Q , some of the overseas ones had the address on the ring and without looking I had them from Finland and Holland and my brother once shot a Cormorant with three rings on it's leg , one was a Blue coiled plastic ring and two metal ones, this one I believe was rung twice and came from Russia.

We did find the odd Swan under Telegraph wires that went across the marshes , on the form we would put , found dead under electric cables .

The Pigeon ring information was sent to the B T O ,and I have enclosed the letter they sent back to me , it was rung 45 days before I shot it and had only travelled 3km .

 

Ring from an Osprey found in the stomach of a crocodile in Gambia, so that's where they disappearing to.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, old'un said:

Ring from an Osprey found in the stomach of a crocodile in Gambia, so that's where they disappearing to.

Yea and what the oldest bird recovered , Manx Shearwater 51 yrs 11 months , I recon you would want a few herbs and put that on a slow cooker for a month or more , I am sure our good friend Ditchy would know some recipes to make it edible .

[Gas seal]

Hi marsh man in the 90s a survey of woodpigeon was done around Merseyside. It recorded urban and farm woodpigeon  . They monitored woodpigeon on Hale estate , large woods, and Sefton park and Prince’s park in Liverpool. The urban woodpigeon survived better than the farm woodpigeon. The ringers were surprised at the numbers of urban woodpigeon shot locally. I have shot a number of woodpigeon ringed in Liverpool over the years. I have shot four in the same field. I enclose a photo of two l shot the same day. I will look for any more reports I have. I could have shot more ringed woodpigeonand not known . A man used to collect woodpigeon from the field when I was still shooting he could have taken woodpigeon that had been ringed.

[Gas seal]

Two more reports of ringed woodpigeon from the same field. The one from last year says shot to protect food stuff. 

[yickdaz]

shot 5 in last 15 years with rings on all shot within a 10 mile radius 

[Highlander]

I haven't posted on here for an age but do occassionally keep an eye on things. Couldn't help noticing this thread and thought you'all might be interested in this...some years ago about 5/6 I think I shot a big heavy prime condition woodpigeon over winter OSR. It had two rings on one leg both of which I returned to the BTO. I was sent a very interesting report; the first ring had been placed on the bird when it was in the nest within 2 km of where I shot it, the second when the bird was 8 years of age within 2 km of where I shot it by when it was 10 years old. I rang and spoke to a chap at the BTO and had a very interesting conversation. Three points of interest; the BTO have been ringing woodpigeons since the 1950's and have rung over 50000 (fifty thousand) of which very few, less than half a dozen, have ever been sent back from Europe (rather dispelling the old notion of birds from Europe which the BTO dispute in any event). The oldest woodpigeon ever recorded was 18 years of age and sent back from the Orkneys (or was it Shetland Isles) found within the same area where it was originally rung. Probably not worth eating then!  

[Gas seal]

Hi  l think a lot of shooters don’t report ringed woodpigeon they have shot. The letter F on the ring is the size of the ring. The address on the ring (if it was large enough) was British Museum London. Just them three words on the letter would get the ring information back from anywhere in the world , it’s now got a website as well. I have shot other woodpigeon and crow that were ringed, the four in the photo were from the same field. The reports on wildfowl let you know how far  birds can fly. The people who ring the birds are grateful for the ring recovery, that’s how they gather information on bird movements. When the urban woodpigeon flocked up people would ask were did they come from. When they have been here all the time.

[marsh man]

All interesting information , what do stick out was the majority of birds shot were shot a few miles from where they were ringed , at one time we thought when we had a bad Winter we would get big flocks from overseas , or come down the coast from Scotland , then over the last several years with more and more o s r grown and possibly milder Winters , this moment of flocks of pigeons don't seem to happen like it once did, I would now think the bulk of the pigeons we have got around here are local birds born and bred .

[mgsontour]

5 hours ago, Highlander said:

I haven't posted on here for an age but do occassionally keep an eye on things. Couldn't help noticing this thread and thought you'all might be interested in this...some years ago about 5/6 I think I shot a big heavy prime condition woodpigeon over winter OSR. It had two rings on one leg both of which I returned to the BTO. I was sent a very interesting report; the first ring had been placed on the bird when it was in the nest within 2 km of where I shot it, the second when the bird was 8 years of age within 2 km of where I shot it by when it was 10 years old. I rang and spoke to a chap at the BTO and had a very interesting conversation. Three points of interest; the BTO have been ringing woodpigeons since the 1950's and have rung over 50000 (fifty thousand) of which very few, less than half a dozen, have ever been sent back from Europe (rather dispelling the old notion of birds from Europe which the BTO dispute in any event). The oldest woodpigeon ever recorded was 18 years of age and sent back from the Orkneys (or was it Shetland Isles) found within the same area where it was originally rung. Probably not worth eating then!  

Thanks for that, interesting

[Fellside]

It would seem from ringing records and comments etc - that most wood pigeons are reasonably localised. However, one winter, a few years ago, I witnessed these birds moving high over hill country in big flocks. 

I was shooting driven pheasants in the North Pennines, not usually noted for its wood pigeons…..?! This was quite high up just below the grouse moor. It was a beautiful clear day with blue skies and a hard frost. I remember seeing several flocks of wood pigeons passing high over head throughout the day. On one of the drives a flock past over head at about 50 - 60 yards up and two were shot. They fell on ground as hard as iron. I do wonder if the cold conditions set them on the move. Who knows where they came from or where they were going?

[mgsontour]

I have an old guy who has been shooting for a while ( must be one of the longest running members of BASC ( joined as a young boy and is 84 now )) and he recons they simply follow the grub during the year. He isn't a professional pigeoner like some on this forum but has done abit maybe some members can comment further as I personally find it interesting