Could We Be Heading For Another Hard Weather Ban ?

[marsh man]

Early days yet but the cold weather is already having an effect on the local wildfowl , this morning without a shadow of doubt was the coldest since we had the Beast From The East a few years ago , to begin with it took a while even getting into my motor with all the doors frozen solid , after pouring hot water over all the door seals and handles I finally got in , no problem starting but after clearing all the windows the car was going nowhere with the brakes froze up , back indoors for more hot water and after a few dog bowl fulls I was now mobile , going down the lane it was like being in a Winters wonderland with every tree covered in a rime frost, it was still misty and when I left mine it was minus 7 , the coldest it had been in my motor since the five years or so I have had it .

Getting to the river wall the mist had lifted a bit and the wildfowl were well within shooting distance from the wall , this would had been a dream come true in the early days as it often meant you could get more than one with a shot , not very sporting but you made the most of your chances when you got them because even in the past not every Winter was a hard one .

Moving back to now we have now had this cold weather all the week and it is due to last for most of next week with snow predicted later on towards the end of next week , our dykes are now getting frozen over and the spalshe's on the marsh are well and truly frozen , so it could soon start turning milder and some good fowling could be on the cards , or if going by the ole rules where any weather station throughout the U K recorded 14 days of below freezing temp's then there used to be a minimum of a 7 day ban on shooting all types of wildfowl , nowhere near that stage yet but going by how cold it was this morning, Could it only be a matter of time ?    MM

[old'un]

The way the weather changes so quickly in this country you will be shooting in your t-shirt in a couple of weeks time.

[Dave at kelton]

It’s possible based on the fact the frost isn’t lifting during the day and staying sub zero. We will just have to see. Thaw due later in the week here.

[marsh man]

55 minutes ago, old'un said:

The way the weather changes so quickly in this country you will be shooting in your t-shirt in a couple of weeks time.

You could well be right and this blip in the weather might just be a distant memory , our early November shoot I don't think anyone put on a coat all and we sat out in the warm sunshine having our lunch , then the next one was mild for the time of year and very nice to be out , yesterday was the reverse , misty , foggy and bitterly cold , no wonder the guns only wanted to do one drive after lunch , all in favour may I add 

43 minutes ago, Dave at kelton said:

It’s possible based on the fact the frost isn’t lifting during the day and staying sub zero. We will just have to see. Thaw due later in the week here.

It have now got out to be nice day , still cold but bright sunshine and clear as a bell , this day and age I believe the local and regional wildfowling clubs would put on any restrictions before it came into force , way off that at the moment but still a lot of the Winter left .

[wymberley]

2 minutes ago, marsh man said:

You could well be right and this blip in the weather might just be a distant memory , our early November shoot I don't think anyone put on a coat all and we sat out in the warm sunshine having our lunch , then the next one was mild for the time of year and very nice to be out , yesterday was the reverse , misty , foggy and bitterly cold , no wonder the guns only wanted to do one drive after lunch , all in favour may I add 

It have now got out to be nice day , still cold but bright sunshine and clear as a bell , this day and age I believe the local and regional wildfowling clubs would put on any restrictions before it came into force , way off that at the moment but still a lot of the Winter left .

Still got 10 days before it starts. 

[nic]

3 or 4 days of cold weather and the doom forecasters are at it already 😂

i suppose that as we only had snow today instead of rain that we will have muliple pile ups followed by a hosepipe ban as well!

[marsh man]

4 hours ago, wymberley said:

Still got 10 days before it starts. 

There would be a high possibility that the mild weather will move in and any talk of a hard weather ban will be forgot about , but there is isn't a year go by where the weather don't break some sort of record so we won't know till the season is over .

 

[mudpatten]

Wednesday 14/12/22 is day 7 of the continuous cold weather. Depenedent upon the temperature stats from around the country,the government will be calling for restraint from shooting interests. A ban could come in 7 days after that depending on a number of attending circumstances, not least the actuality or likelihood of a thaw.

Interestingly, the government call for restraint is intended for ALL users of the countryside, not just shooters. I shall be watching with interest how my local naturalists trust handles the pedestrian traffic on its reserves. As we know, birdwatching, walking, dog walking etc. are significant causes of disturbance to birds. Proveably more so than fowling.I would expect the large "conservation" bodies to be closing or at least restricting access to their reserves. Lets see exactly what happens.

[marsh man]

6 hours ago, mudpatten said:

Wednesday 14/12/22 is day 7 of the continuous cold weather. Depenedent upon the temperature stats from around the country,the government will be calling for restraint from shooting interests. A ban could come in 7 days after that depending on a number of attending circumstances, not least the actuality or likelihood of a thaw.

Interestingly, the government call for restraint is intended for ALL users of the countryside, not just shooters. I shall be watching with interest how my local naturalists trust handles the pedestrian traffic on its reserves. As we know, birdwatching, walking, dog walking etc. are significant causes of disturbance to birds. Proveably more so than fowling.I would expect the large "conservation" bodies to be closing or at least restricting access to their reserves. Lets see exactly what happens.

Very interesting reply mudatten .

It have been a number of years since we last had a ban and each one we had our club introduced a temp restraint before it became nation wide , I can well remember taking sacks of corn and feed in my gun punt to help the bird life on the estuary , with milder weather forecast at the end of the week we might just get away with it , although the weather man just said that last night was the coldest night somewhere in these parts was minus 10.something which was the coldest night since 2013.

When I was younger we looked forward to a spell of hard weather as the fowl that were getting frozen inland would come on the estuary where the salt water and the tides kept the water open , now I find the odd day alright but a long period is no good to man or beast , once the dykes freeze over along with the flashes then the marshes quickly become deserted , our estuary now is only very lightly shot and virtually no shooting where the bulk of the wildfowl congregate , with easy excess for the public and bird hides scattered around the lower end of the estuary it wouldn't look that good with 1000s of fowl having a hard time and shooting going on near by , now I am more than happy with the odd day of frost and I know for a fact I will shoot more fowl in the milder weather of the Winter than several days of prolonged frost like we are getting at the moment . 

[ditchman]

30 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Very interesting reply mudatten .

It have been a number of years since we last had a ban and each one we had our club introduced a temp restraint before it became nation wide , I can well remember taking sacks of corn and feed in my gun punt to help the bird life on the estuary , with milder weather forecast at the end of the week we might just get away with it , although the weather man just said that last night was the coldest night somewhere in these parts was minus 10.something which was the coldest night since 2013.

When I was younger we looked forward to a spell of hard weather as the fowl that were getting frozen inland would come on the estuary where the salt water and the tides kept the water open , now I find the odd day alright but a long period is no good to man or beast , once the dykes freeze over along with the flashes then the marshes quickly become deserted , our estuary now is only very lightly shot and virtually no shooting where the bulk of the wildfowl congregate , with easy excess for the public and bird hides scattered around the lower end of the estuary it wouldn't look that good with 1000s of fowl having a hard time and shooting going on near by , now I am more than happy with the odd day of frost and I know for a fact I will shoot more fowl in the milder weather of the Winter than several days of prolonged frost like we are getting at the moment . 

just on a tanjent................watched a film about Heringfleet waterpump  on the marshes...........the marshes were owned or rented by Somerleyton...and he mentioned Captain Flatt.........who i believe you knew ..........

[marsh man]

15 minutes ago, ditchman said:

just on a tanjent................watched a film about Heringfleet waterpump  on the marshes...........the marshes were owned or rented by Somerleyton...and he mentioned Captain Flatt.........who i believe you knew ..........

I think I have seen that one , the Captain Flatt he was on about would had been the Tom Flatt we knew his father 

Those marshes are now unshot unless we go for a walk round over the Christmas holiday when some of L S family come to stay over the festive period , my mate hired them for a few years and one year the tide came over the river bank and flooded the whole lot , the only form of drainage was a sluice gate that only worked when the tide was low , we hired a pump from the water company and it took weeks to drain off , when the odd bit of grass started to appear the duck came on to them in the 100s , we had some excellent evening flights where we often stopped when we had a dozen between the two of us , the last time I was down there was when a film crew was doing a film about Turner the artist , we had to turn the sails with the help of the chaps who now preserve the mill and I ran the members of the film crew backwards and forwards down the marsh in the gun wagon , nice little earner but that's a story for another day  

[ditchman]

58 minutes ago, marsh man said:

I think I have seen that one , the Captain Flatt he was on about would had been the Tom Flatt we knew his father 

Those marshes are now unshot unless we go for a walk round over the Christmas holiday when some of L S family come to stay over the festive period , my mate hired them for a few years and one year the tide came over the river bank and flooded the whole lot , the only form of drainage was a sluice gate that only worked when the tide was low , we hired a pump from the water company and it took weeks to drain off , when the odd bit of grass started to appear the duck came on to them in the 100s , we had some excellent evening flights where we often stopped when we had a dozen between the two of us , the last time I was down there was when a film crew was doing a film about Turner the artist , we had to turn the sails with the help of the chaps who now preserve the mill and I ran the members of the film crew backwards and forwards down the marsh in the gun wagon , nice little earner but that's a story for another day  

knew tom flatt well....he was a captain in the medicle corps......he was also a boyfriend of my mrs mother (ruth)...ruth lived on the somerleyton estate for a while after the war......ruth was also a bit of a go'er...very beautiful sexy looking woman...she was quite senior in the red cross during the war and was also jimmy stewarts "dancing partner"...note the inverted commers......

picked up with tom flatt and et al ...he had a couple of mad spaniels...he would let them of 1st drive...and wouldnt see them until about 3.30....he wernt bothered....

loads of stories there....for another day

[marsh man]

2 minutes ago, ditchman said:

knew tom flatt well....he was a captain in the medicle corps......he was also a boyfriend of my mrs mother (ruth)...ruth lived on the somerleyton estate for a while after the war......ruth was also a bit of a go'er...very beautiful sexy looking woman...she was quite senior in the red cross during the war and was also jimmy stewarts "dancing partner"...note the inverted commers......

picked up with tom flatt and et al ...he had a couple of mad spaniels...he would let them of 1st drive...and wouldnt see them until about 3.30....he wernt bothered....

loads of stories there....for another day

I can quite believe that with Toms Black and White Spaniels , half the time when he was late back for lunch instead of him looking for a runner he was looking for one of his dogs , I could also tell you a few yarns about Tom as towards the end of his time he started to get a bit forgetful and was often on the wrong drive at the wrong time and someone was often sent out to look for him , one time he done a three point turn and didn't see the ditch behind him , leaving his 4x4 roof level with the ground  , nice ole boy and very colourful 

[Walker570]

BASC just sent me an e mail suggesting we shoot resposibly because of the harsh weather. Just checked weather for next week and it looks like we are almost all back to rain and sleat and above freezing temps.  Appreciate the thought but a bit of a panic about a basically normal winter scenario.

[harkom]

Bsac has emitted the severe weather warning, blah, blah ...etc...stop shooting until we say.

I have no issue with a suspension when necessary  - but what a wasted opportunity to spread the information,-  widely - nationwide - msm - ,  about the benefits to other bird populations from the "supplementary" feeding put out for game birds on managed/commercial game shoots.

Hmm?...I think that is a step too far for bsac creative thinking dept ( yeah, I know - a misnomer if ever there was one).

[cash1]

No worries global warming will fix it. 

[mudpatten]

On 14/12/2022 at 18:39, harkom said:

Bsac has emitted the severe weather warning, blah, blah ...etc...stop shooting until we say.

I have no issue with a suspension when necessary  - but what a wasted opportunity to spread the information,-  widely - nationwide - msm - ,  about the benefits to other bird populations from the "supplementary" feeding put out for game birds on managed/commercial game shoots.

Hmm?...I think that is a step too far for bsac creative thinking dept ( yeah, I know - a misnomer if ever there was one).

Harkom, its worth mentioning that BASC is singing from a song sheet agreed with all the other bodies involved in the "hard weather" process. It`s not a case of "Stop shooting until we (BASC)say".

Because the nationally distributed notices are agreed by the govt. et al, the newspapers, tv etc. run them as they are written. Any attempt by BASC to go outside the agreed script parameters would meet with immediate resistance from the other bodies, newspapaers, tv etc.

The main stream media simply refuses to print good news stories originating from the shooting community. I agree with kicking BASC when they deserve it. Not sure that they do on this occassion, their hands are tied.

 

[Conor O'Gorman]

I have posted this elsewhere but perhaps missed so here it goes.

BASC's announcements were part of a long established formal procedure that the association is directly involved in and its based on data from weather stations nationwide.

I think most of us would agree that's it's a positive measure for the shooting organisations to raise awareness of the voluntary restraint phase in the public domain - we are not the only audience. Moreover, part of that messaging at this phase is for other countryside users, such as dog-walkers, ramblers, fishermen and bird-watchers to take care not to cause unnecessary disturbance to birds which may be continuing to struggle in areas slower to recover from the recent difficult conditions.

Also its been at least a decade since we have had a widespread prolonged period of winter weather that has triggered the procedure in all four countries and there will be many newcomers to shooting over that period for whom this might be of interest.

Ministers have the power to impose temporary shooting bans for severe weather. The procedure all have agreed to provides some flexibility in approach and avoids a one-size fits all approach nationwide with the voluntary restraint phase being a starting point and awareness raising from BASC and the other shooting organisations demonstrates a responsible approach from all. The following video may help (its from a few years ago bit still relevant)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILESbcS7jc8&t=6s

More information here:

https://basc.org.uk/advice/severe-weather-and-waterfowl-shooting/