Pinks

[edenman]

Hi all,

 

I saw pinks last night over east fife. A friend tells me he saw them on the 31st August at Montrose.

 

Anyone else seeing them?

 

cheers

Edited September 6, 2023 by edenman

[marsh man]

No , still a bit early for them to appear this far South , normally start arriving on the N / Norfolk coast arround the third week in September and then they start heading down the coast so they start coming in off the sea down our way around the end of September to the first week in October , by then the start of the Sugar beet campaign begin and they will have plenty of beet tops to keep them well fed . Wont be long now 

[edenman]

My hair stood on end when I heard that unmistakable wink wink!

Game on!

[Manish]

30 minutes ago, edenman said:

My hair stood on end when I heard that unmistakable wink wink!

Game on!

Happens only to true folwers if you ask me. I thought I herd some the other night. I went out in my PJs to have a look. Dog didnt know what was going on. I must have been dreaming it.

@marsh man dont worry mate keep your powder dry they'll be with us soon 

[Dave at kelton]

I expect them 12-14th but certain I heard a pink this morning when getting the dogs out.

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Manish said:

Happens only to true folwers if you ask me. I thought I herd some the other night. I went out in my PJs to have a look. Dog didnt know what was going on. I must have been dreaming it.

@marsh man dont worry mate keep your powder dry they'll be with us soon 

As sure as night follow day they will be with us when they think the time is right , I was Pigeon shooting on some wheat stubble fields at Clippesby a few years ago in early October , on a stubble field two fields from where I was there was about 100 or so Pinkfeet that must had just landed from a flight down the coast , it wasn't long before the next skein was coming from in the sea , quickly followed by the next and then there was a constant stream of skein after skein , the field was quickly filling up with 100s if not 1000s of geese , this went on all the time I was there and time I left in the mid afternoon the field was Black with geese and new ones were still arriving .

I have been lucky and have had 100s of good duck and geese flights over the years but seeing that lot dropping in without firing a shot must be near the top of one the best flights of geese I have ever witnessed , and to be honest it would had been a shame firing a shot towards them after there long journey ,  just seeing a flight like that is something I will never forget .   MM

Edited September 6, 2023 by marsh man

[Manish]

Im a relative novice but love seeing them coming in. I have a few Canadas in the fields near me but ive been leaving them alone. I went out on the 2nd for a flight got nothing but was just nice to be out there again

[marsh man]

30 minutes ago, Manish said:

Im a relative novice but love seeing them coming in. I have a few Canadas in the fields near me but ive been leaving them alone. I went out on the 2nd for a flight got nothing but was just nice to be out there again

Give it a week or so before you have a go for a Canada Goose , in this hot weather they will start to decompose as soon as the last breath of air leave it's body , the gases will start to build up in it's body  and you will need to process it within a few hours if not you might as well dump it , and if you do intend to eat one then try your hardest for a young one , you will not regret it .

Just seen the weather for tomorrow , around 30 / 31 degrees , hotter than any day in August and should last till at least the weekend .

[holloway]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

As sure as night follow day they will be with us when they think the time is right , I was Pigeon shooting on some wheat stubble fields at Clippesby a few years ago in early October , on a stubble field two fields from where I was there was about 100 or so Pinkfeet that must had just landed from a flight down the coast , it wasn't long before the next skein was coming from in the sea , quickly followed by the next and then there was a constant stream of skein after skein , the field was quickly filling up with 100s if not 1000s of geese , this went on all the time I was there and time I left in the mid afternoon the field was Black with geese and new ones were still arriving .

I have been lucky and have had 100s of good duck and geese flights over the years but seeing that lot dropping in without firing a shot must be near the top of one the best flights of geese I have ever witnessed , and to be honest it would had been a shame firing a shot towards them after there long journey ,  just seeing a flight like that is something I will never forget .   MM

Etched  in your memory for life ,more memorable than any time you pulled the trigger ,happy to read this attitude is still alive ,rather than the 70 yard Tss cowboys outlook on fowling.     refreshing thanks for posting .

[Salmo]

I heard pinks tonight 

[Docleo]

Pinks over Midlothian heading south-west this morning! 

[marsh man]

10 hours ago, holloway said:

Etched  in your memory for life ,more memorable than any time you pulled the trigger ,happy to read this attitude is still alive ,rather than the 70 yard Tss cowboys outlook on fowling.     refreshing thanks for posting .

THANKS for your reply .... I dare say if I listed the best ten flights I have ever had over a very long wild fowling life then just under half of them would involve having nothing in the bag at all , many times I have been in the right place at the right time when geese have been flighting back to the roosting grounds and if I feel my 36gm steel cartridges are not man enough to drop them at the range they are coming over then you just enjoy watching one skein after another flying overhead and hope the wind is a bit stronger on another night and then they might well be 10 yds lower , some fowlers might not agree but a goose flying overhead is not one of the hardest birds to hit , the hard part is putting the shot in the right place so you have a good chance of dropping the bird once you have hit it , sadly now with the chokes getting tighter and the cartridges getting heavier and heavier you are going to get shots fired at them at extreme range , now and again the odd one will fall out of the clouds , but how many times are they hit and just carry on ?   MM

[holloway]

4 hours ago, marsh man said:

THANKS for your reply .... I dare say if I listed the best ten flights I have ever had over a very long wild fowling life then just under half of them would involve having nothing in the bag at all , many times I have been in the right place at the right time when geese have been flighting back to the roosting grounds and if I feel my 36gm steel cartridges are not man enough to drop them at the range they are coming over then you just enjoy watching one skein after another flying overhead and hope the wind is a bit stronger on another night and then they might well be 10 yds lower , some fowlers might not agree but a goose flying overhead is not one of the hardest birds to hit , the hard part is putting the shot in the right place so you have a good chance of dropping the bird once you have hit it , sadly now with the chokes getting tighter and the cartridges getting heavier and heavier you are going to get shots fired at them at extreme range , now and again the odd one will fall out of the clouds , but how many times are they hit and just carry on ?   MM

Sadly  with Tss now being used ,boasting of the 70 -80 yard goose is a common occurrence not sure if its worse than it was but it seems so to me  .

[6.5x55SE]

3 hours ago, holloway said:

Sadly  with Tss now being used ,boasting of the 70 -80 yard goose is a common occurrence not sure if its worse than it was but it seems so to me  .

In my opinion worse. Having used a 20 for best part of 50 years on geese it's not the type of shot or bore it's the idiots spraying it around which really boils my pee

[holloway]

Just now, 6.5x55SE said:

In my opinion worse. Having used a 20 for best part of 50 years on geese it's not the type of shot or bore it's the idiots spraying it around which really boils my pee

On reflection i think your right .

[Dave at kelton]

5 hours ago, holloway said:

Sadly  with Tss now being used ,boasting of the 70 -80 yard goose is a common occurrence not sure if its worse than it was but it seems so to me  .

It is definitely no worse as I can look through my diaries to 1982 and see my thoughts were the same then. The only difference is now you don’t just boast to your long suffering mates in the pub. You boast to the whole world via the inter web and post photos to prove it!

Returning to the topic I saw pinks high over Annan this morning whilst fishing.

[Salmo]

Friends of mine on one of our permissions this morning near the basin saw loads of pinks 

[Pushandpull]

A few dozen on the Norfolk coast today.

[6.5x55SE]

Received a phone call last night from a landowner that i have permission to shoot. Geese are back. 43 in total feeding on stubble. Due to hot weather and causing no damage they are safe from me well until last week of September 

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, 6.5x55SE said:

Received a phone call last night from a landowner that i have permission to shoot. Geese are back. 43 in total feeding on stubble. Due to hot weather and causing no damage they are safe from me well until last week of September 

I was thinking , have the time come where some of the wintering geese end up staying here and possibly breed , we have now got all sorts of birds that at one time would had been a rairity and would never have dreamt that one day they would be breeding in the area , we no longer give the Egret a look when they jump up from the reed beds , when the Little Egret first arrived it brought bird watchers from all points of the compass , now we have the Little Egret , Great White Egret and now the Cattle Egret , same with the Cranes and this year we had the Bee Eating birds breed here for the first time .

This so called global climate is here to stay and the sea is aloso getting warmer with Whales , Dolhfins and Sharks being seen very close to shore all the year round .

Strange times we are living in   MM

[6.5x55SE]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

I was thinking , have the time come where some of the wintering geese end up staying here and possibly breed , we have now got all sorts of birds that at one time would had been a rairity and would never have dreamt that one day they would be breeding in the area , we no longer give the Egret a look when they jump up from the reed beds , when the Little Egret first arrived it brought bird watchers from all points of the compass , now we have the Little Egret , Great White Egret and now the Cattle Egret , same with the Cranes and this year we had the Bee Eating birds breed here for the first time .

This so called global climate is here to stay and the sea is aloso getting warmer with Whales , Dolhfins and Sharks being seen very close to shore all the year round .

Strange times we are living in   MM

I agree about some of the bird's and mammals in fact for two days till they was rescued a adult with calf Dolphin was in the Ouse River at Earith 3-4 miles from where i live. Most geese eg Barnacle Snow Egyptian which breed in the wild now are from Stately Homes the odd Pink White Front are reported from collections. Before I'd ever shot a September Pink and was keen do so i spent many hours and miles trying to achieve my ambition ( I refused to go to Scotland) finally i shot my first and second ( R&L) on September 5th several years ago. Now I leave them alone after i successfully helped Conor and a few friends achieve this ambition. A good number of Pinks migrate straight from Iceland to Lincolnshire and various Norfolk winter haunts. I'd bet strong money within 3-4 days those 43 Pink will be in deep Norfolk and each day the migration will pickup pace. Obviously these are my personal findings and opinions of chasing Geese for over 50years all over the British Isles. Good luck to one and all chasing Geese this just remember in your excitement get them in range keep calm shoot for the Sooty Head 👍

Edited September 8, 2023 by 6.5x55SE

[6.5x55SE]

Another 80+ Pink's arrived during the day Friday 8-9-2023

[Scruffydog]

Having now reached my 60s I'm in total agreement with the previous.  "Magical" is the word!  Sometimes you just have to sit there and marvel at the view.  They do taste good, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

[grahamch]

A few over mid Northumberland yesterday going sooth

[marsh man]

3 hours ago, Scruffydog said:

Having now reached my 60s I'm in total agreement with the previous.  "Magical" is the word!  Sometimes you just have to sit there and marvel at the view.  They do taste good, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood.

Just about every long term fowler I know , or to be more precise knew, all thought the same way as they were getting towards the time of hanging the gun up , when I reached my 60s I was still as leen as mustard and went most days of the season , then the early shooting started to lose it's appeal , I still went the first morning as old habits die hard and it was nice to see another season in even though I didn't have much intention on shooting a early duck , then reaching my late 60s I finally gave the first morning a miss and made a start later on that month , moving on to my early 70s I was giving the whole of September a miss and starting in October , now I am coming up to my late 70s and at the moment I haven't got much intention in making a start till either the end of October or even early November , this will depend if I have got some of my marshes with water on , or if the cattle have been taken off .

Walking down the marsh tonight before my tea was ready I noticed two tags were on the tag board to let other fowlers know many were already on the marsh , I was wearing a thin short sleeve shirt and it was hotter than any time I have been down the marsh during the wildfowl season , these two chaps were walking over the bone dry marshes with a dog  and having a herd of rowdy cattle following them , the chances of them getting anything would have made very big odds at the bookies, and they don't throw there money away easily , still I know a time when I would had been out and convincing myself it was going to be worth it , those days are long gone and is a sure sign I am no longer hungry to shoot a duck or a goose as I once was , now they have to be in full feather and the last duck of the season is more important now than the first , as one day the last one will certainly be the last one as you cannot defeat time for ever       MM