After the storm...

[matone]

Went out early walking this morning ,it was a beautiful dawn . By 8.30 ish on the return leg I was passing 3 rape fields which are along the edge of mature woodland ,they all had good numbers down feeding on them in the morning sun with more sitting in the woodland edge.

[jcbbracken]

more likely on the acorns

[matone]

Nope,definitely feeding on the rape,widely scattered across 3 fields totalling circa 40 acres. We have had a few frosts recently and they were feeding in the woods last week but this am they were out.

[marsh man]

8 hours ago, matone said:

Went out early walking this morning ,it was a beautiful dawn . By 8.30 ish on the return leg I was passing 3 rape fields which are along the edge of mature woodland ,they all had good numbers down feeding on them in the morning sun with more sitting in the woodland edge.

 

6 hours ago, matone said:

Nope,definitely feeding on the rape,widely scattered across 3 fields totalling circa 40 acres. We have had a few frosts recently and they were feeding in the woods last week but this am they were out.

I would had normally said that it was a bit early for Pigeons to feeding on rape , but strangely enough I got a call from the farm foreman early last week to tell he had just put off about a 150 of a rape field that have got some thin areas where you can still see the stubble after it was direct drilled , so Tuesday afternoon I went to just have a look and yes there was around a 100 in one small area of the field , as I was coming off the tractor was getting another field nearby ready for Winter barley but this would be a no go area as we have got a game strip running down one side , the next day was dull but the forecast was for worst to come as we now know what they meant , so I had a early lunch and got to the field a little after one , by then the barley field had already been drilled and the Pigeons must have been waiting for the drill to get off as they were scattered about in fair numbers , this made a big difference to the nearby rape field as it didn't hold any pigeons at all , rather than admit defeat I set up with two dead pigeons on a magnet and a floater each side also with a dead pigeon on them , I would liked to have said several came in from the word go but sorry to say that didn't happen and in the end I shot five pigeons in about 1 1/2 hrs and then it was it , not a pigeon in sight so very soon I was on my home , still I dare say it was one of the earliest times I had shot a pigeon on a rape field , as a footnote , three were young and the other two were old uns , the young ones had the breasts cut off and they were my tea on Saturday night , not all the six as that would had been greedy 😋 , no I managed nearly four and my dog had the rest , after all he did pick them up which saved my ageing legs      MM

[matone]

37 minutes ago, marsh man said:

 

I would had normally said that it was a bit early for Pigeons to feeding on rape , but strangely enough I got a call from the farm foreman early last week to tell he had just put off about a 150 of a rape field that have got some thin areas where you can still see the stubble after it was direct drilled , so Tuesday afternoon I went to just have a look and yes there was around a 100 in one small area of the field , as I was coming off the tractor was getting another field nearby ready for Winter barley but this would be a no go area as we have got a game strip running down one side , the next day was dull but the forecast was for worst to come as we now know what they meant , so I had a early lunch and got to the field a little after one , by then the barley field had already been drilled and the Pigeons must have been waiting for the drill to get off as they were scattered about in fair numbers , this made a big difference to the nearby rape field as it didn't hold any pigeons at all , rather than admit defeat I set up with two dead pigeons on a magnet and a floater each side also with a dead pigeon on them , I would liked to have said several came in from the word go but sorry to say that didn't happen and in the end I shot five pigeons in about 1 1/2 hrs and then it was it , not a pigeon in sight so very soon I was on my home , still I dare say it was one of the earliest times I had shot a pigeon on a rape field , as a footnote , three were young and the other two were old uns , the young ones had the breasts cut off and they were my tea on Saturday night , not all the six as that would had been greedy 😋 , no I managed nearly four and my dog had the rest , after all he did pick them up which saved my ageing legs      MM

Yes,it`s been a strange autumn ,nothing has been normal from the beginning of harvest ! The rape on my ground has all failed and been re-drilled with barley too,so nothing to look for there !

[marsh man]

25 minutes ago, matone said:

Yes,it`s been a strange autumn ,nothing has been normal from the beginning of harvest ! The rape on my ground has all failed and been re-drilled with barley too,so nothing to look for there !

Some of the local Rape fields are as different from chalk to cheese , some are lush and Green and as high as your water boots while others have hardly grown with very little rape to be seen , normally we don't shoot any Pigeons on rape till the game shooting is finished but this Winter might produce a bit of shooting well before that .

Anyhow , hope you find a few somewhere round your way     MM

[Centrepin]

12 hours ago, matone said:

Yes,it`s been a strange autumn ,nothing has been normal from the beginning of harvest ! The rape on my ground has all failed and been re-drilled with barley too,so nothing to look for there !

Same here, although they're trying rape again on two fields.

Off to look later and see what's occurring.

One thing I've noticed is this time there are no margins, every possible inch is plowed and seeded.

12 hours ago, marsh man said:

Some of the local Rape fields are as different from chalk to cheese , some are lush and Green and as high as your water boots while others have hardly grown

Very even here, shoots around 2" everywhere. Last time it was a mixture of weather and flea beetle that ruined everything.

[Old Boggy]

14 hours ago, marsh man said:

 

I would had normally said that it was a bit early for Pigeons to feeding on rape , but strangely enough I got a call from the farm foreman early last week to tell he had just put off about a 150 of a rape field that have got some thin areas where you can still see the stubble after it was direct drilled , so Tuesday afternoon I went to just have a look and yes there was around a 100 in one small area of the field , as I was coming off the tractor was getting another field nearby ready for Winter barley but this would be a no go area as we have got a game strip running down one side , the next day was dull but the forecast was for worst to come as we now know what they meant , so I had a early lunch and got to the field a little after one , by then the barley field had already been drilled and the Pigeons must have been waiting for the drill to get off as they were scattered about in fair numbers , this made a big difference to the nearby rape field as it didn't hold any pigeons at all , rather than admit defeat I set up with two dead pigeons on a magnet and a floater each side also with a dead pigeon on them , I would liked to have said several came in from the word go but sorry to say that didn't happen and in the end I shot five pigeons in about 1 1/2 hrs and then it was it , not a pigeon in sight so very soon I was on my home , still I dare say it was one of the earliest times I had shot a pigeon on a rape field , as a footnote , three were young and the other two were old uns , the young ones had the breasts cut off and they were my tea on Saturday night , not all the six as that would had been greedy 😋 , no I managed nearly four and my dog had the rest , after all he did pick them up which saved my ageing legs      MM

At least you gave it a go John and ended up with yours and Bobbie’s tea, so a good little session in my book. I’ve got a rape field at the back of my house looking really healthy but yet to attract a single pigeon. Once they have finished on the drilled wheat fields they may well start on the rape but it’s still early days. They will be on ivy berries and possibly acorns before then but I can at least keep a close eye on the rape field from my upstairs back window for any pigeon activity in the future. 
OB

[marsh man]

46 minutes ago, Old Boggy said:

At least you gave it a go John and ended up with yours and Bobbie’s tea, so a good little session in my book. I’ve got a rape field at the back of my house looking really healthy but yet to attract a single pigeon. Once they have finished on the drilled wheat fields they may well start on the rape but it’s still early days. They will be on ivy berries and possibly acorns before then but I can at least keep a close eye on the rape field from my upstairs back window for any pigeon activity in the future. 
OB

Morning Chris .... Yes the afternoon I went had a good wind blowing and on the other side of the hedge is a grass track which is driveable , where I went there is a slight gap where a metre was pulled out and a few yards ago a new tree was planted so it was dead easy , drive to the gap and all you have to do is leave your motor where it is and cart your gear through the gap , set up and you are ready to go , if the weather change it is just a matter of doing the reverse when you first arrived , this might had been the reason I set up with no Pigeons on the field , as you say that these sort of fields are worth keeping an eye on as other feed supply get harder to come by , these little short sessions are ideal as it don't really matter if things are quite and if you do get a bit of shooting you can handle what you get and haven't done to much harm to your body which is getting more and more fragile as the years roll on .

 

2 hours ago, Centrepin said:

Same here, although they're trying rape again on two fields.

Off to look later and see what's occurring.

One thing I've noticed is this time there are no margins, every possible inch is plowed and seeded.

Very even here, shoots around 2" everywhere. Last time it was a mixture of weather and flea beetle that ruined everything.

You should see several good rape fields and the odd ropey field when you come here on your hols , I know that where I drive around the good growing fields out number the poor ones