Moon flight

[CumbrianWildfowler]

Moon flight inland.

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https://youtu.be/XIpYOMtj1Ec?si=FOM--RiL3IIqt-Cb

[marsh man]

Nice one , we never bothered with moon flighting till the cattle were taken off the marsh at around the end of October and then the duck would be mainly Wigeon , I used to love it , with a good Westly wind you would then be looking in the same direction as the rising moon , a long while ago now but we had our fair share of Curlew , nowadays I think most wildfowlers are happy to leave them off the list and just enjoy the wonderful sound they make , the estuary would never be the same if the Curlew didn't show an appearance and long may they continue to do so    MM

[CumbrianWildfowler]

2 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Nice one , we never bothered with moon flighting till the cattle were taken off the marsh at around the end of October and then the duck would be mainly Wigeon , I used to love it , with a good Westly wind you would then be looking in the same direction as the rising moon , a long while ago now but we had our fair share of Curlew , nowadays I think most wildfowlers are happy to leave them off the list and just enjoy the wonderful sound they make , the estuary would never be the same if the Curlew didn't show an appearance and long may they continue to do so    MM

Totally agree. I love them and can't imagine shooting one. My relatives can remember shooting and eating them but then they were common as muck as a breeding bird round here when they did. Breeding all over the Cumbrian fells. A rare thing now.

[Pushandpull]

Different times. I remember eating lapwings as a little kid. They were plentiful and meat was rationed.

Before my time, the family tale is that at harvest time my Great Uncle Art would get out the last remaining muzzle loader in the family and shoot "a bushel basket" of sparrows, which fed on the crop in great numbers. There would be a Sunday "spadger pudding" for the extended family. Roosting sparrows and other small birds were also caught in bat-folding or bat-fowling nets for food. The past is indeed another country.

[marsh man]

2 minutes ago, CumbrianWildfowler said:

Totally agree. I love them and can't imagine shooting one. My relatives can remember shooting and eating them but then they were common as muck as a breeding bird round here when they did. Breeding all over the Cumbrian fells. A rare thing now.

I can't ever remember anyone reporting that they or someone else had found a Curlew.s nest in my part of Norfolk , this is not to say that the odd pair do now nest around these parts with this so called global warming . 

We also shot Shanks before they were removed from the shooting list in 1982 , the only shooting we had at the time was a few marshes and the estuary , without the waders we would had shot very little until the Widgeon turned up around the end of September , now we have a lot more duck and geese around these parts than we ever had and some excellent  wildfowling marshes to go on  , mind you , I still look back to those early days as some of the best times I had chasing wildfowl about .     MM 

[Pushandpull]

MM You must (just) be old enough to remember shooting godwits (excellent eating) and grey plovers (not as tasty as golden). I never managed to get a whimbrel.

[marsh man]

25 minutes ago, Pushandpull said:

MM You must (just) be old enough to remember shooting godwits (excellent eating) and grey plovers (not as tasty as golden). I never managed to get a whimbrel.

Nothing to be proud of but we were in an era where anything that was edible was in danger of ending up with some severe medical problems and if they were bunched up together then the odds were even more stacked up against them .

I did once write up on the forum where me and my mate were on the estuary when the late George Rose could well have fired his last shot with his punt gun at a huge flock of assorted waders , nothing was sacred then and I am pretty sure when that shot went off it was where it was going to bring him the highest number of birds , we were going up the river when the boom rolled around the wall of the estuary and we watched him rowing towards the Lumps and going ashore with his sack , we never did find out what number of birds he picked up but on the way back we also went ashore at the same spot and found a bucket full of assorted waders , these were easy to dispose of as at the time a lot of the villages were happy to eat anything that was fresh , our milkman at the time was very keen on the lovely pies he made from whatever the gunmen took him , unlike the four and twenty Blackbirds that made the pies , his ones would have had four and twenty Stints , Knots , Ringed Plovers and anything else that got in the way when the trigger was pulled , this would be in the mid 60s and thankfully the pies of today have a very different filling from those care free days of yesteryear .    MM

[CumbrianWildfowler]

36 minutes ago, marsh man said:

Nothing to be proud of but we were in an era where anything that was edible was in danger of ending up with some severe medical problems and if they were bunched up together then the odds were even more stacked up against them .

I did once write up on the forum where me and my mate were on the estuary when the late George Rose could well have fired his last shot with his punt gun at a huge flock of assorted waders , nothing was sacred then and I am pretty sure when that shot went off it was where it was going to bring him the highest number of birds , we were going up the river when the boom rolled around the wall of the estuary and we watched him rowing towards the Lumps and going ashore with his sack , we never did find out what number of birds he picked up but on the way back we also went ashore at the same spot and found a bucket full of assorted waders , these were easy to dispose of as at the time a lot of the villages were happy to eat anything that was fresh , our milkman at the time was very keen on the lovely pies he made from whatever the gunmen took him , unlike the four and twenty Blackbirds that made the pies , his ones would have had four and twenty Stints , Knots , Ringed Plovers and anything else that got in the way when the trigger was pulled , this would be in the mid 60s and thankfully the pies of today have a very different filling from those care free days of yesteryear .    MM

What was the best eater back then?

[marsh man]

14 hours ago, CumbrianWildfowler said:

What was the best eater back then?

Most things that were young and before the weather turned hard , Curlew were always in for a hard time when it came to eating what you shot , my grandad was a cook on the fishing boats that ran out of town when the Herring fishing was in full swing , he could make anything taste good and the early Curlew and Whimbrel were fine , these normally had a whole Onion in the cavity and this was to take away the fishy smell , once they left the marshland and spent most of the day on the mudflats then it was time to leave them alone as I very much doubt the best chef in the world could make them edible .

In the 62 / 63 severe Winter we had large rafts of Coots that came down to the partly open water on the estuary after leaving the Broads that were all totally frozen over , these were fairly new to us and pretty easy to push on to , these were not the most sporting birds but sport wasn't always top priority , once you got into range they would tend to run along the water before they would get air born , two shots of Hymax 4s or 5s would often leave around half a dozen behind , these would then be skinned instead of plucking and they had a layer of fat across the breast , these had a proper gamey taste and none would go to waste , towards the end of that Winter I think it was the first time that W A G B I finally put a restriction order on a hard weather ban , by the end of that January everything was either dead or very close to it as even parts of the sea was frozen , waders laid dead everywhere as the mud had frozen solid and the duck were as thin as a rake , nowadays it would be called off way before any birds got into that sort of state and quite rightly so . 

Young Swans were as good as anything but we will leave them for another day while I have still got my s g c in one piece  

[Ajarrett]

Wader shooting was a good way of learning our wildfowling 'trade' back in the day.

I used to have some cracking tide flights, allowing me to stay out all day when the tides where middle of the day. Morning flight for duck (few and far between it seemed) the the flood tide for waders along the salting edge until flooded out; then the ebb when the waders would come thick and fast as the tide dropped. Followed by evening flight for duck. Redshank, bar-tailed godwits, grey plover, whimbrel and curlew all breasted for the freezer until there were enough to make a big wader pie.

On really windy days it was possible to walk the saltings for redshank and grey plover, flushing them from the creeks where they were hunkered down.. Medway Estuary grey plover were pretty vile, but still went into the pie just the same!

Towards the end of the '70s I had my two record flights of curlew - both on the Isle of Sheppey. Great shooting as they came out of the freshmarshes on the ebb. The ban on shooting them was probably timely in hindsight, as we do not see them in the numbers there used to be. Still we have those memories! Subsequently I found a  fantastic curlew flighting spot in the moonlight on the flooding tide, and could have really bagged up if I wanted had they still been on the list. 

Happy days!

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Ajarrett said:

Wader shooting was a good way of learning our wildfowling 'trade' back in the day.

I used to have some cracking tide flights, allowing me to stay out all day when the tides where middle of the day. Morning flight for duck (few and far between it seemed) the the flood tide for waders along the salting edge until flooded out; then the ebb when the waders would come thick and fast as the tide dropped. Followed by evening flight for duck. Redshank, bar-tailed godwits, grey plover, whimbrel and curlew all breasted for the freezer until there were enough to make a big wader pie.

On really windy days it was possible to walk the saltings for redshank and grey plover, flushing them from the creeks where they were hunkered down.. Medway Estuary grey plover were pretty vile, but still went into the pie just the same!

Towards the end of the '70s I had my two record flights of curlew - both on the Isle of Sheppey. Great shooting as they came out of the freshmarshes on the ebb. The ban on shooting them was probably timely in hindsight, as we do not see them in the numbers there used to be. Still we have those memories! Subsequently I found a  fantastic curlew flighting spot in the moonlight on the flooding tide, and could have really bagged up if I wanted had they still been on the list. 

Happy days!

Happy days they most certainly were , a lot of days when the bag was bulging with wildfowl have faded from the memory bank and yet those early days of wader shooting are still as clear as a bell , a chap in our village ran a little timber shop and was also a very keen fowler , we went in there one day and asked him if he cut out some Curlew sillouetts from any off cuts he had as money was in short supply , we had two gun punts and we done a deal with taking him on the first Spring tide in September when everywhere get covered apart from a small area of the salting's , this was ideal as it had narrow creeks all the way around it where we could conceal the gun punts , he made us about a dozen and we gave them a coat of creo which was close to a Curlews plumage , on the night we stuck these out at different angles and the lew came in a treat , the three of us had a fantastic flight and that was the very first time we had ever used a form of decoys .

We also left school at Christmas 1962 which was the start of one of the worst Winters in living memory , me and my mate started with two building firms as apprentice brick layers , I believe the cold weather started Boxing Day and got worse as the time wore on , all outside work on the building sites came to a stand still , by the middle of January we both got laid off through inclement weather and only got a small amount of money from the labour exchange , we didn't mind as we were spending most days after duck and anything else we could shoot and cart them off to Pettits of Reedham , a lot of the birds were used for feather craft as they employed several people making various items out of feathers , it was a good job in a way as the fowl were feeling the cold and rapidly losing body weight , this carried on till W A G B I put a hard weather ban on towards the end of the season and you might know different but I think this might had been the first one they had ever imposed . as it turned out the freezing weather carried on till early March and must accounted for 1000s of birds and wildlife .

You might had seen this photo , this was the ice coming and going on the estuary in 63 .

[CumbrianWildfowler]

Great stories chaps. 

Just now, CumbrianWildfowler said:

Great stories chaps. 

 

Just now, CumbrianWildfowler said:

Great stories chaps. 

 

While we are on the subject, what are golden plover like to eat? I get a few chances every year at them but don't want to shoot one unless I am in for a treat table wise?

I have caught them with peregrines in my falconry days but usually the falcon got the prize. If they are tasty I will pull the trigger.......

[marsh man]

48 minutes ago, CumbrianWildfowler said:

Great stories chaps. 

 

 

While we are on the subject, what are golden plover like to eat? I get a few chances every year at them but don't want to shoot one unless I am in for a treat table wise?

I have caught them with peregrines in my falconry days but usually the falcon got the prize. If they are tasty I will pull the trigger.......

It all depend on what your taste buds are like , some recon they are the finest bird they have ate and that all depends on what they are comparing them with , yes they are worth eating and it would also make a difference what your cooking skills are like , when it was allowed the people like Ernie James who caught Plovers and other wading birds for a living made very good money at times , these were mainly sent to London where there was a ready market . if you are able to try a couple then I don't think you will be disappointed .   MM

[Ajarrett]

Never used curlew decoys, but used to use the dog in September to dupe them. By sitting the dog up in the open and hiding in an adjacent creek the curlew would come to mob the dog. Constant calling and complaining from the birds as they circled was great to observe, and when they came within range that was it. On a good day it was possible to get several like that - with the young birds particularly susceptible to this ruse.

 

Golden plover are fine to eat, and tremendous sport. They can be easy to call, especially if its foggy, and decoy well if you can get on the marsh they are feeding on.

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Ajarrett said:

Never used curlew decoys, but used to use the dog in September to dupe them. By sitting the dog up in the open and hiding in an adjacent creek the curlew would come to mob the dog. Constant calling and complaining from the birds as they circled was great to observe, and when they came within range that was it. On a good day it was possible to get several like that - with the young birds particularly susceptible to this ruse.

 

Golden plover are fine to eat, and tremendous sport. They can be easy to call, especially if its foggy, and decoy well if you can get on the marsh they are feeding on.

I have heard the dog trick being used for a number of reasons to entice certain species of wildfowl , one which was used a lot was on a duck decoy , we had a once commercial duck decoy on the estate where I worked , when it stopped catching duck for the market I believe the B T O or a similar trust took it on for ringing the caught wildfowl , then a few years later when they gave it up the local W A took it on as a project and after a time they gave that up and now very little is left to show where the decoy did once operate .

Another chap I knew ( now passed on ) had a Yellow Labrador that was an attraction to the rapidly growing Greylag population around these parts , he lived close to the river at Burgh Castle and there would always be Greylags sitting on the other side of the river where they were left alone , he would often take his dog and give it a swim in the river , the geese would be curious and swim towards the dog , when one was in range and well behind his dog he would give it a shot and all his dog would have to do was turn around and pick it up , it didn't reduce the numbers much as there are now 3 to 4 hundred of them .

This Curlew decoy hadn't seen much action and must be getting on a bit.

[Old farrier]

14 hours ago, CumbrianWildfowler said:

Great stories chaps. 

 

 

While we are on the subject, what are golden plover like to eat? I get a few chances every year at them but don't want to shoot one unless I am in for a treat table wise?

I have caught them with peregrines in my falconry days but usually the falcon got the prize. If they are tasty I will pull the trigger.......

You should try it 

was good enough to make the menu on the titanic 😊

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, Old farrier said:

You should try it 

was good enough to make the menu on the titanic 😊

Didn't know at the time but we were living as well , if not better than the first class passengers on the Titanic , we did hit a few ice flows in our wild days but thankfully we didn't end up in Davy Jones locker , although we were not about in 1912 and not sure if they had any sort of season in those days as the menu was on April 2nd , very much doubt it as the only season the Plover netters had was  when they were there they would to be caught or shot.  MM

[Old farrier]

2 hours ago, marsh man said:

Didn't know at the time but we were living as well , if not better than the first class passengers on the Titanic , we did hit a few ice flows in our wild days but thankfully we didn't end up in Davy Jones locker , although we were not about in 1912 and not sure if they had any sort of season in those days as the menu was on April 2nd , very much doubt it as the only season the Plover netters had was  when they were there they would to be caught or shot.  MM

I’ve no idea about the seasons then and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have been that fresh by the time they had been at sea for a bit 

just thought it was a amusing thing to find on a menu 😊👍

[Pushandpull]

Refrigerated complete commercial ships had been operating years before the Titanic was built. I have no doubt that the goldies and the other fine foods were spot-on.

[marsh man]

2 hours ago, Old farrier said:

I’ve no idea about the seasons then and I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have been that fresh by the time they had been at sea for a bit 

just thought it was a amusing thing to find on a menu 😊👍

 

2 hours ago, Pushandpull said:

Refrigerated complete commercial ships had been operating years before the Titanic was built. I have no doubt that the goldies and the other fine foods were spot-on.

I wonder how many G / Ps they would had sailed with , you would really need at least one per person with a single breast on two pieces of toast , not only that , how many passengers would had known what they were eating .

In a ole book I have got ( Wildfowlers and Poachers ) it mentioned where a so called local butcher mixed the big ole Seagulls meat  with herbs and spices along with some belly Pork to make the Pork sausages , which by all accounts sold well .     MM