Theres a few woodies here

[mellors]

59 minutes ago, old'un said:

He did...but that's not OSR.

It looks like the SFI we have round here. 

And huge flocks on it. 

Be a brave person to set up on that. 

 

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, JKD said:

Yup, and stabila all the way 🫡

 

You certainly use a piece of class , that would be the Purdey in the world of shotguns , only the rich and famous have a Stabila , a man of sheer elegance 

[B686]

2 hours ago, mellors said:

It looks like the SFI we have round here. 

And huge flocks on it. 

Be a brave person to set up on that. 

 

Thats maybe what he said when i asked  SFI. Thought he said SSI scheme for wild birds . Got wheat and other seed plants in it just left with no chemicals or nothing just left to do it’s own thing.

Edited January 11 by B686

[mellors]

3 hours ago, B686 said:

Thats maybe what he said when i asked  SFI. Thought he said SSI scheme for wild birds . Got wheat and other seed plants in it just left with no chemicals or nothing just left to do it’s own thing.

Be nice if there's a rape field nxt to it or on the flight line.

Quite a few farms round here have gone as much as 50% SFI for safer income. 

 

 

[B686]

3 minutes ago, mellors said:

Be nice if there's a rape field nxt to it or on the flight line.

Quite a few farms round here have gone as much as 50% SFI for safer income. 

 

 

When I asked about shooting he said he already has people on there and the sfi was keeping them off his rape .  I shoot on 5 farms and only 1 has rape this year and sounds like he isn’t bothering next year with it. 

[Wilts#Dave]

17 hours ago, B686 said:

When I asked about shooting he said he already has people on there and the sfi was keeping them off his rape .  I shoot on 5 farms and only 1 has rape this year and sounds like he isn’t bothering next year with it. 

Rape crop seems to dwindle year on year here with plenty of failed crops pitting farmers off growing what is a really expensive crop to grow! 
What I have found is that the fewer fields doesn’t result in more pigeons concentrated in a smaller area, they just mostly disappear through the winter and turn up again in the spring. 

[old'un]

40 minutes ago, Wilts#Dave said:

Rape crop seems to dwindle year on year here with plenty of failed crops pitting farmers off growing what is a really expensive crop to grow! 
What I have found is that the fewer fields doesn’t result in more pigeons concentrated in a smaller area, they just mostly disappear through the winter and turn up again in the spring. 

Opposite around here, there’s over 600 acres on a number of farms and some farmers who have not grown rape for some years say they will be growing it next year.

Strange thing is, I had some good days before Christmas but since this still cold snap they have just sat in the trees with very little movement, apart from them dropping out the trees onto the field.

Hopefully we get a bit of wind with this change in the weather.

[Wilts#Dave]

45 minutes ago, old'un said:

Opposite around here, there’s over 600 acres on a number of farms and some farmers who have not grown rape for some years say they will be growing it next year.

Strange thing is, I had some good days before Christmas but since this still cold snap they have just sat in the trees with very little movement, apart from them dropping out the trees onto the field.

Hopefully we get a bit of wind with this change in the weather.

It’s a profitable crop to grow if you can grow it and a good break crop so as you say some that haven’t grown it for a while are giving it a go! Hopefully it’ll keep you busy with plenty of shooting. 
What is strange though is we always used to get reasonable shooting through the winter on rape but now even though it’s still grown, albeit in smaller acreage it just doesn’t attract the pigeons here like it used to. I think they just leave the area through the winter and return in the spring, but obviously I’ll never really know! 

[old'un]

3 hours ago, Wilts#Dave said:

It’s a profitable crop to grow if you can grow it and a good break crop so as you say some that haven’t grown it for a while are giving it a go! Hopefully it’ll keep you busy with plenty of shooting. 
What is strange though is we always used to get reasonable shooting through the winter on rape but now even though it’s still grown, albeit in smaller acreage it just doesn’t attract the pigeons here like it used to. I think they just leave the area through the winter and return in the spring, but obviously I’ll never really know! 

There's a high yielding variety of rape called Compass, in trials it was noticed that pigeons numbers were a lot smaller on these fields and did not graze the field for prolonged periods, in some trials there was no pigeon damage at all, this is believed to be due to the high levels of Glucosinolates, its thought this chemical, that produces heat in chilli and mustard seed, helps to deter pigeons….this year there was more than 20,000ha sown, your farmers could be growing such a variety.

[kitchrat]

4 hours ago, old'un said:

Opposite around here, there’s over 600 acres on a number of farms and some farmers who have not grown rape for some years say they will be growing it next year.

Strange thing is, I had some good days before Christmas but since this still cold snap they have just sat in the trees with very little movement, apart from them dropping out the trees onto the field.

Hopefully we get a bit of wind with this change in the weather.

Same here, just sit in the trees for hours, then drop for a mass feed.

[old'un]

6 minutes ago, kitchrat said:

Same here, just sit in the trees for hours, then drop for a mass feed.

Yep, still cold sunny days are not the best conditions for pigeon shooting, very rarely go out when its like that.