Back to the marshes after weeks of partying

There's not been much chance to get out on the marshes lately, with my Big 40 and Christmas forcing a lot of drinking and parties my way :-)    I think my waste line has definitely seen slimmer times, so I need to use the next few days before going back to work, trying to loose a bit of weight.

On the 22nd my boy, big cuz Ian and big Bro Vera hit a little bit of rough shooting in a festive way.  It was a horrid wet day, not much good for the pheasants which kept off the wet ground and well out of our  way.  We managed to bag 2 woodcock and 2 partridges for our efforts, but we did have a good laugh with festive hats and one or two hip flasks..

The birds, plus  a pheasant from Ians shed were put to good use in my

Christmas dinner.  I boned out a 17lb turkey, and added another 10lb turkey, a 10lb Chicken the 2 woodcock and partridges along with the pheasant breasts. and lots of stuffing.

Once all the meat was in, everything was stitched back together with the aid of my Christmas sidekick and cooking Guru Roger

Stage 1 - bag your birds

Stage 3 - over 20lb of pure meat,
only two leg bones remain

Stage 2 - bone your bird
on the kitchen table

28th December the usual crew (Bro, Big cuz and Henry) tried to shed off the hangovers by getting up at silly o'clock and heading out on the broad.  The forecast was for gales force southerly winds and heavy rain - a recipe for disaster on the broad, and quite a dangerous place to be, so Me and Ian took the easy option and headed onto the 'Slaughters', which would provide the only shelter on the broad and Darren headed out to 'The point' in defiance of nature.

A nice spread of decoys

The flight never did really get started, lots of sea gulls as normal - but no duck.  Certainly not the expected teal buzzing our large decoy pattern.  but luckily the heavy rain kept in check for the first hour, giving us relative comfort.

He loves it

We kept ourselves amused as much as possible, practising with our duck and geese calls and mastering the 'diving' duck call.

Then the geese started to move, which gave us a bit of hope, a pair were called our way and went 100 yards to our side, then another pair followed the same line!

Wondering if we should move, but by now quite wet and getting cold we couldn't be bothered, and set about making all kind of weird and wonderful noises with our calls again. 

Picking up my Canada call reminded me that I hadn't shot one on the broad for years, and sparked off a bit of conversation about where they may have gone etc. As if by magic, we heard the magical burrrdup burrrdup, burrrdup call of a B52 coming from the short dyke, I called it back and got the BB's rammed home in the spout.  They called and got closer but then became quiet, keeping out of sight.  Disheartened i dropped the call, only to see a pair appear up over the wherry's and heading straight at Ian (located 30yds to my left).

Boom, the left bird dropped, leaving the remaining bird open for everyone to pile in.  bang, boom, bang bang boom -  the goose was hit in the belly, the face and the hard in the arse with some BB's, but it kept in the air!  making a good 300 yards before falling dead at the top end of the slaughters (this never would have happened when we used lead).

This Canada was so heavy he
could hadly lift it.

No sooner had we re-loaded than another pair of geese appeared on the exact same line, as they drew closer I recognised them as Gypo's (Egyptian geese) something me and Henry have been trying to get our hands on for the last two seasons since they were brought onto the shooting list.

Once again Ian dropped one with his first shot, followed closely by a barrage which brought the second goose down ( both stone dead)

So in one session, Henry got his hands on a Gypo and a Canada - the unfortunate thing is that he cant claim any of them for himself as they were either Ian's or a group effort.  But his time will come and he was more than happy to have been a part of things and we are 99% certain he was bang on with his shooting as the bird which carried shot before dying, had a few small pellet holes in the head !!  and one things for sure it wasn't the BB's being shot from Ian or me, or the thing would have been down, so the conclusion was that it must have been Henry's little steel 20bore loads.

A pair of Gypo's nicely
retrieved by Benson

Shortly after the Gypo's were in hand, things were getting very wet and cold so we decided to cut things short and head for home.  By evening time everything was still wet though despite being hung by the fire, so Henry and I decided to cook some nice pork ribs and chips for tea and stay in.. As they say Tomorrows another day  - and we have already decided to give Davids marsh a look.

8 December

Not much shooting this weekend, last night (Friday) was the 'Managers' Christmas party, so no chance of getting up early  - and Tonight is one of my Birthday celebrations so that counts out the evening flight..

Being as it was a still sunny day, I thought i would give my new air rifle a go, so popped down to the copse for an hour to clear my head.  The gun worked fantastically with its new scopes,  i took 4 pigeons and a magpie for 7 shots.

The two missed shots were because the pellet hit a branch en route, 3 birds were head shot and the other 2 were hit in the vital organs and dropped instantly (head shot was not possible due to vegetation)

I'm very please with it, and it's a great use of the £ people kindly gave me for my birthday.


Shooting over, a quick change and off for Drinks at Lisa and Danny's (Bro & Sis in law)  Who had arranged a 'Hunting' themed party..  Lots of fun there, and some great pictures of my past put together by Roger.

Party people in the house....

Wendy's 'hunting' cake

Sunday i got a call from Ian to say he was on the Rape filed and the pigeons were going mad !! Once my eyes had stopped spinning and the hang over eased a bit, I went over for a quick hour.   Poor Ian must have wished he'd never asked - I think the dog could have shot better, I only managed 3 birds with about 15 shots.  Luckily he did better and picked up 97 at the end of the flight.

Some times you get lucky

We had people over Saturday night, so I wasn't feeling too sharp Sunday but Henry had been thinking about the day before and was keen to go out again.  Following his disappointment of hitting, but not dropping a few birds on the broad, he decided he wanted to have his first outing with my old Franchi semi auto.

It was a perfect winters day, the sun was out, a sprinkling of snow on the ground and not a whisper of wind - so not expecting to see much I agreed to take him out for his 1st session with a 12 bore; thinking  we may see a pigeon or two on the hawthorn trees down the Suffolk marshes which would give us a chance to see if he can handle a 12 bore well enough to make the transition from a 20 bore.

We got down the marsh around 3pm and there wasn't a feather in sight, by 4pm the sun had dipped, things were getting cold and still no sign of a bird - no pigeons, rooks, ducks or even a snipe dared to make a move and only the faint sound of Pinks feeding in the distance to keep us entertained.

by 4.30 and in pretty much blackness, I had had enough and questioned Henry if he was cold and wanted to go home, but the little chap was so keen to have his first shot on a marsh with his 12 bore that he said no and commented 'You never know, something may turn up' and pretty much instantly 'Wink Wink' 4 pinks passed high to our right.

Initially i didn't bother to call, as they were obviously off to roost somewhere; so i didn't think it would have any effect.  But then they swung around a Marsh about half a mile away and seemed interested in landing somewhere - so the call came out the the little monkeys turned and swung our way, chatting to me as they came. 

500 yards and closing fast, they set their wings and dropped to 30 feet - swinging their heads side to side and looking hard for a goose to land with in the twilight.  We crouched low in the dyke, and i kept calling them - they crossed the dyke 40 yards down and were quartering towards us.

'Now Henry - Take em' - he jumped up, fired one and missed, then folded a bird clean dead with the second shot.  I followed in but couldn't get another one.

Ben soon picked the bird up for our inspection, Over the moon with this bird - we started to gather our gear for the walk home - then all of a sudden, we could hear hundreds of geese in the air, and could just make our a skein heading our way, i called and once again they came, but were looking to cross further down the marsh, so i told Henry to make a move and get under them.  He kept low and ran - managing to get under the line- 2 shots rang out, closely followed by the unmistakable sounds of pellets striking feathers, a bird dropped but didn't fall.

I got the things together and walked down to join him, thinking that would be it.  But no sooner had i got to him than a bunch of pinks were heading for the top of the marsh.  Off he sped again Bang, Crack, Bang Crack and a goose dropped 20 feet from the pack, I cheered and thought it was down - but only to see the thing gain height again and re-group.

It was pretty much pitch black by now, but there were hundreds and hundreds of geese in the air - you couldn't see them coming but you could see them when they got within 100 yards.  I really wished I had something heavier than the 32grm 4's for Henry to shoot - In the excitement i had totally forgotten that my Franchi had  a 3inch chamber and i had a pocket full of 3inch number 1 heavy load steel ! 

I gave him a hand full and he loaded up - the next skein came and boom - crack.. I strained to see if one was coming down and could make out one was loosing altitude above us, all of a sudden there was no question of it falling, it was stone dead and coming straight at us in the darkness - thud, it hit the deck 5 feet behind me.. I hate to think of the bones that would have broken it it had landed on me.

We had a few more shots and I brought one down, then decided we were wasting our time shooting at shadows and packed up.

One happy boy - with his first 12bore outing. 
n.b The gun was unloaded and double checked before the picture

The ground was white with frost by now - and Henry's hands were so cold he couldn't even unload his gun.  Funny how you don't feel it when the adrenalin is flowing, but as soon as you stop you cant move.

Double treat for Henry as he got to off-road the truck on the way back ; -)

A cold start

Its been raining cats and dogs for the last two weeks, the marshes have plenty of water and the waveney is bursting its banks at Geldeston.  A lot of the country have it bad with sever flooding in the South West. 

This week, it turned cold for the first time this winter, with some heavy frosts and

Northerly winds (gusting over 50mph) perfect weather for fowling, and we just happened to have a Boat on the Broad !!

I dragged Henry out of bed at 4.30 and looked at the thermometer which was reading -2.  We had all our clothes laid out in front of the wood burner to keep them warm and I had purchased some "Hot socks" to try and keep our feet warm, but i must admit i wasnt sure if Henry would be able to cope with the cold.

It wasnt long before the Zippo hand warmers ( a great piece of kit for anyone who spends time outside) had been sparked up, the trailer hitched and we were off.

Big Bro was already in the car park, full with anticipation..  and luckily there was no one else either !!  well apart from the Muppet's hand netting the quay for live bait !  some people have no morals.

Boat loaded, we rowed out under the light of the moon and set up on "the point" and "east" not great positions given the Westerly wind, but really good positions for the teal and widgeon we were expecting to see.

You cant beat a cuppa coffee
 to keep you warm

The decoys set, and a cup of coffee later we were loaded up and ready for the 6.43 start time. Teal were into the coys straight away and Henry took his 1st teal from the broad.  The widgeon then started to fly, circling the broad in big bunches of around 50, but keeping high and out of range as normal.

Just a one big bunch was crossing the broad, wings down and heading for Bro - a bunch of about 15 teal went webs down into our pattern.  Henry took his second teal from the broad and i managed one as they exited.

Our pattern of coys, with the rotary 'lucky duck' bottom right
and Darren's decoys at the far reed bed

A happy boy with his 1st teal from the broad. 
Well worth the cold early morning

The action continued, with barrels hot from the action at times.  Then it started to Hail, then snow and finally Rain..  By the time we finished we were well and truly soaked, but the modern gear we have kept us dry and mostly warm.  Unlike poor Benson, who did a couple of long retrieves and was feeling the effects of the weather by the time we finished, but soon got wrapped up in a big towel to warm up while i rowed in.

The snow sets in

Final bag was 4 teal, 1 Gadwall and a Mallard to our boat and 3 Mallard to Darren.

High lights:

Henrys first decoyed teal
Darrens left & right on Mallard
The sheer number of birds in the air & Henry trying his best to blow 3 different calls at once


Low lights:
No geese at all
I shot like Barney the Dinosaur
The Rain

Mikey the builder!  nothing to do with the post, but putting this nut shell on Mikey kept Henry happy for hours.



No blog - Just Mikey

This is Mikey, Henry's Bearded Draggon..  He's a real character, but no good with a shot gun ;-)

17 Nov 2012 - A day to remember for Henry

I was really tempted to get up early and head to Haddiscoe after the pinks again, but Wendy was working nights and both Henry and me we tired so I went for the easy option of staying in bed ;-)

Feeling pretty fresh after my lay in, me and my man headed over to Lowestoft to pick up the dive bottle for my new air rifle.  I've had it for 2 weeks now but havent been able to fire a shot due to a broken valve. 

Got home, fill her up and had my first few shots.  She's a nice gun to hold, but its a bit noisier than my old Webley and why Air arms but the bolt right where your nose is, is any ones guess.  You have to take the gun down to cock it, which defeats the object of having 10 shots.  The Webley is a far better set up with a side bolt so you can keep the gun in situ and on target while you reload.  Having said that, its a good quality bit of kit and i'm sure i will get used to using it.

Setting up the sights took a bit longer than expected, due to the fact that for some reason the cross hairs go out of focus after 5 seconds of you looking down the scope.  I have no idea why, so will have to research this.  but being as i was trying to set it up on he mill dots, it was hard going, but managed some good groups.

All excited we headed down to Rorys in hope of a pigeon or squirrel, we had seen plenty about and thought they would be in the wood after acorns, but we didnt see a thing !  Gutted not to get a shot with my new weapon we headed home to get changed and head out after a duck

My new S410 - brought from my Dads mate Mike

We had been to fritton earlier in the day to see if there was any sign of duck on the splash, but there was no sign of ducks what so ever.  We couldnt believe how much they have taken out of the wood, and the whole place was like 'crazy kevs' off-road centre.  It was mad, i'm not sure if we did any damage to the car, but we went over a stump at full pelt and we heard it run the whole length of the underside of the motor..

Given the lack of ducks over there, we decided to go for the easy option of heading to Davids, no chance of anyone else being down there other than my mate Sean and the walk from the car is only a couple of hundred yards

Henry in his hide down Davids - you can see our truck in the distance

We set up, threw a few decoys out onto a wet patch and crossed our fingers.

As usual we saw a few mallard heading into a pit in the distance, but none came our way.  Then the geese (greys) came out of Hardley a bunch at a time, calling loudly over in the distance and heading out to Cantley to feed somewhere.

Water on the marsh with a few Mallard coys

Then, for some reason a bunch flew out the other side of the floods and headed roughly in our direction.  Knowing that they were more likely to go fly over the car than us, I shouted to Hery to move to the bottom end.  Gun unloaded, I think he would have given Usane Bolt a run for his money, this while blowing full pelt on his Grey call..  I was laughing to myself, thinking of all the times I would have done the same and wishing i had the energy, but it takes more than the thought of a goose to get me to run these days.

Two skeins came just wide of him but out of range, so he headed back up the marsh to his hide.  some 20 minutes later it was dark enough to come out of our hides without being seen and knowing that the teal sometimes fly the opposite dyke i told him to go and stand over there for the last 30 minutes of the flight.

Just as he got settled,  I heard the faint sound of gun fire in Cantley direction, shortly followed by the calling of Grey Geese. I too started calling and soon saw a solitary greylag heading our way! I shouted Henry and got low in my hide, calling all the time.

The Grey was heading wide, but then swung our way 300 yards away, he passed me 45 yards out but was on a direct line for Henry, sure enough it flew straight over his head ! Kabooom (or should i say Parrp) his little 20 went,  but the goose didnt move an inch..  Kaparrp he went again, and to my amazement the big ole fella tumbled out of the sky and smack into the ground 50 yards behind him! Ben was quickly dispatched to pick it up and it was smiles all around. you can see  by the picture how dark things were getting at this time.

Henry and his second Greylag ever. shot with 24grm no 5 steel

I put the grey out with the mallard decoys in the water just in case another one saw it and got tempted to come our way....

The next thing we saw was some pinks, they came to the call but swung wide at about 500 yards and off into the distance,  a few moments later we heard more 'Wink Wink' in the distance and started calling, in the near darkness we saw a skein heading our way of around 20 birds.  I kept calling them and they kept responding, then there wings hit the MoBot style glide position and they headed straight for Henry.  I was hoping that he was going to leave them, as i was sure they would swing and come in to land, but as i watched he raised his gun and if I had of shouted they would have heard me for sure.

The birds were still moving fast and up there about 45 yards as Henry let fire his first shot, I was pleased to hear the crack of pinion feathers as his pellets struck home, thinking to myself "at least he hit one" then in slow motion and totally to my amazement a bird from the front of the pack tumbled out and splashed into the dyke!  I couldnt help but shout, totally forgetting the boy had another shot to go which understandably missed its target.



Henry's 1st Pink foot goose - those suckers have evil eyes..

 Ben was once again put into action and Henry proudly claimed his 1st Pink


















I never really thought there would be a day when my boy stood on a marsh with 2 geese and I went home empty handed:



Boy did good..



10 November

10 Nov 2012 -

Ian has been keeping his eye out for Pinks on his way to work and has noticed several hundred Pinks in the Haddiscoe area..

Its earlier in the year than we would normally turn attention to the pinks, but being as they were there

my little man (Henry) and my big cuz Ian get up at stupid O'clock and head to Haddiscoe '3 Sisters' with a shed load of decoys and netting.


Before dawn broke we could hear the pinks on a field about 1/2 a mile to the east - it would appear that they have been feeding through the night (strange as there was no moon) so full of excitement we picked what we thought was a good spot and set up quickly.

As light broke, literally thousands of geese and birds of all variety descended on on particular field.. we didnt question why to start with, but as more and more targeted just this one field we started to think there must be more to it than just the nice grass.

After a look with binoculars and a scouting mission from the youngest and fittest member of the group we decided that it was either rape or beet tops they were feeding and no matter how many decoys we had out would entice them our way. As we had Hellington booked up, we decided to leave at 8.30 only to look over our shoulder when we got to the gate to see half a dozen pinks skimming over where we had been standing ;-(

Highlights of the session were:

• Me Ian and Henry taking 7 shots and one goose, hitting it hard but it still didnt come down
• Henry's face when i let him drive back down the track in the Truck
• Ians new boddy warmer - (apparently he got it cheap from a shop in Beccles)
• My wet feet - after 10 years my boots finally gave up ;-(

Anyway, we headed to Maccy D's for breakfast and then headed on over to Hellington,

We walked up the arable field as normal, ian taking the footpath and me the track with Henry, Ian put a cock up off the path which crossed the field closely followed 3 lots of 32grm 5's and then henrys 2 20bore loads, that baby was going like an express train when i swung on it and dropped it in one ;-) I only wish the rest of the day could have gone so well.

I think the early morning had put us all out of kilter as we put up several pheasants and either missed them clean or put em down as runners which the dogs couldnt find in the chest deep rough ground.

At the end of the day we picked up 3 pheasants, I have no idea who got them I think Ian and Henry shared one, me and Henry shared one and Henry butt shot a beauty on his own.

New boots have been ordered and are on the way !!

What's it all about...

It's the 14th November 2012, and in a months time I will hit the bit 40....

Things are moving so fast in my life, that I thought I would try to capture some of my weekends, memories and special times for the future so that I can look back at them and remember my adventures..

Thinking back over just the last few weeks i can remember seeing the biggest otter in the world ever, 10 feet from my boat on Rockland, an Osprey and a hen harrier (must have been the 1st time Henry has seen these things) also, Henry shooting his 1st Widgeon at Blundeston..

I will start by adding a few pictures, for no other reason than i like them - and they will give you a flavour of whats coming.

Rockland Broad at Sunrise - I love this place. Its a shame the birds don't use it like they used to, but what a place to sit and shoot nothing..

This is Henry on the Boat with Benson early 2011season enjoying a cup of tea and next to that is a picture of him and his 1st duck off the broad, shot east side of Toms hole when it foolishly by passed the decoys,

This is my Big Bro commonly known as Vera holding the 1st duck he shot with his 40th Birthday present a Browning Maxus 3.5inch magnum.  This was our 1st outing with it on the broad and he brought it down at in the slaughters - fen channel side. The gun proved to be such a success that Big cuz got one, then one of his friends and then Me also..  They seem to be great guns, light enough to carry all day but with a big 3'5 inch chamber

This is my beloved dog Benson - also known as Bweno, the Goat, or Mr Ben he's a hard-core dog & regularly smashes through the ice to retrieve a bird for me.  He loves the cold and wont even come in the house unless it's about -7c and he's tired.. I got him for my 30th, and what a present he's turned out to be..  He may well turn out to be my best gun dog ever, the one i look back and wish all the rest could be like.  Poor ole boy will be retiring soon, he will be 10 on the 17th Jan 2013, and his replacement will soon need to be brought and trained

Henry and a bag of 97 birds.. this was pretty much his first day out with his now 20 bore back in March 2011..  From memory he took
9 of these,  which isn't bad because the wind was blowing hard and they werent easy to hit..  I'm sure it took me years before i got my
1st flyer, I can see it now - a pigeon coming into feed on some Hawthorne berries at my childhood home in Alpington.  It wasn't so much flying as it was hovering..


Another big bag from the same field 213 picked up by me and my big cuz Ian over rape stubble in Geldeston (2008 I think).  Ian was so superstitious about ending on a 13 that he dove around looking for another bird for ages!  both of us (and our barrels) were hot on this day.  when we are on form, I think we can hang with the best of em.

Now this was a proud day..  Ian had sorted some shooting for us on an old quarry (he always comes up with the goods).  He also managed to get permission for Henny to tag along, helping out with collecting the birds etc and in return he could stand with his 20bore at the edge.

No sooner had he loaded up than a flight of 6 greys came over him, a single shot with a 24grm no5 steel and goose folded dead in the air.  I was so busy shooting at another one, I didn't even realise he had hit one until it zipped passed my right shoulder near decapitating me..

I don't know who was more excited, him or me.. Whilst he was very pleased with it, I don't think he realises what a big thing it is to get your first grey.  I was around the age of 20 before I got mine and my dad, was around the age of 50 (another day i wont forget)

This is my Big Cuz, friend and shooting buddy Ian..   I hate to say it, but he beats on shot to bird ratio 9 times out of 10.  What ever he turns his hand to he seems to make it a success.  As demonstrated by these Canada's taken from Haddiscoe at the start of 2011.  But I have to mention that it was probably down to my calling prowess;-)


 For now, i will end with some picutres of Henry - learning the ropes

What a good looking shooter..  Looks like something straight out of a magazine.  November 2011 Blundeston

Smiling as always, we forgot the hide poles so had to lay on the grass at Davids

Now thats what i call a hide !!   me and Henry set this 'bungalow' up on cookies farm geldeston.. it was Bean stubble, and a great day before we got kicked off because the neighbours dogs were going mad...

A bit of Air Rifle action

 This is another one of our passions - getting the air rifle out on a still sunny day.  We are lucky enough to have a little (about 8 acre site) to shoot on but it has a lot of Rabbits, squirells and pigeons!  Henry took these two with his Raider 10 shot and then went on to get another one in the wood



Bream just under 6lb

When we arent shooting we are fishing - now Henry has stopped his Gymnastics training, we had a lot of time to spend down the pit and he really enjoyed it.  These were a few of his better fish from Broome pits summer 2012

Not a massive carp, only about7lb but what a pretty fish.



A beautiful tench from the car park pit.