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.