One last trip for Henry

Henry was feeling better, so we decided to give Bludeston one last look before the season closed.  What a difference 24hours can make, the snow had gone and the temperature was up to 9dgc, but with the strong wind chill, it was still cold outside.

We headed down the byway, enjoying the off-roading as usual.  No getting stuck today, which was a bonus! and we were soon on the marsh with the decoys on a splash, trying our hardest to hide from the wind by laying on the edge of a dyke.

Nothing was flying, so other than a shot a snipe there was nothing to keep us entertained until darkness fell and the woodcock started to fly.  It was once of those nights that no matter where Henry stood the birds came over me.  I had 3 woodcock down and missed another 3 and all he had shot was a bush which got in the firing line..  Then 5 teal nearly took my head off and i added one of these to the bag, a cracking shot from Henry saw another bush take full pattern (if anyone knows a good recipe for eating bush, could they let Henry know).

Another season done, and some great memories stored...  Now i suppose its onto the pigeons, pike and then later in spring some Tench fishing !! bye for now

Two of the best shooting companions I could ever have...

The last weekend

Well here it is, the last weekend of the 2012 season!  Ian took the Friday off and after a poor start on the pigeons headed down to 3 sisters to see if the duck were still using the river in the hard weather.  Unfortunately his knowledge of the track was not all that good, and with the snow covering the Tyre tracks he ended up bottoming out in a 2ft hole...  after digging for a while and using some car mats and a padded unhooking mat to gain traction he managed to break free - only to find himself stuck again 200yds further down! 

Ian standing in one of the ruts he got stuck in,the photo doesn't
do it justice, but it was at least 2ft deep mud

The spade and mats were deployed again and this time he wasn't stopping, so went all the way back to the rail line and walked the 2 miles back to the river!   his determination wasn't really paid back either with any duck that came his way either  being pricked on dropping on the far bank.

He wasn't too keen to go again Saturday morning, but being as Darren was on the broad and Henry was still ill with a cold he agreed to keep me company.

I was certain that I could get to the end of the track and also that we would see a good number of duck during the morning flight...   We got up to 35mph SW winds, driving a blizzard !  it was truly minging.. We got to the track and despite Ians cautiousness I hit it hard - avoiding all the holes i knew of, but i had't accounted for the fact that the permafrost had melted leaving a right  sludgy bog at the bottom of the track to the cow pen, trying to get up a small incline saw me bog down to my belly pan!  there's nothing quite like that cold feeling when you lose traction miles from anywhere!  the spade was soon into action, clearing snow and breaking the wheels free.  15 minutes of cold sweat and i was heading in reverse back up the track as fast as i could to some harder ground where i parked up.  I was so relieved i totally forgot to close my window and left it totally open for at least 3 hours while we were shooting, returning to find my seat and dashboard totally soaked !

The trudge over the fields seemed twice as gruelling due to the deep snow and defrosted mud below, it was just like walking in the soft sand down the beach.. We were also laden down with decoys and a rod to deploy them, thinking the extra allure of decoys would see us bag up.

Male Hen harrier

Smew - fish eating razor billed ducks
rarely seen inshore

We got to the river and spent a while trying to get the decoys to land properly and settle, then as twilight broke I waiting eagerly for the teal to start flying!  We waited and waited, but nothing took to air, no geese, no duck no nothing!  then we were entertained by some smew which gave us a close look, and then another glimpse of the Hen Harrier we had seen the previous week.

Determined that we would see something, we waited and waited - then we heard the familiar Plink Plink of some pinks and saw them coming from Somerlayton direction, we called and they responded, heading our way and dropping all the time, soon they were 30yards up and just over the rail line heading for the splash and feed bin, looking to land - suddenly they spooked off the feed bin and followed our call to the river, but by now edging 50yards.  They got to Ian first and he stoned one out, then had trouble with his second shot (a miss fire)  at his first shot the geese spread their wings and anchored hard against the wind, i got a shot off as best i could hitting one in the rear, his butt spun out but as usual my chance of getting lucky in the rear end wasn't going to happen.

With a goose in the bag we decided to head for home.  I got some nice shots of the dogs (not that i was bored and looking for entertainment)


Ian with his Pinky in his hand

My old boy Mr Ben

Ian's dog Jake

Those who dare ....

It's been snowing hard all week with temperatures reaching -13 in East Anglia.. When it's cold like this the wildfowl get concentrated in large numbers on the rivers and any open water they can find.  Historically this is a great time to shoot on the broad, and we just happened to have a Boat on the club rota for Saturday morning !

We got up at 4am on a cold and windy morning and made our way through the snow to the car park.  Luckily we were the only ones fool enough to head out on the Saturday morning and even luckier the hardened Fowler's who were out on the Friday had done a lot of the work for us, taking several hours to smash a path through the ice on Thursday night / Friday morning.. So whilst it had refrozen the ice wasn't too thick for us to make our way out

Ian punting us up the Boat dyke

We got to work, pulling, pushing  and shunting the boat up the boat dyke and luckily found the Broad with a bit of free water in the middle,  a clearing in front of the 'Point' and another at the bottom of the short dyke on east side.

After 2 hours of battling the wind and Ice, we were set up and sat down for a pre flight cuppa & looking forward to what lay ahead

Our path through the ice, keeping close to the edge where the ice was thin

Day broke to the sound of shooting from Surlingham direction, but nothing much was flighting on the broad at all leaving us wondering if the decision had been a wise one.
An hour into the flight and we had only shot 1 duck !  but then the birds started to move and things got better.

Both boats were shooting well, in fact Ian and myself only had a couple of ducks that got passed us, everything else fell to the 3" steel loads we were using with some very good birds taken in the strong easterly wind (notably a high Grey to Ian, which was moving so fast that as he swung he fell over in the boat & was very lucky not to have fallen out of it  and a nice high fast mallard taken by myself).  

Darren was also having fun with his partner Matt, taking a nice Gypo and a Grey but then missing another flight as they rowed out to pick up..



Ian looking out over a frozen broad, the ice ran round to our left, and in
of East side to the short dyke



The ice in the bay to our right at the bottom of fen channel

In all the flight was quieter than we thought it was going to be, and as we rowed back typically the air was full of duck leaving us wishing that we had been out all day. 
However the cold wind and thought of packing up in the dark was enough to comfort us on our decision.  So instead we decided to hit the '3 sisters' for an evening flight to see if anything was moving on the river.



Our bag for the morning - 2 Greys, 4 Mallard, 4 teal, 2  Gadwall and a Tufty





still plenty of ice when we returned from our flight - Darren does a good impression of Gollum



We got home, sorted out the gear from the morning and set off straight away (around 2pm). The track to the

marsh was wind swept and the snow was drifting across it making a trechurous path even worse.. there's nothing like sitting in a 4wd sliding sideways towards a 15ft deep dyke to make you nip up thats for sure.

Walking over the 2 fields to the river nothing was visible in the air and again we wondered if we had made the right choice, but as we rested by the last gate and pulled our guns from their slips 3 duck dropped onto the river !  we stalked over the bank, but they had already moved on..  But not sooner had we got to the top style a bunch of teal buzzed down the river, only to be met by Ian's steel load in the kisser!

In a flash both over keen dogs were in the icy water making a retrieve and this fast action continued for the next hour with 3 teal and a mallard being taken!  Darren was on his way and brought with him a couple of decoys, but unfortunately by the time he got there the afternoon flight had slowed down and nothing was flying !

However, as dark fell a pair of Gadwall swept his way and he took one of these, followed by a 'shared' woodcock..  I then took a widgeon, followed by another and Ian took one at about 80yards !

We finished up over joyed with our days fowling and with some really nice Sunday roasts on the horizon..

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 I'm finishing with a couple of pictures from Sunday - 3 hours of snow and some heavy winds had given us some mini 'drifts'  nothing like we used to get when i was a nipper, but Henry enjoyed them..