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