Shotgun quarry.

alan123

How are the birds in your area looking? I have found my usual pigeon spots empty? In saying that I think the pheasants are doing well and I even spoke to a guy who saw a clutch of partridge. At the same time there seems to be a plague of corvid (crows, magpies etc). Any one any views on the way the birds are getting on around the place?

pullandbang

I was out with my pup yesterday evening - see here http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055393270

We have the magpies and greys fairly well under control but came across four buzzards in the one area where there was none last season.

While releasing the pheasants last week I put up a youg chick that wasn't two weeks old - very small for this time of year - must have been a second clutch.

alan123

Deffinite increase in Buzzard activity. A couple of times last year they flew right in over my magnet.

J.R.

alan123 wrote: »

Deffinite increase in Buzzard activity. A couple of times last year they flew right in over my magnet.

I've seen a lot of buzzards this year also - must have had a good breeding season. Beautiful bird ....real sense of the wild....great to see them about.

One dived at our pigeon decoy pattern during summer ....was only about a metre from the decoy when it realised something was amiss....seeing one so near made our day.

When we returned the following day he was eating one of the shot crows....didn't realise 'til then that they ate carrion....he had no fear and didn't leave carcass until we were about 60 metres from him ......the wingspan when taking off is a sight to behold....I was disgusted that I didn't have the camera with zoom lens.

This was the worst seasons decoying I've had in years. Besides the weather there doesn't seem to be as many pigeons about this year, where I shoot anyway!

Anybody else notice pigeon numbers dropping? If so I wonder is it due to chicks being lost due to bad summer, larva not hatching out in time or could tourist shooting have an impact on the numbers already?

John Griffin

The vast majority of a Buzzards diet is carrion. I spent a bit of time working on them with a friend who was doing research on them. We climbed to about 30 nests several times in the breeding season and checked the contents of the nest. This is the time of year when they are most actively hunting as opposed to scavanging carrion. Buzzards stockpile food for the chicks in the nest and it becomes a bit of a mess. Most nest were full of rats, juvenile crows, magpies, young rabbits and lambs tails with the docking rings still attached. In the 4 years we never found a pheasant feather. I knew of one place where they were living on pheasants though, it was an estate near Glendalough and the gamekeeper was delighted to have them picking up all the sick and dead birds. He told me that they don't touch the healthy birds.

jwshooter

John Griffin wrote: »

The vast majority of a Buzzards diet is carrion. I spent a bit of time working on them with a friend who was doing research on them. We climbed to about 30 nests several times in the breeding season and checked the contents of the nest. This is the time of year when they are most actively hunting as opposed to scavanging carrion. Buzzards stockpile food for the chicks in the nest and it becomes a bit of a mess. Most nest were full of rats, juvenile crows, magpies, young rabbits and lambs tails with the docking rings still attached. In the 4 years we never found a pheasant feather. I knew of one place where they were living on pheasants though, it was an estate near Glendalough and the gamekeeper was delighted to have them picking up all the sick and dead birds. He told me that they don't touch the healthy birds.

have them in the wood beside my house ,any one messing with them better have health insurance

John Griffin

jwshooter wrote: »

have them in the wood beside my house ,any one messing with them better have health insurance

Yeah i get a bit concerned when people start mentioning them in the same sentence as magpies and grey crows.:(

alan123

John Griffin wrote: »

an estate near Glendalough and the gamekeeper was delighted to have them picking up all the sick and dead birds. He told me that they don't touch the healthy birds.

Funny, I would have thought the gamekeeper and the Buzzard wouldnt have seen eye to eye? Would they not stop the pheasants from flying during a shoot if they were circling over head?

pullandbang

J.R. wrote: »

When we returned the following day he was eating one of the shot crows....didn't realise 'til then that they ate carrion....he had no fear and didn't leave carcass until we were about 60 metres from him

I didn't think they ate carrion either. You'd never see them scouring the roads for raod kill at first light unlike the magpies and grey crows. The only time I've actually seen them eating was one with a rabbit and another sitting on top of a bale with a fully grown adult cock pheasant in his claws.

This was the worst seasons decoying I've had in years. Besides the weather there doesn't seem to be as many pigeons about this year, where I shoot anyway! Anybody else notice pigeon numbers dropping? If so I wonder is it due to chicks being lost due to bad summer, larva not hatching out in time or could tourist shooting have an impact on the numbers already?

I shoot a small farm nearby in which all the old ditches are still intact complete with large fully grown beech trees. It was always a haven for pigeons being a tillage farm and having a supply of beech nuts for the winter.
The buzzards moved in two years ago and there isn't a pigeon left in the place. While walking the ditches you come across a piles of feathers every 30 yards.
That may be one of the reasons for the decline in pigeon numbers.

stevoman

it looks to me like it has been a great year for pheasents. i have come across plenty of birds, rising 18 on saturday and only 2 cocks in that. the rest were hens and very young birds but its all about the hunt so it is. i enjoy watching the dog work as much as anything. I didnt bother with pigeons this year except for 2 days as i poured my time into my dog so i have. a lot of snipe around aswell so there has been. good year for ducks too. Id be happy to take only a few cocks this year as im not greedy and i beleive in letting the younger ones go as without some of us having that attitude we are at nothing.

Of course we all know the "bag men" will be all out soon enough and down in the pub bragging about how many birds they shot etc. the sad thing is some of them wont even be eaten as they shoot that many they are too lazy to pluck and clean them and end up throwing them out in the ditches.