As the harvest is collected in by all the farmers at this time of year the fields are turned from flowing golden yellow to hard flat brown which signals the planting for next year’s harvest. We are not the only ones to notice this…

 

Almost immediately the gulls, corvids, flocks of wood pigeons & rabbits congregate to feast on the freshly sown seeds. For us it’s time to get the decoys out once again, set up early morning hides & get shooting to protect the vulnerable crop form being destroyed before is has chance to establish itself.         

 

Before we do it is essential to reacquaint ourselves with the newly sown fields. This involves searching out possible natural hides and to find which areas are being hit hardest. This process is vital to conduct a safe and productive shoot. We spend many hours walking the perimeter of each field and bypassing them by car to check where the flocks are. This is essential from a safety point of view to ensure that we know all our ranges to boundaries and public footpaths / rights of way.

 

Hopefully the next few weeks will prove fruitful and any edible birds or game will be sold in the local farm shops to maximize the food that nature has provided and minimize the impact on the environment.