Morning Walk

Skived a morning off midweek to try and tackle the grey clouds of pigeon that are now driving the farmer to distraction as they pack winter rape into their crops until they're fit to burst.


Found a flock of a couple of hundred or so enjoying themselves on a 15-acre field that was extremely difficult to shoot due its layout and the crisscross of footpaths running alongside it.


After spending 10 minutes watching the birds sunning themselves and enjoying a mid-morning nibble, I gave up on the idea of trying to tempt them into some decoys and just walked them off the crop.


Then I headed elsewhere for a quick wander with the gun before lunch. It was a good move. A stunning morning was unfolding, with isolated pockets of frost crisping the hollows and bright, spring-like sun warming the higher ground.


I walked up a blackthorn hedge, disturbing a small flock of long-tailed tits, who performed acrobatics alongside me for a while and then moved into a swathe of headland.


I had gone no more than 20 paces when a magnificent wild cock bird leapt up into the air in front and tried to use the breeze to curl back over my head. Instinctively I swung and shot and the bird folded out of the blue and landed on young wheat shoots 15 yards to my left. On closer examination he really was a stunning bird, iridescent in the bright sunshine. I enclose a picture of him that simply doesn't do him justice.


A simple, beautiful morning walk that will live long in my memory; just another private moment in a long list of wild experiences that I hope will continue for many years to come.