3^rd October Inland Evening flight: Flighted an inland splash. 4 pintail came straight in from a great height without warning and were cleanly missed both shots. A single teal made an appearance next, a single right to left crosser taken with the first barrel. Another teal was then missed to my double shots. A bunch of 10 or so wigeon then circuited the splash from the left, decided all was not well and broke out back over us. The two of us scored a nice right and left a piece to finish off the evening.

5th October: Evening flight Estuary:- arrived too early at 5.45pm but dropped into position half way down the saltings edge. Blustery gale blowing inland tonight. No sign of duck until I the moment I dropped my guard. Pre-occupied with sending a text message out, a single pintail was over my postion at that very moment. Typical! As it darkened toward 7.30 pm a bunch of teal zipped out low over the seawall and out to the estuary. Moved to where they had come out which was to the right of my current location. Waited another half hour. Almost dark when 3 mallard silhouettes slipped past from the estuary with no warning, heading inland with the gale in their tails. Just managed to  pick them out against a gap of light sky, the quick snap shot sent a bird tumbling way back over the seawall with a satisfying thud. There was no time for a second shot. They were gone. Collected by Rolo  it was one of our clubs leg ringed mallard bearing its unique code number. 

6^th October: Evening flight estuary: Water levels were up in the rivers from recent heavy rain. There's never many duck on, when there's lots of water in the river. I should have learned this by now! Only saw 3 mallard all evening breaking out from the river mouth. A completely blank flight. 

8^th October: Morning goose flight: A friend had phoned asking if I wanted to have a morning flight at some feral Greylags and Canadas. Arrived at 6.00am at the car park. My host put me and Rolo in a fence line hide with a strong north easterly blowing straight at us. Prospects did not look favourable to begin with. Greylags and Canadas could be heard to the east in the field roost across the other side of the river. At flight time (6.45am) a few started to move out from the main roost across the water join the others. A single high greylag came wiffling into the lake from the east. Half and hour later it lifted off the lake behind me. I gave it a call 'argh argh argh'. It responded and seemed to head toward me..closer and closer. As it neared the hide I thought this may be the only chance of the morning. Missed with the first shot but dropped it with the second at 45-50 yard with 3.5 inch No 3 Steel Mammoths. Rolo made a nice retrieve. Fifteen minutes passed and the big bunch of greys from the field roost lifted, headed down the river but then amazingly changed direction, did a right angle and drifted across my field to turn straight at me. There were now about 100 greylag spreading themselves out in front of me. I was looking at them through the slats in the fence to pick out a likely target. I let them right in and picked the closest quartering goose which folded at the shot. Onto another which also crumpled. A lovely right and left dropped simultaneously into the field behind. Both were picked and back in the hide. Three greys in the bag, I couldn't believe it. Duck were everywhere..wigeon, mallard and teal that had lifted off the goose roost in the distance. Ten minutes passed when I saw two Canadas coming down the field. They'd cross to my left about 35-40 yards. I waited until they'd just crossed the wire fence, bobbed up and fired one shot at the target bird which crashed into the field in a plume of spray. Rolo retrieved it nicely undeterred by marauding cattle that were intent on trampling him. What a great morning!

9^th October 2010 A Big Tide flight: Large 10.6m tide at midday. Blowing a hooley of an  south easterly wind. Tide had flooded out the marshes as I walked on at 12.30pm. Water was everywhere, just at the top of the tide. Walked a good hour and waited until my intended postion began to uncover with water. Packs of pintail were already pouring down from further up the estuary. It was looking promising already. A good flight might be on once the water was out. As soon as the water had receded enough to wade out, Rolo and I made our move. Pintail still came pouring down..at one point there must have been 200 sat in the sand banks in front of me. Oddly enough the first bird of the day was a drake mallard out of a pair that came into the tide in front of me. Fumbled it down with second shot. Next bird was a pintail out of a big pack that came down 30 yard off the edge of the saltings. Should have had right and left but had to make sure all shots went at the one bird to make it a better retrieve for the dog especially with the large tide. I didn't want a 'diver' on a strong ebb. Rolo retrieved it well. A pair of wigeon then came in high over me. I stumbled as I pulled the trigger but somehow the target bird folded up dead. Meanwhile another pair of mallard following the same line as the first pair. The drake was dropped at the first shot and was retrieved. Eight pintail then came down same line. Three shots at a drake visibly shook him but frustratingly he did not drop. I watched him tower and drop dead mid-tide 200 yard away. No way I was sending Rolo for him. I watched him through binoculars. Luckily the wind was blowing onshore so I reckoned the ebb would wash him up further down. I'd hunt the tideline later. I knew I was shooting very badly today, wasting shells, having to finish them off with 2^nd and 3^rd shots. But a shell wasted is a duck retrieved tht perhaps would have been lost. Five mallard then came in to my right hand. I rose too early as they were flung back on the wind. Only one drake was brought down! With the flight over and five birds gathered I sent Rolo away to scour the mudflats. I could see a distant lump on the tideline way down the marsh. Away he went, stopped, head down and brought me a drake pintail just coming out of eclipse. Really pleased to gather all six birds to make a lovely tide flight. All birds were stuffed full of saltmarsh vegetation seeds (Sea Blite and Orache).

16^th October 2010: inland evening flight: Fewer duck around tonight but  managed a single cock wigeon that came into the splash on set wings.

17^th October 2010 inland evening flight. Started the ball rolling with a right and left of high teal from a good bunch that had been flushed off by the other fellas getting into positon further down. A single drake mallard came in across the field over the willows and was dropped as it crossed in front to crash into the pond. Took a nice high dropping duck mallard straight overhead from a pair that started to drop very quickly out of the sky. 

Stotty's first Shoveler - a stunning bird.

24^th October 2010 inland evening flight: Had a bad journey to the hide. Went the long way round and ended up to the knees in a quaking bog. Both boots full of water and slime. Little sign of wildfowl until last light, when a single mallard appeared from the south west. He descended with cupped wings from a great height and was put in the bag for the single shot. Jesus..did it crash down with a splash. Took another mallard out of a bunch of three and finally another out of a pair, all right to left crossers, with gamebore steel 3's in the auto. A good wild duck flight.

30^th October 2010 inland evening flight:- fair few birds coming in tonight, particularly shoveler. First bird that came over me was a high duck breaking back. Took it first shot with the over and under, landing it right at my feet. Bent down to pick it and it was a lovely drake shoveler in full plumage. Ended up with more 3 wigeon. (3 shoveler featured in the bag that night). The drake shoveler is currently awaiting the taxidermists art along with a drake Gadwall shot in September. Ate two shoveler for evening meal. Had previously soaked them in milk for 36 hours and did they taste bad? Hell no! I'd eat them again! Try milk soakng on estuary wigeon. It actaully does remove the taint in the flesh.  

No semi today but the Wigeon are still not safe!