A nice evening to take the ‘Lady’ out

Friday 11th September:  The first week of the new season had seen heavy rain and strong winds but now the weather had now completely changed for the worse! Damn clear blue skies, sunshine and not a breath of wind! “Not exactly wildfowling weather”, I thought, as I arrived at 7pm on the marsh with the sun just starting to make its slow descent down the Western horizon. Already Mother Nature was splashing her vivid pink and orange brush strokes across the skyline; it was going to be one of those fantastic early Autumn sunsets.

Settling down with the spaniel at the edge of the saltings I realised that I had an instant problem…I couldn’t load any cartridges into the autos magazine chamber! It must have been the constant soaking it received last week that was causing it to stick. Here’s a good wildfowling tip for all you auto users: always check it before the going out! An urgent field dismantle was rapidly needed and thankfully a forceful ‘tap’ in the right place with my car key released the magazine tube to slide freely. Now, as ‘Sods law’ happens so frequently on the marshes, during the time that the gun was lying in bits on the marsh grass, five mallard had already buzzed me at 30 yards. All I could do is watch them disappear over the mudflats and glide down into the river channel up near the railway bridge. It was with great relief that I could finally load up and wait for the evenings events.

The results on an evening flight wildfowling, a brace of Mallard

Time to head for home with the anticipation mounting for tomorrows morning flight at those geese!