War and peas

Frustratingly for farmers, there is nothing that woodies like more than young peas — Tom Payne heads to Norfolk to tackle the issue

- Tom Payne

Back in February and March, when we were in the doldrums of the warmest and wettest winter on record, farmers were quite understandably gloomy. But when spring finally came and the sun started shining, conditions for drilling were ideal.

As a pigeon shooter, there is very little that can beat a day on the drillings when you’ve got a warm breeze on your back, a flask of tea, and birds floating into an irresistible spread of decoys chucked on the ground. Archie Coats — the spiritual father of modern pigeon shooting — always used to say that a good pattern should be chucked not placed, because otherwise “it doesn’t look natural”.

Right crop

If you want to make the most of the first weeks of May and early June, you have got to be on the ball and have the right sort of crops in front of you. Spring rape is one of the best crops for these months but is now as rare as hen’s teeth. Grazed clover, failed rape or lucerne — a type of clover grown for hay feed — can all be very popular but again are not often grown.

The crop that yields the best results — and is more commonly grown — is peas. The word is music to the ears of any keen pigeon shooter. However, one difficulty during spring is that there is an abundance of natural food available, such as tree buds, which can keep a population of birds occupied in the woods.