I have recently, very kindly been allowed to shoot on
150 acres of fields, farms and forest. It's made my year because
living in a City, I haven't always got access to places where I can shoot my
rifle. So last Sunday (which also happened to be my 30th birthday) I went down
to meet the farmer and introduce myself. Once I had pulled up in the car the
Farmer came out of his house where I offered him a bottle of wine as a gift to say
thank you for his kindness, a small price to pay for such a great place to
shoot. We went across where he wanted me to go and where to avoid at which
point his Son came outside. His Son lives in the Farm next to his Dad and soon
said that I was fine to use his land too, I couldn't believe it. What a great
family.
I got the Air Arms Pro Sport out of the car and set off down the
path. It had been raining all week so there were big puddles and lots of boggy
ground underfoot. This was the first time I had been out in the fields for a
while and it felt good to be outside. I set a paper target next to some grass
and had a few shots just to make sure the scope was still set up properly and
then carried on across the fields.
I was walking along the treeline pictured
above when I spotted a grey squirrel or should I say I heard one moving in the tree
behind me. Once I had spotted it, I quickly aimed and took a shot. I knew as
soon as I pulled the trigger that I had missed with the pellet flying high of
its target. I followed it across two or three tree's but by then it had found
its way to the tree in the middle which is covered in Ivy. I looked for a while
but couldn't see the Squirrel or any movement, it had got away….. This time !
I carried on down the fields and came to
some woods. Here I had a shot at one more Squirrel but missed again! I must be
out of practice. There were a lot of Crows in one of the fields but I couldn't get anywhere near them because they are so wary.
I sat down very still in the woods and made
sure there were no shadows or outlines of my body that would give me away to
any incoming birds that were coming in to roost. I had my back against an old
wall with old branches and leaves covering my shape.
I waited there a while and saw a couple of
pigeons come and go but they were too far away and “the” squirrel made another appearance
but I couldn't get a good shot off at that either. One of the highlights of the
day was a Great Spotted Woodpecker that came very close, little did I know that
just few yards from where I was sat, it had made his home in a Stump of an old
Silver Birch Tree. It flew from tree to tree for a few minutes, holding on to
the trunks while bobbing from side to side and singing. He then
quickly flew into the hole in the Silver Birch. I didn't take this lovely piccy of a great spotted woodpecker but you get the idea.
I didn't see much else that night. When I
was walking back up towards the farm I couldn't help but think that I shouldn't have missed that first Squirrel, I really can’t complain though because it was absolutely
brilliant to get out into the countryside for the day and stretch my legs. I
can’t wait to do it again.
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