In reply to Post #729
Once again we were out after the barbel not one barbel did we catch but caught some very nice chub the biggest going five pound 2oz. the barbel seem to have vanished and i believe that something has seriously gone wrong on the severn its not just the barbel but dace roach and such. it has been suggested it may be the severe winters we are experiencing and the huge floods that may have decimated the fish stocks. There are still barbel in the river but certainly not like there was a few years ago you could almost guarantee up to twenty fish in an evening your now lucky if you catch two fish and lots of anglers blank and its not just the shrews stretch its all the way down the river anglers are struggling match weights are also down.


i have just been to our local angling shop total angling and at least Andy who works there has got the environment agency involved good for him it really needs someone like him to take the problem on board. i would certainly like some answers a few years ago when fishing the avenue you would be lucky to get a swim but now the place is empty i think yesterday there was only about six anglers including us so it will be interesting to see what the environment agency does about the situation when i was a youngster you could trot down for dace and roach and catch a net full those days have gone sad really. and one other thing which does concern me is the predators mink, otters, goo sanders, mergansers, they certainly are taking lots of the young fish which is the future stock on our rivers i love nature and birds but we have to call a halt at some stage and cull some of these predators. Or the future of our rivers and lakes will be at stake


I read the paper the other day and also listened on the radio i think it was the environment agency stating that it was great to see the otters back on our rivers and it much better having them on our rivers. the fish stocks were up and healthy who ever wrote that must live in cuckoo land yes maybee the odd pair but not the amount we have today. i am told that on good authority that eight pairs exisit on my beloved rea brook between shrews and its source at martin pool a distance of about 16 miles what a situation to many do gooders they do not understand the country side or it ways i best shut up as i get very anoyed about the situation and the damage these preditors do sorry about the moan but i do feel we as anglers get walked all over we should be taken into account as we pay good money for our licences well moan over more a bit latter

In reply to Post #730
I have always had an infinity with wild life ever since i was a youngster. my wife thinks i should have been born a bird ha ha she gets a bit cob smacked at some of the things i can do she was watching me today feed the birds its quite uncanny i can fill the table up with the birds still on it they are not afraid of me one bit and on some occasions they have fed out of my hand the doves are really tame and stay there when i put more feed out the great tits are the same the blue tits do come but are a bit more timid than there cousins the coal tits don't seem to worry about me one bit i have always fed them and i think they just get used to me and know i will do them no harm i had a pair of black birds earlier in the year that would feed right next to my feet while sitting out side and even brought thier young well i like to think to see me i don't know but i could nearly hand feed them with bits of apple.

This is not the only animals that have trusted me badgers would feed out of my hand i used to go down to a friends just down the road from where i live we could feed the badgers, with peanut butter on bread they absolutely loved it i would also feed the fox cubs i had in my garden i fed them on chicken legs i would put them in a big bowl the vixen would come and toss the legs to the cubs she used to keep her eye on me but i never hurt her or her cubs and she knew and put her trust in me i could even mow the grass and they would stay not frightened one bit the next door neighbour was not to pleased as they used to dig holes in his garden but i loved them and they were safe from harm in my garden but the day always came when she moved them to the fields or woods they were wild animals and really that's where they should be.

One thing i do have is starlings i love to watch them in the evening wheeling arround making patterns in the sky before they come in to roost in the next door neibours conifer trees they have roosted there for a number of years they are now getting quite rare and you dont see the numbers as you did when i was a youngster they can get a bit greedy on the bird table and i have now made a feeding station just for them not that its made that much difference as they still get on the fat balls and believe me they dont last that long with that amount of birds feeding on them well thats it for now more tomorrow

In reply to Post #731
cant believe how quick the years go by it seems only yesterday that got married and now its fifty years on Friday where have the years gone i cant say but i have had a very happy marriage and a wonderful wife who has put up with my love of fishing poaching shooting and my love of nature i have spent hours away from home practically living in the woods or fishing this would have caused a divorce in most relationships but she has always supported me in all i have done i really don't think a lot of today's women would put up with the sort of life i have lived.

i have been a bit of the jack the lad and as i have stated before it still gets thrown in my face by some of the real old residents of our village saying you was a rum un but they forget about all the pheasants and trout i supplied them with when times were hard yes i was as jack the lad anything to make a bob or two as i have stated before i would box down the fair it was a fiver if you faced there boxers i would get knocked around a bit but a fiver was a fiver in those far of days and as i walked away i really would feel rich that five pound note went a very long way a few pints fags fishing tackle


but i would make most of my money by poaching the odd pheasants and catching a few rabbits or poaching the brown trout from the local brooks and rivers it was a way of life one i still miss. but there is no need today you can go to the supermarkets and buy most thing trout and pheasant included and dirt cheap when we were young it was hard no big shops so you lived on what you could but you survived . mum would bake all her own bread and coupled with home made butter it was delicious what realy sticks in my memorey is my mother baking potatoes on the open fire there skin would be black but when sliced open and home made butter put on them they tasted great and we would eat them with great slabs of home made bread and butter those were the days never to return so we live with our memories but to me they are good memories but they were hard days and i dont know if i could live that way again maybe if i was younger but now i like my creature comforts a bit more latter

In reply to Post #732
When i stand up on the hills and look towards my home and see the woods fields and valleys it brings a tear to my eyes for most i have roamed when i was young and in my prime. in the distance i can see the trees of bomere standing proud the woods i poached that belonged to old bell the meandering streams most i have fished. The hills where i now stand i have walked far and wide through the valley hills and the dales gun in hand waiting for that grouse to take to flight or catch sight of the goshawk soaring far above making his call gek gek he lives in the conifers and deciduous woods which flourishes on this high ground to watch him make that rapid chase over a short distance and grasp his quarry in his talons gives me pleasure nature is so wonderful . the kestrel hovers effortlessly it hangs in motion waiting to catch that small vole or mouse oh to be at one with nature.

To hang over the bank of a mountain stream and watch the brown trout before he knows whats happening he is on the bank not big but beautiful all the same with his spotted flanks i return him for another day. to watch the fox bound away across those hills and go far away for no one is hunting him today he stops and turns towards me lifts his head and smells the air then in a jiff he has gone maybe ill see him some other day. In the valleys far below i have shot the partridge a lovely bird to eat the true grey partridge that is sadly in decline today when i was young that's all you would see and not the french ones that are so common today.

i loved to trot a float down the meandering river in search of the lady of the river the gray-ling a lovely fish and related to the salmon i would only keep two for the table the rest were released and on a good day you catch as many as twenty no wander they call her the lady of the river she is such a graceful fish but they are also nice to eat but i have not done this for years owing to my health they were lovely days i wandered where i wanted although most was private it was away of life my life i have loved every minute of it times were hard but we managed and survived. a bit more latter

In reply to Post #733
Pete, I have finally managed to get round to reading this wonderful thread of yours, full marks mate for a fascinating insight into your life. I love the way you write as you speak with a clear passion of your love of the rural life and wildlife in general.

I can't wait to read your next post Pete and I just wished I had got round to reading it all sooner.

Thanks again Pete for sharing your life stories with us mate, the best read on this forum ever!

In reply to Post #733
Better than most books i,ve read , this thread should be in print, what a book it would make keep it coming Pete and good health to you sir

In reply to Post #733
thank you both very much for your kind remarks i very much appreciate what you have said kind regards pete

In reply to Post #736
One thing i really loved when i was younger was the shire horses i used to watch them pull the binder around the field cutting the corn or plowing the fields some on here might remember those far off days they were great massive animals and i got to know one farm labourer that used to talk to these animals and they understood every word he said but saying that he worked with them every day . The farmer a Mr bag-got also used to show them they looked beautiful with all there brasses on and he won many certificates sadly those days have now gone even then they had started to use the tractor the old fort son and the Davy brown they were so much quicker than the horses it really was the end of an era.

I have seen so many changes in my life time some good and some not as far as farming goes one thing that really got to me was extensive farming making the field bigger by pulling out hedges and trees so they could get that little bit extra in crops what they failed to realize they were ruining the habitat for lots of animals and birds and in places creating a big dust bowl as the hedges were the only drainage. one bird that was really really affected was the grey partridge or as some might know it as true English partridge the plover and many more the harvest mouse the door mouse i could go on and on sad really but that's the way of the world now to many mouths to feed so we are always striving to produce more food at the expense of our wild life.

The wild life abounded when i was young the yellow hammer, the bull finch the linnet the sky lark i would lie in the grass on a hot day and watch the sky lark high above another bird that was quite common was the curlew they would nest in the long grass of the meadows not any more you still see a few but with modern farming there is no where for them to nest once again habitat gone the peewit or plover not here in any quantity the large flocks have gone. i remember collecting the eggs for my mother who would pickle them in a big jar not as you could do that today but when i was young you would see them in most fields they were very common. Well another moan over a little bit more latter

In reply to Post #736
One thing i really loved when i was younger was the shire horses i used to watch them pull the binder around the field cutting the corn or plowing the fields some on here might remember those far off days they were great massive animals and i got to know one farm labourer that used to talk to these animals and they understood every word he said but saying that he worked with them every day . The farmer a Mr bag-got also used to show them they looked beautiful with all there brasses on and he won many certificates sadly those days have now gone even then they had started to use the tractor the old fort son and the Davy brown they were so much quicker than the horses it really was the end of an era.

I have seen so many changes in my life time some good and some not as far as farming goes one thing that really got to me was extensive farming making the field bigger by pulling out hedges and trees so they could get that little bit extra in crops what they failed to realize they were ruining the habitat for lots of animals and birds and in places creating a big dust bowl as the hedges were the only drainage. one bird that was really really affected was the grey partridge or as some might know it as true English partridge the plover and many more the harvest mouse the door mouse i could go on and on sad really but that's the way of the world now to many mouths to feed so we are always striving to produce more food at the expense of our wild life.

The wild life abounded when i was young the yellow hammer, the bull finch the linnet the sky lark i would lie in the grass on a hot day and watch the sky lark high above another bird that was quite common was the curlew they would nest in the long grass of the meadows not any more you still see a few but with modern farming there is no where for them to nest once again habitat gone the peewit or plover not here in any quantity the large flocks have gone. i remember collecting the eggs for my mother who would pickle them in a big jar not as you could do that today but when i was young you would see them in most fields they were very common. Well another moan over a little bit more latter

In reply to Post #738
I was never afraid when i was young i don't think we new what fear was i would clime the cliffs at a place called jack door rocks and look at the eggs i did take a young jackdaw and reared him but i have covered that in an earlier thread or clime a tree to the kestrels nest and hold her chick in my hand or to see the eggs of the buzzard they were all wanders of nature it was a wonderful time in my life.

I would sit in the woods and listen to the noses the birds and the animals made even the creek of a tree it was a path of learning i would pick the primroses and smell the aroma of the blue bells in the spring. The woods were so wonderful at that time of year i would find the dormouse and hold it in my hand and wonder at its size such a small creature to survive in this big world find the Tawney owls nest with its round white eggs watch the young rabbits from afar long before the days of myxomatosis they inhabited every field and wood to watch the fox cubs at play this was all part of my life

I would never be at home from morning until night my parents knew no harm would come to me. i would traverse the streams and rivers and stare in wonder at the kingfisher in his vibrant colours or hide in the undergrowth and watch the timid water vole sadly not seen in numbers anymore because of the mink which has now wiped them out but they were common in my youth why do we have so many do gooders around today letting alien animals loose they do not understand nature at all and the damage they are doing to our country side. i would lie on my stomach and watch the brown trout glide by and he never knew i was there or free line a big worm from my rod i caught many a trout in the early morning using this method and they were always welcome back at my home but as i say this was all part of my life.

I would watch the game keeper from afar he would feed the rides in the woods to keep his birds safe or hang the vermin from a gate crows jays stoats rats and weasels even badgers would be there but this was his life and he had to protect the game for his employers i would watch him set his snares and he never even knew i was there i learned so much in those early years. well a bit more latter

In reply to Post #739
Well ill try again you may remember i told you about the river severn in crisis well low and behold a piece appeared in the paper last night written by Mr john Roberts chairman of the Shropshire federation i take my hat of to Mr Roberts for bringing it to the forefront tonight another piece appeared and the environment agency are now involved but what really made me laugh there was a picture of some domestic geese and the geese were being blamed for eating the fish, morons geese do not eat fish goo sander and merganser and cormorants eat fish it just shows how little the press know about nature they are not the only predators but we have mink running around like pets now the otter even if they allowed a cull it will take years to get back to what it was and that may not be in my lifetime i am quite looking forward to what the environment agency comes up with but after discussing the situation with a bailiff friend i think it is a culmination of things severe winter weather big floods and predators this has nothing to do with my stories but i am trying to highlight the serious situation that could spread to other rivers in the UK i have fished the severn for many years and have never seen it like this something must be done or it may become devoid of fish thanks for reading pete

In reply to Post #740
I Took a friend with me to watch a family of foxes which i had found a couple of weeks before i set my video recorder on my tripod and lay down in the long grass looking down the slope at the hawthorn hedge , the vixen had had them in an old hole below the hawthorn tree, they would come out and play in the long grass above the hedge there were five in total not very old my friend Rodger was fascinated they would come out to play and run up the bank towards us then roll all the way back down they were now on meat and i would watch the vixen bring a rabbit to them and then after checking they were alright she would be away they would play tug of war between their selves pulling the rabbit one way then the other. i got a bit concerned as i had not seen them for at least four days so i felt that i would investigate i was saddened at what i found one cub was lying dead on the path that ran beside the hedge my first thought was had it been killed by dogs or shot but picking it up there was not a mark on his body. it looked under nourished my thoughts were maybe its the runt of the litter but i still had not seen the rest of the cubs were they dead also i did not want get to close to the earth as they may be still alive and if the vixen caught my scent she would probably move them i really needed to get below the earth and build a hide so we could not be seen and i could film away at my leisure.

another friend Bern wanted to come along and also do some photographs, i built the hide in the hedge over looking the earth it was big enough for the two of us and the equipment i was still worried that they may be dead we arrived early next morning and set the recorder up and the cameras and low and behold there they were four lovely young cubs they were playing with a dead hedgehog it was just like a game of football they would throw it up in the air and one or the other would catch it then have a tug of war we were fascinated over a period of weeks they became quite tame and they knew we were there i got out of the hide this one day and the one young cub was standing behind me maybe six feet away i just stood still it just looked at me then walked of into the corn field adjacent to where we had the hide they became so tame they would come to the front of our hide we could of touched them we watched this family for many weeks and really got some good footage but the time came for them to leave and fend for there selves how many survived into there adult life i don't know but my guess not many but it had been a privilege watching them This was about a fox watch that went on for many weeks and was one of many i hope you enjoyed it as much as i did while filming its been all part of my life and i have loved every minute more to come latter

In reply to Post #741
As a lay on my bed chair and listened to the Tawney owl in the old snarled tree that stood next to my bivie i watched the geese coming into land on this old lake which had been there for generation and was formed by the ice age i felt good to be alive the stars shone above with the moon shining bright the swish of wings and a shadow crossed the moon it was the mallard coming to feed on the stubble field which they had for generations the splash of a fish brought me to my senses but i soon drifted in an out of sleep the cry of the water hen the call of the coot it was all part of a magical night the old oak tree the far side of the lake stood out in the moonlight with it snarled branches looking like great arms it had been there for generations and i wandered if it could talk what things it had seen. The ground was steep behind the old tree a dog fox past silently looking for a meal a rabbit or what ever it may find the sound of my alarm brought me to my senses no need to strike the fish was on it powered down the lake toward the lilies but i soon had him under control and as it slipped across the net the moon showed up a big old mirror it was black as coal i wondered how many years this great fish had swam in the depths and whether i was the first to catch him it was hard lake to fish with a very low stock and i was well pleased to catch he weighted in at 28 pounds my friend did the honers and took the photos and i returned him no worse for wear.

i fell asleep but was awoken to the sound of gun shot and watched the light across the fields it may be poachers shooting the rabbits who knows then i saw the light of a land rover. and knew they were after old foxy as they came closer they stopped by my bivie i need not of worried it was the farmer and indeed they had been out after the fox they showed me three they had killed and said they were away to pastures new i heard one or two more shots far away in the distance as i drifted into a deep sleep i was awoken to the sound of my alarms once again and was instantly on my rod he was well hooked and after ten minutes had him in the net another mirror also black as coal it weighed in at twenty five pounds to say i was pleased was an understatement once again the photos taken he was returned to the depths of his home maybe we would meet again some time who knows this was one night in my life i would like to share with you it was full of magic and one of many on this old lake. more latter

In reply to Post #733
Very nice to see some one that has not forgot the old ways,and what else go,s on around you,this was nice to find as i have not been on for atleast a year,many thanks martin.

In reply to Post #743
Thanks martin i really appreciate your comments