Who’d be a farmer? Endless hours, uncooperative weather and rising prices for everything you buy and nothing you sell. Profit margins are razor thin and the impact of pest species shaves them thinner.
Two of my permissions are neighbours. One provides free-range eggs and the other grows fruit – mainly strawberries, raspberries and blueberries. Between them they are a magnet for just about every pest that walks and flies.
On the egg farm I’m locked in constant battle with rats, of course, but I also have to deal with the occasional mink. That’s bad enough, but the fruit farm next door is an all you can eat buffet for rabbits, squirrels, pigeons and corvids.
Throughout the winter months I spend a couple of nights each week prowling the tracks in my truck. The rabbits are accustomed to vehicles trundling around and I can get much closer to them on four wheels than I can with two feet.
I used to hang out of the side window with a handheld thermal spotter. Now though, the thermal is attached to a remote control gimble on the roof and sends images to a dashboard mounted iPad.
With so many rabbits on the farm, pressure from the farmer to shoot them can be intense at times - he’d have me out every night. I’ve explained that over-shooting would make the rabbits scarper every time they hear a truck engine. Not that I think he’s bothered; in his mind, me driving around like a diesel-powered rabbit scarecrow 24x7 would do the job just as effectively.
Instead, I’ve split the 400-plus-acre farm into several sectors. By concentrating on one at a time I can rotate my presence on the farm and give each area a five- or six-week rest. As a result, I’ve managed to maintain an average of around 10 rabbits per trip.
The only drawback with this nocturnal tactic is that for most of the year I can’t do anything about the farm’s other pests – pigeons, corvids and squirrels – as the small army of workers engaged in planting fruit plants, picking the crop and carrying out general maintenance precludes any shooting during the day.
However, now the longer evenings are here I’m able to get around the farm once work has stopped for the day.
Whilst the strawberries and raspberries are housed in polytunnels, the thousands of blueberry plants are open to the elements and some of the rows stretch almost as far as the eye can see.
At this time of the year the bushes are in bud – something woodpigeon and corvids, especially jackdaws, find irresistible.
Below top: Blueberry buds provide an irresistible meal for pest birds during the spring months.
Below bottom: Apart from providing food for birds, the row of fruit trees also provide useful cover for the airgun hunter.
Having noticed clouds of these winged pests as I drove past the farm recently, I planned a trip to coincide with a spell of glorious early spring weather. Other than when I’m controlling grey squirrels, most of my shooting is in the dark with digital night vision optics, so I was looking forward to using glass.
I’ve got more rifles than I need – an affliction I suspect many of us suffer from – and I submitted myself to the exquisite torture of deciding on the hardware I’d take.
I settled on a 30 ft/lbs .22 calibre FX DRS Classic that has been tuned and set up by The Rat Works. It was a great rifle before, but their work has elevated it to another level. On top I have an MTC Optics Copperhead 4-16x44 – a compact but fully featured scope that suits the lightweight DRS perfectly. Holding them together is a set of Sportsmatch mounts.
In truth, a 12 ft/lbs rifle would have fitted the bill almost as well. However, shooting between parallel lines of blueberry bushes results in an optical illusion that makes judging distances difficult.
I could use a range finder of course, but it would have resulted in more movement and faffing about. With the high-powered DRS, I knew I could aim on for any shot between 20 and 40 metres and need only apply a little holdover for 50 metre shots.
I got to the farm at 4.30pm so I could get my gear ready and start at 5.00pm prompt when the workers finished. As soon as the assortment of minibuses and tractor-pulled trailers took the workers home for the day, I loaded the DRS and set off.
The blueberry sector of the farm covers around 30 acres, which usually means shooting from the truck just to cover the ground. However, the cloudless blue sky was simply too good to miss, so I opted to make my way on foot, even if it meant being more conspicuous and no doubt less successful.
With the FX DRS magazine full of JSB Heavy 18.13 grain pellets, I set off, scanning for signs of pigeons and corvids. There were plenty of magpies about, eyeing me with suspicion. I’m sure they knew the lack of red-listed birds on the farm meant they were safe, so they taunted me by flitting about within easy rifle shot.
I settled into a routine of using the blueberry bushes as a screen to approach the rows between the plants and peek around the corners. As was bound to be the case, I spooked the first few pigeons, some of which were only a few yards from me.
Before long though I realised that by peering through the bushes rather than around them, I improved my chances of spotting the feathered pests early enough to prepare for a shot.
After 20 minutes, I spotted something grey bobbing about through the twigs. Slipping the safety catch, I inched closer to the edge of a blueberry bush and used one of the metal posts that criss-cross the farm for support.
The pigeon was one of two that, fortunately for me but not them, were faced away from me on the ground. I lined up on the nearest bird that I estimated to be less than 30 metres away but more than 20. It didn’t really matter as I knew the pellet’s trajectory would be flat.
Below: Rich takes aim with his Rat Works tuned FX DRS Classic after spotting an unsuspecting pigeon.
Placing the Copperhead’s reticle on the pigeon’s back between its shoulders, I squeezed the trigger. The pellet zipped down the row of blueberry plants and hit the pigeon with an explosion of feathers. It collapsed onto its front, tail fanning skywards.
I left the pigeon where it lay, confident it was dead and would pick it, and hopefully a few more, up when I drove the truck around later.
Cycling the FX DRS sidelever, I pulled the safety catch back and set off on my snail’s pace, wandering along the rows of plants. I’d been going for another 30 minutes with only a few more spooked pigeons to show for my efforts and was gradually making my way to the farm’s irrigation reservoir when I noticed a bunch of squawking corvids on the steep grassy slopes.
I’d seen them before but dismissed the possibility of a shot because they’d been so far away. Now though, despite getting a lot closer, they either didn’t care about my presence or were too distracted by whatever had caught their attention.
I closed to within what I estimated to be 50 metres. The birds, which turned out to be jackdaws, were flitting between the grassy slope of the reservoir and the blueberry plants. There was around a dozen of them but only one was visible to me where I stood.
Resting on another metal post, I took aim. There wasn’t a breath of wind, but I allowed a mildot of holdover. Eventually the bird stood still long enough for me to let the shot go. I’d aimed for its head reasoning that if was a little further away than I’d thought, the pellet would strike the neck or upper chest.
The pellet struck with a meaty thump. Immediately the rest of the jackdaws that had been hidden around the edge of the reservoir took to the air. They wheeled above their fallen comrade squawking and screeching.
I’d tucked myself behind the blueberry bushes and, evidently satisfied the threat had disappeared, the birds started to land again, hopping about and still agitated. It took another 15 minutes before they calmed down and stayed still long enough for me to contemplate another shot which resulted in another clean-as-a-whistle kill from the FX DRS and MTC Copperhead combination. This time though, after raucously giving me a piece of their mind, the rest of the jackdaws cleared off for good.
Corvids are notoriously difficult airgun prey, so I was feeling pleased with myself, not only for accounting for a couple, but for hopefully putting the rest of them off the farm for the remainder of the day.
I was nearing the edge of the blueberry sector, which is bordered by a small, wooded area that I knew to be home to a fair size rabbit warren. After accounting for another couple of woodpigeon, I reached the last row of bushes that ran about 50 metres parallel to the copse.
I made my way along, peering hopefully through the blueberries. A dozen times earlier that evening I’d clocked what I thought could be a rabbit only for it to turn into a lump of earth. Spotting another “rabbit”, I was prepared for ore disappointment. This time though, as I was straining my eyes through the leaves and twigs, I saw movement.
Dropping to my belly, I crawled around the end of the row. Sure enough, a rabbit was happily chomping on the lowest, greenest shoots of a blueberry plant.
I estimated the distance at a little over 30 metres – again it didn’t really matter thanks to the added power of the FAC-rated DRS – and squeezed the trigger. The rabbit dropped on the spot before rolling onto its side.
I was about the get up when a second rabbit hopped out of the bushes to the left. It nosed its buddy for a few seconds and then, as I recycled the rifle’s sidelever, stood up on its hind legs. Adjusting my aim slightly, I knocked it over with another well-placed head shot.
To be honest, I’ve had bigger bags when shooting from the truck, but three pigeons and a brace each of jackdaws and rabbits was still a good return for an evening’s work and was made even more pleasurable by being on foot.
Below: No more blueberry munching for this pair of rabbits.
GUN: FX DRS Classic (FAC) fxairguns.com
GUN TUNED BY: The Rat Works theratworks.co.uk
SCOPE: MTC Copperhead mtcoptics.com
MOUNTS: Sportsmatch sportmatch-uk.com
AMMO: JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy schulzdiabolo.cz
People controlling pest birds in the UK must do so in compliance with the guidelines set out by the relevant general licence. Click here for information on General Licences for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
First published 14th April 2025
