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Call for Pinkfeet and Greylag
The goose call made by Eddie Nixon is ideal for British grey geese, says Eric Begbie

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British wildfowlers looking for a goose call to help them decoy greylag or pinkfooted geese have, until now, been faced with a problem. Most of the calls on the market were designed for Canada geese and, while some such as the Olt 800 would work well for greylag, they were difficult to use when pinkfeet were the quarry. Some fowlers used the L22 call for pinks but, again, this was a bit of a compromise.

As most of my goose shooting involves the pinkfooted goose, a good pinkfoot call was a must. In recent years I have been using a variety of snow goose calls that I bought in the USA. Although the call pattern is different, the frequency range and timbre of a snow goose's voice is very similar to that of a pinkfoot. Indeed when you compare the anatomy of the two species, they are remarkably similar. Same size, same body and head shape, similar bills, etc. It was little surprise that the snow goose call was so successful with pinks in the UK.

But now an even better solution is available. Arising from discussions on the Internet's wildfowling forum, my attention was drawn to a new call being custom-produced by Eddie Nixon of Cumbria. The claim was that this call could be blown to imitate the voice of both the greylag and the pinkfooted goose. I was initially sceptical, as the voices of those species are very different but contributor after contributor sang the praises of this call. Eventually I decided that I had to investigate the claims for myself and obtained a call from Eddie.

Well - I am astounded. The first thing that strikes you when you pick up the call is the sheer quality of the precision engineering. The call is very well made and looks as if it should last for many seasons. The second feature is the helpful instruction sheet that gives easily followed directions for producing the requisite sounds for each of the species. This has clearly been written by someone who has first hand experience of sitting out in a hide with the geese circling over his decoys.

For pinks, the call produces pinkfoot's attention call and the feeding grumble. A change of hand cupping and a different intonation and the equivalent calls of the greylag are easily produced.

This is a goose call that is going to become the standard for British wildfowlers and the good news is that it is not expensive. The current price is £21 inclusive of UK post and packing and it is available only from:

Nixon Engineering Ltd
Site 7 Peterfield Road
Kingstown Industrial Estate
Carlisle
CA3 0EY


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