Local wildfowlers have set up a petition to give supporters a voice
On 8 March, Moray Council will debate a call by Friends of Findhorn Bay to ban all shooting of geese and duck on the nature reserve. Earlier this year the group presented a petition signed by locals who do not want wildfowling to continue.
However the Findhorn Bay Local Nature Reserve Committee have approached the council to suggest a permit system and introduction of a warden to regulate shooting and the number of wildfowlers, to avoid a total ban. This is something that Findhorn and Kinloss Community Council have agreed to support Moray Council on.
Wildfowler Martin Gauld from Elgin commented: “I have been shooting the bay since I was 13 years old. There has always been a gentleman’s agrreement in place about how you should do things when you are shooting, and it is the same old story that a few are spoiling it for the majority.
“The unwritten rule is that you don’t just shoot for the sake of it. You eat what you take or give it to people that do.
“With regards to claims that birds are being wounded and not despatched, I always say to other wildfowlers that if you have to think whether you can make a shot, then you probably can’t, so shouldn’t.”
Answering claims that the wildfowlers make local residents lives a misery as they are there shooting for hours every day he said: “I’m in my car about 5.30 waiting. The birds don’t normally fly off until about 8.30ish. I don’t spent the whole time shooting.”
Mr Gauld that he had received overwhelming support from other wildfowlers who came up to the area. “These are people who are spending money in the locoal area every year. They enjoy their sport and come up here as their holiday. They eat everything they shoot.”
The Ouse Washes may be bewitchingly beautiful and a wildfowler’s dream spot but it isn’t the best place to spend a night alone, says Eric Walkden.
The ramshackle hut was in the middle of nowhere
From the first moment I saw Cambridgeshire’s Ouse Washes, a bewitching spell was cast over me. I was enchanted by the wildfowl as I peeped over the bank, enthralled by the sight of those semi-flooded flat lands between the floodbanks, where all sorts of duck could be seen. To stand and stare down the ooded washes into the teeth of a rip-roaring gale, blowing dark stormy clouds across the sky, is a wildfowler’s dream.
That was in 1980 but it was some time until I was allowed to take a gun down there and try my skill at the duck. Even so, right from the start I could sense that this wetland was something more than just a little bit special. But I didn’t realise at the time that this place would eventually fulfil all of my wildfowling ambitions; both in the way of outstanding and spectacular shots, and for records broken.
All on my own in the middle of nowhere
In the meantime, during that spring and early summer of 1980, I set about discovering the whole 20-mile (or so) length of the washes, from north to south. Often I would be on foot, and occasionally on bike, always pausing to look at the birds. After many enquiries during my travels I managed to seek out some available shooting, and over the course of the next five years, sometimes with friends, enjoyed many wonderful days.
On only the third occasion, I found myself all alone there after an arrangement fell through. The thought of spending the night in a ramshackle hut 75 miles from home down a long muddy track, all on my own in the middle of nowhere, was not one I relished. But as it was already midnight I was left with no choice. It was far too late to go knocking on doors seeking hospitality, even if there were any to knock on. In truth, the weather conditions for morning flight were exceptional; there was a boisterous wind blowing and I could just make out flashes of floodwater glinting in the darkness. As I wrenched open the hut door and stepped inside, I was certain something scuttled across the floor but, by the time I’d fumbled for and found a torch in my rucksack, there was nothing there.
Little things scratching and scraping
I knew then that I wasn’t going to enjoy a good night’s sleep. To start with, there was no lock on the door and it kept on rattling in the wind as if someone were about to come in. It was really spooky as I slipped into my sleeping bag as far away from the door as possible and pulled it up over my head to cut out the noise; but it didn’t stop me from hearing little things scratching and scraping on the outside.
Afterwards I discovered that it had just been the undergrowth blowing about. But in the depth of night things can’t be dismissed so easily. No alarm clock was needed in the morning, but what a fabulous morning it turned out to be. The events of the night before were soon forgotten as I stepped outside. Though it was 13 December, it was quite mild but, most importantly, the south-westerly wind continued to blow relentlessly.
Thrilling spectacle
Mallard and wigeon could already be heard as I made my way in the darkness to an area of oodwater farther down the washes for morning flight. Duck were soon in the air, out and about and above me as dawn began to break in the eastern sky. Singletons and pairs, small parties and large parties, all tempting me to shoot. The spectacle of it all was so thrilling and exciting, and so much fun that I felt more than compensated at shooting only three wigeon. Just to have been there and witnessed such an extraordinary flight was, in itself, ample reward.
Later, I wandered about the washes with the gun under my arm and a few cartridges in my pocket, hoping to find an elusive marsh pheasant. I never even saw one, but I did manage to shoot a hare, a partridge and a woodcock.
However, the highlight of the whole outing occurred while I was leaning against an old post for the chance at a passing pigeon. I hadn’t been there long when a short-eared owl ew right up to me and hovered just above my head. It was joined by two others and the beauty of their inquisitive faces at such close range was a revelation. That still remains one of the most memorable events I ever had on the Ouse Washes.
By the time I’d selected a favourable spot for the evening, squally rain showers had set in, and though a gusty wind was still blowing I decided on only a brief flight. Even so, it was long enough for me to manage two cracking right-and-lefts at mallard as the washes once again became shrouded in darkness.
As I passed by the rickety hut on my way home, it was still being bashed by the wind and rain, and it made me think to myself that if I had wanted to, I could have arrived earlier, stayed in a hotel and maybe even had room service. But then again, I thought, the experience was one to be treasured. Something that could not be bought. Something that makes wildfowling what it is — unique.
Wildfowling gives us the chance to experience some of the last wildernesses of Britain, to pitch ourselves against tides, winds, weather and the wildest quarry the UK has to offer.
We must think seriously about the use of plastic shotcups - particularly when shooting over wetlands
All are happy to encourage wildfowling for beginners by taking you out on a flight to see whether you enjoy it or not.
Wildfowling clubs membership fees are usually between £90 and £150 per year and with most (but not all) clubs this includes BASC membership
Different clubs have different rules: some impose a bag limit, some have restricted shooting, such as no shooting between 10am and 3pm or only allowing shooting on certain days. Some insist on the fowler having a dog
You usually have to complete an introductory season in which you cannot go out unaccompanied and you may have to do a quarry recognition course
Most clubs also expect you to take part in various conservation activities
The foreshore can be a treacherous place and you should never take any risks. Every area has its dangers and unless you know the place thoroughly, always err on the side of caution. There are frequently quicksands, hidden gutters in which to twist or break your ankle and fog so thick you can’t see more than 3ft in front of you.
Lincoln Premier Wildfowling Gun As the name suggests, this fits the bill for a gun that’s dedicated to wildfowling –…
The etiquette of wildfowling
As with any fieldsport, proper etiquette must be observed.
Be aware that other fowlers may have got there before you and leave at least a couple of shots distance between yourself and the next fowler.
Some consider that a fowler who arrives late should turn around and go home, for they may disturb the wildfowl.
If you haven’t built a hide, keep low and out of sight and don’t spoil others’ sport.
If there is no bag limit, use your discretion apart from the fact that fowling is not about big bags, you will have to carry the birds back, often for some distance, and geese can be very heavy! Only shoot what you can and will eat.
Quarry and Recognition
There are plenty of birds not on the quarry list, which will be on the foreshore, so it is vital to get to grips with your quarry. This can only come through experience. If you are going out on a fine morning, take the time to study the species you see. Remember that sound is as important as sight on the marsh. Each goose and duck has a distinctive call and this will be a great help in identification. The silhouette of each species and its flight pattern are also a huge help in identifying birds.
Wildfowling for beginners – finding clubs
Here is a small selection – you can visit Wildfowling to discover your local club
The east:
There is fantastic sport to be had on the Humber and the Wash, and there are myriad clubs, including Fenland, Hull, Spalding and Kings Lynn clubs. Slightly further south there is North Kent, Blackwater and Little Oakley, to name but a few.
The north:
Both the west and the east coast have some spectacular sites for sport. In the west, Southport, Frodsham, Dee, Morecambe Bay and the Ribble are just some of the clubs you could visit, while in the east there are Northumberland and Hartlepool. Fowling in Scotland is often not affiliated to a club, but there are a few wildfowling clubs, including the Black Isle, Mid Ross and the newly formed East of Scotland.
The south:
The south coast has plenty to offer. In the east and central regions, there is Chichester Harbour, Langstone and Emsworth and heading further west there is Dorset, Devon, Cornwall, Bridgewater Bay and Taw and Torridge.
The west:
Heading west, there are some great clubs such as Gloucester, Clevedon,
Carmarthenshire, Mawddach, Dyfi and Pembrokeshire and, in Ireland, Strangford
Lough, Lough Foyle and Wentloog.
Of course it depends on the quarry you're after. Whether you want to be on a famous marsh. Or whether you're keen to have something in the bag at the end of the day ...
Your Labrador would love a trip to the Dee Estuary, Medway or Humber…
There is always a good feeling about shooting over new ground. Anticipation is high and the excitement increases with the onset of dawn or dusk.
Here’s some comments from wildfowlers around the country.
1. The Dee Estuary
Greylags in flight
This is one of the most famous spots on the west coast. Wildfowling has been practiced there for over a couple of centuries.
After the Second World War, the saltings built up substantially, as did the number of shoulder gunners keen to try their hand at the sport. A combination of the two severely restricted the activities of the big gunners. Whether it was a result of ex-servicemen finding themselves with a little more disposable income, or to supplement the meagre family meat ration, there was a definite nationwide upsurge in the free shooting available on the foreshore. Many wildfowling clubs here are now celebrating their 50th or 60th anniversaries.
The Dee Wildfowlers’ Association was founded in 1952 and by the end of that decade had over 1,000 members! With Welsh and English shores, those members were mainly natives of Flintshire, Cheshire and Merseyside. Nowadays the club limits its intake to 120, but can still be rated as a leading quarter for the sport.
2. John Muir Country Park
There are many fine spots north of the border with well-known estuaries and firths such as Cromarty, where zostera grass still survives, enticing strings of wigeon to fly close along the shore. But they aren’t easy to shoot – it’s said that you are more likely to shoot a goose than make a bag of wigeon.
The John Muir Country Park in East Lothian is run by the local authority and comes highly recommended by a very experienced Scottish wildfowler. It is particularly good for visiting gunners, as access to the foreshore is easy and safe. No shooting is allowed after 10am or before 3pm, but the system appears to work well. Wildfowling permits can be obtained from East Lothian Council (free of charge) and include good maps. The estuary is very scenic and used by a good variety of duck, mainly wigeon, but most of the surface feeders put in an appearance. Early season geese are greylag and Canada, with pinkfeet turning up later on.
An essential guide to getting started in this challenging sport
3. Kent Wildfowlers
With 500 members and substantial land ownership, Kent Wildfowlers is probably the largest club of its kind in the UK. On the south shore of the Thames they have extensive shooting rights through the Medway Estuary and up the valley west of Rochester. There are many miles of seawall, mudflats and salt marshes, as well as islands.
Land ownership extends beyond the county boundary onto the Essex marshes and as far away as north Norfolk. Owning our own marshes is the best any of us can do to ensure our sport is as secure as possible and the Kentish wildfowlers have taken this to heart.
Greylag geese at sunset – a majestic scene and an exciting sporting chance.
The Medway is famous as an estuary where the shooting of duck over decoys is an option.
Permits to shoot are quite expensive and limited.
Members can take a guest, however.
4. Poole Harbour
Fancy shooting from a boat? Then apply for a flight with the Dorset Wildfowlers who shoot the crown foreshore at Poole Harbour.
Access is only possible by boat and visiting guns must be accompanied by a guide. This is a sensible rule in any location where one is a stranger.
Further upriver, day tickets to shoot at Winteringham, near Read’s Island, can be obtained from the South Humber Joint Council.
What about the Cambridgeshire Washlands, Halvergate and Acle?
I can hear the protests now. How could you leave out the Wash, or north Norfolk? What about the fresh marshes, like the Cambridgeshire Washlands or Halvergate and Acle? Purists might decry anything other than the coast, but the same skills and fieldcraft have to be engaged if a bag is to be made on these inland haunts.
As the experienced man will know, wherever you go in search of wild duck or geese, everything depends on the conditions on the day. Good luck!
It’s an exciting time for duck shooters, with months of the new season stretching before us. Here's a useful guide to the various species of duck you're likely to come across when wildfowling in the UK.
Mallard
Talking about the different species of duck
Mallard
Mallard
Just about everyone is familiar with this variety of duck and a high percentage of the first duck shot by a wildfowler will almost certainly have been a mallard.
To be specific, only the male is the mallard. The female is always known as the wild duck.
The bill of the male early in the season is pale green, which turns yellow when the winter plumage grows. That of the duck is a brownish yellow with brown blotches.
On the wing the harsh quack of the duck will identify her before she comes into view, whilst her mate is so quiet you might not hear him except over the feeding grounds. Then the waiting gunner is alerted by that wonderful stuttering kekkekekek!
You are most likely to see mallard flying as a single pair. The duck usually leads.
Wildfowlers need to be perfectly poised to react to the green flash of the speedy teal
Teal
Teal fly low but are not easy to hit.
They can be distracted by a swimming dog – perhaps they mistake it for a duck on the move?
Quite often a flushed teal will fly away only to turn and come back over you.
With a green-striped chestnut head and finely pencilled markings, the drake is a handsome fellow.
Teal are just as likely to be found on minute wooded ponds as on the saltmarsh.
Washlands, tidal rivers and little brooks will all be frequented by teal.
Teal love seeds, so freshly flooded grassland is a definite draw.
For sheer excitement, nothing – geese included – can touch the enchantment of wigeon under the moon.
Wigeon
Could be considered the wildfowler’s duck.
The drake’s high-pitched wheeo will be familiar to all wildfowlers, as will the nasal snaaarrrr of the ducks.
In the right circumstances, wigeon respond well to a call. A natural whistle is best, but in the cold.
Both sexes have a snow-white belly when mature, and the male prominent white shoulders
An essential guide to getting started in this challenging sport
With its good looks and graceful flight, the pintail is one of our most aesthetically pleasing ducks
Pintail
A graceful duck
Master of the air, long in neck and wing with a 4″ black tail on the drake
Immature drakes have shorter tails
Less wary than other duck and so possibly easier to decoy
Pintail love flooded or rotten potatoes
I experimented once when I found a party of pintail on floodwater out of range of the bank, behind which I was hidden. I had a yellow dog at the time and sent him out to trot along the water’s edge. To my amazement the pintail spotted him and with aggressive chuntering swam towards this cheeky ‘fox’ to give him a piece of their minds.
The rusty headed, stocky pochard is a cherished addition to any bag.
Tufted ducks generally fly in a straight line and can be relatively easy to shoot.
Divers
Of the divers, tufted duck and pochard are perhaps the most common.
Tufted duck haunt rivers and fresh marshes, but it is usually icy before the pochard leaves the lakes and gravel pits that it loves.
The eggs are larger than the mallard’s.
Both species tend to fly straight and can be relatively easy to shoot, but given height they provide a testing shot.
Camouflage coats, caps, gloves and waders are a common sight across every foreshore in the land. As well as keeping us warm and dry, they also help cover our skin and give a similar tone and shade as the surrounding environment. But fieldcraft out on the marshes is also crucial to success.
Wildfowling camouflage
Back in the day, wildfowlers wore plain dark or light coloured clothing which seemed to stand out from miles away. Nowadays you’re more likely to see image-printed outfits although some traditionalists will choose plain drab colours by preference.
But is wildfowling camouflage really necessary?
It will help you conceal yourself more easily but positioning, keeping movement to a minimum and breaking up our outline is far more important.
Lincoln Premier Wildfowling Gun As the name suggests, this fits the bill for a gun that’s dedicated to wildfowling –…
Field craft when wildfowling
Get into a position on the marsh lower than the background, to reduce the chance of approaching birds spotting a human silhouette.
On high ground, an outline is projected against sky or water and any movement is instantly spotted.
Digging pits into the marsh is one way of keeping out of sight but this practice is rightly banned by many wildfowling clubs as the holes can be dangerous to grazing livestock which might fall in and become trapped.
Although they make fantastic hides to shoot from, digging a pit is very time consuming and labour intensive.
Pits have to be bailed out every time the tide comes in, or if filled with rainwater.
Instead of a pit, make a shallow scrape against the side of an open gutter or channel with a small collapsible spade. This is quick, easy and gets you low down and out of sight.
The scrape must allow you to manoeuvre out of sight into a comfortable position from which to shoot.
A scrape also keeps bank erosion to a minimum.
Nets for camouflage
If there are no suitable gutters on your marsh a net hide may be the best option to conceal yourself.
Pick the colour of the net very carefully – go for something as light as possible and avoid old military-style nets because they are often too dark.
Modern lightweight nets are compact, less susceptible to rot and dry quickly.
Prop up the net hide against strong winds with a set of purpose built adjustable poles with a ‘V’ shaped notch in the top.
These can be easily raised or lowered.
Hazel sticks or bamboo canes are an effective and cheap alternative
The netting needs to drape over the poles and not be strung too tightly. This would make the edges look sharply unnatural.
But too slack and the net will flap in the wind, spooking birds.
Get the hide right first time because some flights can last many hours.
Allow sufficient space for your dog and any bags or equipment.
The net needs to be big enough to manoeuvre in but not too large inside.
Attach marsh vegetation to give the set up a more natural appearance.
The golden rule with net hides is to always look through the netting where possible, rather than over the top of it.
Even the most experienced ‘fowlers get overexcited and raise their head in order to get a better view of the birds (which scares them away).
Ghillie suits
Carrying, setting up, adjusting or re-positioning a net hide can hamper operations.
It can also reduce shooting time.
A 3D leaf oversuit can be a good compromise. Here is the Jack Pyke LLCS ghillie suit in a greener ‘English Woodland’ pattern that matches the colour of marsh grass tussocks.
The ghillie suit works almost like a portable hide with its frilled jacket and balaclava hood breaking up the unnatural outline of head and shoulders.
Go for a slightly more ‘generous’ size of ghillie suit so that it fits easily and comfortably over usual waterproof clothing.
Ghillie suits can also be used deer stalking, airgun hunting and pigeon shooting!
A phone call asking if I could have a go on the marsh led to my 4am wake up and a glorious morning on the East Anglian fowling Mecca that is Breydon Water under the knowledgeable eye of long-standing club committee member Terry.
Richard Negus, ready for his first day at wildfowling school
My introduction to wildfowling comprised nothing more than watching wigeon flighting at near-supersonic speeds miles out of range, retreating hastily inland to the safety of the seawall as a record high tide arrived an hour earlier than expected, and finally witnessing the watery rising sun accompany 500 or so pink-footed geese as they streamed on to the stubbles to feed.
I was utterly hooked
Not one shot did I fire — yet I was utterly hooked and absolutely smitten. The next day I posted my completed club membership application form and a few months later — following an interview in the Great Yarmouth Football Club club house — I was enrolled and on probation.
Have I been singularly fortunate in the ease with which I have forged a path to the foreshore? Are the rumours true that in some quarters “newbies” encounter something akin to a muddy masonic lodge?
Lincoln Premier Wildfowling Gun As the name suggests, this fits the bill for a gun that’s dedicated to wildfowling –…
Waiting lists?
To get the answer to this and many other questions I contacted BASC’s wildfowling officer Mark Greenhough for his views. Mark was quick to emphasise that I am indeed fortunate to live in wild and sparsely populated East Anglia. Some novice fowlers who live in larger conurbations encounter clubs whose membership number many hundreds. This makes places for aspirants less readily available and waiting lists can abound.
Richard Negus’s introduction to fowling was watching widgeon
In some other clubs, prospective members are required to undertake rigorous tests on wildfowl identification from photographic images or practical gun safety testing.
Major issue facing wildfowling
However, the major issue facing wildfowling, it seems, is not the difficulty in newbies finding and joining a wildfowling club but the clubs retaining their new members. Mark’s research revealed that for every new member joining a club another one leaves. The leavers tend to be those who have been members for less than three years.
Why do they leave? Perhaps the reality of a wild, wet, muddy marsh with birds flying miles away from your location doesn’t match the expectations raised by the books of BB, Eric Begbie and James Wentworth Day? Is it that new members find their loved ones get fed up with early mornings and ooze-covered clothes littering the house? Are the new kids ignored by the big boys?
Pink footed geese coming into feed
Rentention and engagement
I suspect the answer may be more mundane. Retention and engagement happens when wildfowling clubs foster a mentoring ethos towards those of us who are new to the sport; equally the wildfowling student must get involved, ask questions and become part of the team.
My involvement with the GYWCA has consisted of one day out and a meeting in a bar, yet I feel a welcomed part of a brotherhood. I text questions to my mentors and receive patient and full answers to queries on such matters as: “Will that bull that guards the path to the marsh at Burgh St Peter kill me?” or “My mallard feeding call sounds like flatulence — is this normal?” and so on.
I have bumped into quite a few wildfowling friends at summer game fairs busily stocking up on new gear to either add to their collection, or replace stuff that has simply worn out.
Funny, but folk almost always leave this sort of shopping until the last minute when they’ve known for months new gear was needed. Not me though – my new season’s preparation is always pretty much done and dusted within a week or three of the old season finishing!
A big clean up
I’ve learned from bitter experience that if a clean up isn’t done at that time you can expect to find that a lot of shooting gear will have perished, rotted… or been eaten by mice.
I remember with horror finding an expensive pair of waders ruined this way when I pulled them on one opening day down on the marsh. That experience taught me a sharp lesson so I now go through a strict cleaning routine at the end of every February.
First, I strip all the guns and give them the clean of their lives before carefully washing all calls, coats, lanyards, waders, decoys, bags and hides.
Everything is then thoroughly dried and checked for wear and tear before being carefully packed away and placed in storage in the garage.
Waders, needless to say, are hung well out of reach of those pesky little rodents!
1. Decoys
Looking back on the last wildfowling season I was hugely impressed with the performance and quality of the Avery Green Head Gear Decoys I invested in, and particularly impressive were this company’s tangle free decoy cords.
I used them to rig the decoys to heavy duty fishing swivels. Most decoy cord is made from strong string but this is prone to tangle if you try and carry more than one decoy at once by the swivels.
This stuff though is made from a flexible plastic that ties easily to decoys and ensures they don’t wrap around one another.
This makes life a lot easier when pulling decoys in and out of splashes, or off a mother-line in a river as you can collect all the decoys at once and carry them in together.
Another handy trick that I put into use last year was to pair decoys together.
I primarily do this on splashes and to save on carrying individual weights for each decoy.
It’s done by attaching a weight to the decoy cord on one decoy, and then snap swivel another decoy to the cord with the weight attached (not the weight itself).
This allows the second decoy to stay within the length of its cord to its ‘mate’.
It makes for a natural looking spread and is handy if you don’t have enough weights for each decoy.
Cartridge choice can create an interesting debate in all areas of shooting. From manufacturer and loads through to the size of cartridge and shot…
2. Decoy bags
Over the years I have used all sorts of decoy bags depending on the type of decoys I have to carry. Although I see the practicality in a large net decoy bag for my goose shells and full bodies they are not the most comfortable things to carry long distance.
They don’t seem to sit well on my back and can be a pain as the decoys repeatedly bash into the back of your legs.
When carrying a lot of duck decoys I now use an ex-army holdall which carries a large number of decoys as well as a small spade, hide and telescopic hide poles. It has separate compartments inside where decoy weights and motherlines can be stored.
It also has an adjustable shoulder strap for comfortably carrying long distance and two hand straps for carrying a short distance.
If I’m ‘running and gunning’ and travelling light over a long distance, I use an ex-army medium sized Bergen rucksack which comfortably holds up to 12 teal decoys along with a couple of mother-lines or a set of weights.
It’s an ideal way to chase ducks when they’re in hard-to-reach areas, or where you just wish to travel light.
3. Keeping cartridges
Saltwater marshes and cartridge heads don’t mix. Exposure to even the tiniest bit of wet or damp will kick-start the rusting process leading, in turn, to a range of different gun malfunctions from misfires to jamming.
There is nothing worse than finally getting within range of the quarry only to then have a gun malfunction due to rusty ammo. It’s a problem that normally occurs when cartridges are kept loose in a pocket and not thoroughly dried and cleaned at the end of a flight.
I have found two simple ways to fix this problem; the first is to place cartridges into re-sealable plastic bags.
These will prevent salt water getting to the brasses, it also makes it easier to remove the bag from your coat so that the brasses can be cleaned.
I’ve found it a useful way to carry spare ammo in my decoy bag in case I ever get a “once in a lifetime” flight.
It’s also a good way to store ammo for easier access with different shot and chamber sizes kept in their own bag.
The second way I keep ammo clean is to use a cartridge belt kept inside my chest waders. It really does keep cartridges dry but it is a bit more awkward to access fresh rounds in a hurry.
Both methods also prevent the writing on cartridges from rubbing off so you always know exactly what you are feeding into the chamber.
4. Call Lanyards
For most of last season I used a braided Hunter Specialties multiple-call lanyard, which holds up to ten calls, plus a dog whistle.
Fully loaded it covers all the species I’m likely to come across on the foreshore – plus the dog whistle doubles as a loud teal call if I want it to!
This lanyard has proved a godsend because it’s comfortable to wear and it spreads the calls for easy access which means I no longer have to fumble about when I’m looking for the correct call in a hurry.
I also use a single, double or triple lanyard if I’m chasing specific species and only need one, or a few calls, on a flight.
5. PVC Waders
Neoprene chest waders are perfect for wildfowling in cold weather as they keep us toasty warm and comfortable on frosty mornings but they are too hot for early season wildfowling or when walking long distances.
The problem can be solved by wearing wellies and leggings but when wading is essential I find that PVC waist waders are perfect for the job.
I decided to get waist-high waders because you don’t need to worry about taking something to sit on, or put a pair of leggings on over the top.
The advantage of waist waders compared with chest waders is that they leave the upper body free for ventilation but still come up high enough to sit in.
Tom Sykes looks at the different duck calls he uses to give him the edge when shooting on the foreshore
Tom Sykes doesn't leave the house without his duck calls
I don’t often leave the house during the wildfowling season without my trusty duck calls around my neck. I am a great believer in the use of calls on the foreshore, and I am convinced that they often enhance my sport, thus producing more food for the table.
I carry the standard mallard call or two, and a range of goose calls for the numerous different species. However, I do have the odd extra call that can help pull in birds when others have failed.
As public opinion turns against plastic, we must think seriously about the use of plastic shotcups — particularly when shooting over wetlands
We must think seriously about the use of plastic shotcups - particularly when shooting over wetlands
I’m talking rubbish again. After my account in Shooting Times of wildfowlers organising a litter-picking day at Lindisfarne , a reader pointed me to an item in the Daily Telegraph.
The report starts: “Organisers of marathons and other outdoor events have been urged to do more to clear up the thousands of plastic bottles left behind by competitors. It follows a row over the number of plastic bottles dumped by participants in the Brighton half-marathon which then blew out to sea.”
It seems that the event had been sponsored by Lucozade. Many of the runners gratefully snatched a bottle as they sped past, glugged down the contents on the run, then simply chucked the empty away and carried on. One local resident posted on Facebook: “It was a shocking sight to see all those bottles strewn along the beach and promenade.”
Friends of the Earth joined in the chorus of disapproval, calling for more to be done at outdoor sporting events, including mass runs such as “…the ones that take place on Hackney Marshes, which are left covered in empty plastic bottles when everyone has gone home”.
Plastic litters the ground after Glastonbury
Biodegradable bottles
I don’t know why environmentally aware brands haven’t developed a biodegradable bottle. Especially when plastic water and energy drink bottles are often associated with the sort of outdoor activities that the green lobby normally favours.
In truth, some of those who are so eager to parade their green credentials are, in practice, pretty damn selfish when it comes to their own behaviour. Just look at Glastonbury, the music festival lauded by the BBC and left-wing politicians — remember the crowds singing “Oh, Jeremy Corbyn” at Glastonbury last summer? Those same right-on revellers managed to discard a mountain of junk, most of it plastic, over 900 acres of farmland. It seems the festival-goers simply dropped their trash where they danced.
An estimated 500,000 sacks of rubbish had to be cleared from the site afterwards, at a cost to the organisers of £785,000.
Plastic shotcups
Yet before we feel smug, let’s think about plastic shotcups. Many game shoots and leases now insist on fibre wads only, not least out of concern for livestock that might eat plastic wads. This fibre-only policy makes sense: we cannot expect our claims about caring for the countryside to be taken seriously if we insist on scattering plastic wads all over the landscape.
But plastic shotcups are still used for almost all steel wildfowling loads. Steel is hard and abrasive. It needs to be shielded from direct contact with the inside of shotgun barrels. Hence plastic shotcups are the norm for steel loads. Yet using non-toxic shot while at the same time blasting bits of plastic out over wetlands is an environmental own-goal, isn’t it?
Why does our shooting lease stipulate fibre wad cartridges when plastic wads are generally cheaper and ballistically superior?
Producing a biodegradable shotcup for steel loads is fraught with technical difficulties. Gamebore has managed it, with its Silver Steel Bio-Wad cartridges. Yet these are currently only available in 32-gr loads of steel No.4 shot in 12-bore, 76mm cases. And you seldom find them stocked by mainstream retailers anyway.
The tide of public opinion has turned against plastic in the environment. As responsible wildfowlers, we would be wise to ensure that we are not left high and dry on this issue.
Tom Sykes looks at the steel, 12-bore shells on the market that are suitable for wildfowling and explains what he looks for in a cartridge
Tom on the foreshore
Before we start, I should point out that cartridge choice is personal preference and you need to do your research to find one that suits your needs, gun and quarry. You should also be aware of what your gun is capable of firing and seek advice from a firearms dealer if you are unsure. It is dangerous to put the wrong load through a gun or choke that is unsuitable to fire it.
For geese, Tom uses 3.5in Gamebore No 1 Mammoth cartridges
Steel shot for different species
The first thing to look at is the species. Cartridge choice for different quarry is important. You don’t want to shoot teal with a 3½in magnum load but, at the same time, you want to ensure that you have enough knock-down power to kill your quarry cleanly. I work on the belief that I am better to carry a range of shells, so I am covered for any situation. I have shot numerous geese on duck flights and ducks on goose flights. Consistency is important. I use the same brand across all my shooting and when it comes to wildfowling I use three main sizes and loads of shell. I was told that keeping as many variables as possible the same will lead to better performance in the field. I know I swap guns a lot, but I try not to swap the shells I feed into the gun.
Modern steel
I am a big lover of steel. Although I remember “The good old days” of shooting lead as a child, I have been brought up ’fowling since the ban on lead shot. I don’t have any issues with modern steel and find them a great cartridge, especially through today’s advanced guns and chokes. However, that is only in modern guns. Vintage and traditional shotguns have taken a massive hit, especially as tungsten seems to be in short supply.
Ducks
I shoot a lot of ducks during the season on the wild foreshore and inland ponds. I like to have a good 2¾in shell for most ducks, normally a 32g No 4 or 5. These seem to work well through all my guns and chokes. I find that they have sufficient knock-down power at good range and cover me for most situations. I have even bagged the odd low goose with them, when the opportunity has presented itself.
In-between
There is always that in-between ground where you may be presented with high ducks or low geese. I am a big fan of 3in shells for flights like these. I can have them in the gun and have the confidence to tackle most species that may flight over. I use them a lot when shooting on a marsh where we may have low Canadas or high mallard flighting up the river. I use 36g No 3s for situations like this. I have also been known to stock No1s as well but I use those just for geese.
Tom’s wildfowling gear is good to go for September 1st. Here he gives a run down on the wildfowling gear…
Geese
In my neck of the woods, we flight a lot of pinkfoot geese and need a good hitting shell to kill these birds cleanly. I opt for a good 3½in shell, normally a 42g No 1 shot. These shells are devastating when put in the right area and have certainly helped me bag my fair share of geese, including the odd triple. They are hard hitting but you need to be confident of range estimation as most people struggle with geese, which this is a common problem throughout the UK’s marshes.
A Kicks choke
Chokes
One final thing to mention are chokes. I normally have a Kicks High Flyer half choke screwed into my gun. This is an American choke designed for steel shot.
I have the half and full for most guns but find the half perfect for most situations.
They are great for throwing consistent patterns with lead or steel.
Before I had a Kicks, I used a factory half choke for most steel shooting as I found it patterned the best.
You need to do your own research and find the best gun, shells and choke for you.
My choice
I have shot and tested numerous brands over the years in my pursuit of waterfowl. I found that I, personally, choose the Gamebore range of steel ammunition.
I have shot Gamebore’s steel loads for years as I find they perform well through all my guns and have never skipped a beat.
The three main types I use are: 2¾in 32g No 4 Super Steel for ducks; 3in 36g No 1 Mammoths for in-between birds; and 3½in 42g No 1 Mammoths for geese.
There are lots of different shells to choose from, however, these are the three main types I use when wildfowling.
Graham Brown of Purbeck Shooting School talks to Paul Quagliana about the different techniques that need to be learned
Graham Brown’s student Giacomo Drax is lucky enough to have access to a flight pond that he occasionally shoots with his father Jeremy.
Shooting ducks at dusk or in darkness that are responding to decoys around a pond requires a well-fitting gun and steady nerves. With an evening flight on the cards, Graham took Giacomo around the Purbeck Shooting School to look at seven different targets that each simulated the kind of chances you might get around a flightpond.
While it is hard to replicate with clay pigeons the uncertain flightpaths that wildfowl may take, Graham had laid on a superb range of clays with a heavy emphasis on the more instinctive shooting that this type of wildfowling requires.
Targets one and two
Graham started on a pair of clays, the first a lowish left-to-right incomer that represented a duck dropping into a pond, the right-to-left a startled duck that was coming in to alight on the pond but spots something suspicious at the last moment and breaks away.
Graham said: “For the first clay I would recommend maintained lead. As the clay is dropping in, other techniques could lead to greater gun speed than we require and this can result in over-leading the clay and effectively shooting too far in front of it.
“For the second clay I would recommend the pull-away technique. Here, gun control is essential and a slow increase in gun speed is required to get ahead of the clay and smash it. It is important not to panic and to keep control. If you react too quickly it can be too fast for the target. Match your movement to the target’s speed.”
Target three
The looper clay is designed to get the Gun used to the sudden appearance of a duck
The third clay that Graham showed Giacomo was a tall looper that came from behind vegetation on the right-hand side of Giacomo’s field of vision, appearing quite quickly. Graham said: “Ducks round a flightpond can come out of nowhere and your reactions have to match them. The idea behind this clay is to get the eyes and hands to react to a sudden appearance of a target. It is very much a reflex shot aimed at ducks that may suddenly flare if they see you. For this sudden shot, which allows little time to think or plan, I would recommend the interception technique.”
Keep your gun high and don’t be afraid to look above you
Target four
The fourth clay was overhead and from behind. Graham said: “This is a classic decoyed duck clay, where a duck comes high from behind and takes you by surprise. When shooting this target it can pay to tip your head back so you see it at the earliest opportunity. When you see it, mount the gun and with a slow bayonetting action come up to the base of it. Remember that to shoot in front of an overhead going-away target you need to shoot beneath it. Again, this clay is suited to the interception technique.”
A gentle-pull away is a good technique to use here
Target five
The fifth clay, a floating crosser coming from left-to-right, was intended to look like a duck scouting or skirting the edge of a pond. Graham’s advice: “This isn’t a quick target and using a gentle pull-away on this clay should work well. Most decoyed duck at dusk are shot at fairly close range.”
A positive bayoneting action through the target is what is required here
Target six
A day out practising for decoyed duck shooting wouldn’t be complete without the inclusion of the famous springing teal clay. Teal are notoriously fast and manoeuvrable birds. Graham said: “What is required here is a positive bayonetting action directly through the target. The movement should have a punchy feel to it and the shot is instinctive using the interception technique. Come up through it and shoot a little above it while it is still rising.”
Be aware of the lead required when using the maintained lead technique
Target seven
The final target was a left-to-right incoming crosser but more distant than Target 5. The clay could represent a duck passing on the far side of a pond.
Graham said: “This clay is similar to Target 5 but by placing it further out I want Giacomo to be aware of the lead required when using the maintained lead technique. The distance and additional lead required will give him a greater perception of this. The key to decoyed duck shooting is to not shoot too fast. In general, a steady style of shooting is required unless you are surprised by a teal. Moving a gun is like a road journey: the more times you complete the journey, the less need there is to look at the map. Routine is one of the vital aspects of becoming a good Shot. Plan what you are doing beforehand, but what you do when executing the plan should be so well drilled that you don’t have to think about it.”
Cartridge choice can create an interesting debate in all areas of shooting. From manufacturer and loads through to the size of cartridge and shot…
Conclusion
So, did Graham’s range of clays and advice work? Jeremy and Giacomo, accompanied by gamekeeper Bill Smith, headed for their pond with the sun not quite starting to sink. Jeremy had some excellent rubber decoy ducks that were hollow with an open, weighted ring in their bases. When dropped on the pond they filled with air to form a full-bodied decoy that floated merrily on the water. They folded flat when not in use.
With the decoys deployed, it was time to set up in the hides and wait to see what dusk brought. Flights of cormorants and some geese passed in the distance and three mallard that had risen when they arrived wheeled high overhead. Dusk came and the birds were late arriving. Finally they came, flickering in the half light. Giacomo scored a teal and mallard, Jeremy a teal, some single mallard and the finale of two shots followed by two thumps in the darkness — a fine left and right at mallard.
For novices, their first outing to a flightpond can be daunting. The darkness and unfamiliarity is unsettling.
It is important to know exactly where other Guns and their hides are for safety reasons. Also, dress according to the weather and, as Graham advises, if possible practise at a clay ground and don’t rush your shots.
A wildfowler builds a bag with knowledge and fieldcraft; for the owner of a flightpond, it only takes a bit of barley argues Richard Negus
Flightponds can provide sporting shooting if they are used ethically
I like ducks. While geese are masterly and waders noble, the duck is affable. My warm feelings for them may sound incongruous. Much of my spare time is spent trying to place myself on the foreshore and marsh so that I can shoot one, preferably two. That being said, the duck is a bird of beauty and wonderment, a worthy target for any Gun. Its meat is one of the finest treats nature’s larder can provide — barring shovelers, which taste of muddy fish.
For many the idea of wildfowling, with its rising in the dark to venture miles out on to treacherous estuarine mud in hopeful pursuit of duck, is akin to masochism. However, those less hardy souls still yearn to test their shooting skills and digestive system on wildfowl and they can do so thanks to the flightpond.
Many flightpond owners take a considered and sparing harvest, but not everyone is so restrained
Anyone who claims they are wildfowling when they are sitting by a flightpond should be treated with wholehearted derision; they are duck shooters. There is nothing wrong with being a duck shooter, but there is a gulf of difference between them and wildfowlers. A flightpond is an inland piece of water. It is either man-made or an existing lake, scrape, pool, pond or agricultural reservoir.
New species attracted by flightpond
The introduction of water to any piece of land is of amazing benefit to a multitude of flora and fauna. On one flightpond I have created, the sheer diversity of new species to the area since its construction is marked.
I have detailed notes on all species spotted there and, to name but a few, snipe now sip in the muddy margins, hobby falcons stoop on the dragonflies, grey partridges drink from the edges and mallard, coot and teal call it home. This pond is sited 20 miles in land from the coast and is an invaluable habitat.
I do, however, have a major concern with the rise in popularity of flightponds being constructed or fed up and commercially shot in areas that abut estuaries and foreshore. These ponds quickly become magnets to coastal ducks, which will understandably shun a hard-won wild feed on the saltings in favour of a plentiful supply of barley that the pond owner provides.
Are coastal flightponds luring wild duck away from their natural habitat on the foreshore?
Some owners of these coastal flightponds take a considered and sparing harvest of the wild ducks they have encouraged to fly to their own tame waters. But there are first-hand reports of large numbers of teal, wigeon, mallard and pintail being shot on some coastal ponds. It appears little or no regard is paid that these are wild ducks, not reared. I believe this is greed, unsustainable and goes against all that wildfowlers and conservationists hold dear.
Fowlers complete a bag return at the season’s end. It gives a good indicator to the health of species, migratory patterns and a multitude of other data for ornithologists and conservationists. I am certain that the keepers of coastal flightponds do not provide this information.
Low numbers of duck
I wonder if these flightponds, along with an exceptionally mild winter, could be partly responsible for the marked low numbers of duck that we have seen on much of the East Anglian foreshore this season? To court controversy, I would be in favour of coastal flightponds having an American-style bag limit imposed.
Ducks will shun hard-won wild feed in favour of the feast the pond owner provides
If a wildfowler achieves a sizeable bag, it is due to his fieldcraft, in- depth knowledge and hefty chunk of luck and perseverance. The coastal flightpond’s big bag is solely thanks to a few tons of barley.
Ultimately shooting is about filling the pot, whether you are fowling, walking-up a rough hedge with your spaniel or standing on a peg on a 300-bird driven pheasant day. The sporting element of shooting — or, more to the point, the skill-testing component — should not be the main factor, but a pleasant addition to hunting your own dinner.
Therefore ethically flightponds should be managed in such a way that they provide clear opportunities to shoot a bird cleanly on the wing. If the surrounding flora is so ill-managed that only sky-high or fleeting snap shots bring a bird to the hand, you merely own a pond, not a flightpond. If you are truly hunting for the pot, it is completely ethical to shoot a bird on the water. I cannot see why blazing away at a duck in the twilight 60 yards up is considered sporting, yet the sure-fire bag-filling waiting until it lands on the water is considered tantamount to sitting down during the national anthem.
We have to accept that on occasion our skills may be slightly off and winged birds are an unfortunate result. It is far better to put the odds firmly in your favour of a clean kill. How unsporting, some may say, but surely this is the ethical thing to do?
Flightponds can provide sporting shooting if they are used ethically
Biodiversity
Another issue I have with some flightponds is with the releasing of reared ducks. I am repelled by the sight of beaters armed with flags, surrounding a pond and sounding like French revolutionaries in a bid to get reluctant early-season flyers into the air. If you have invested time and money in creating a biodiverse habitat, wild ducks will find you.
Doubtless a few reared birds on your pond will encourage more wild ducks to use it; after all, the humble call duck was bred for this very purpose. However, if reared ducks are to be part of your day’s shooting — be it a duck drive or the Guns walking-up the pond — surely it is unethical to attempt it until the depths of the season? While mallard may well be in feather in the early season, they are mentally immature and almost as tame as those on the village pond.
I visited a number of driven shoots last season and all of those who had ducks in their day presented extremely challenging, sporting birds. Little surprise, then, that all of these shoots put habitat creation and management as their lead driver, not simply putting down a few hundred reared mallard and stuffing food into them. The result is that the ponds were filled with wild birds and are only shot over twice a season at most.
Shooting wild ducks from a pond is a sporting challenge; shooting reared ducks off the end of your barrel as they circle to come back to their home pond definitely isn’t.
Back in the 1970s I made a couple of life-changing decisions. I resigned from a secure job in banking to…
I am not decrying flightponds in one broad brush stroke. Well designed, well managed and sparingly shot, they can be true oases. However, for those who lure wild ducks to their coastal firing ranges or fill ponds with a multitude of reared pets, I ask you to look at the ethics and reconsider whether shooting really is the sport for you.
Simon Garnham salutes the season starting in earnest with a grand day on a piece of marsh shot over by a renowned fowling forefather
At last, the wildfowling season has begun. My jacket steams in the shed, waders are caked in mud, a faint odour of samphire and salt lingers over the computer as I type. Best of all, truly wild birds hang in the garage. The wait has ended. Rain has arrived. A northerly air stream and a full moon have coincided.
Until now, forays on to the foreshore have been for local duck. I’ve been lucky with a Canada and one or two corn-fed mallard. But the whee-ooh of the wigeon has been missing. The arrival of these wonderful little birds marks a real change in seasons. When I heard them and saw the barometer dropping, it felt right to contact Ed Avery so we could mark the changing of the seasons as we have for more than 30 years.
I don’t like shooting with everyone. I didn’t enjoy the company of the farmer who couldn’t co-ordinate his safety catch and his trigger. He loaded as he arrived at the peg and promptly shot a hole in his game bag.
Then there were the young Dutch officers with whom I shared a live-firing range whose drill at the end of each range was to fire into the air in a ‘Lebanese unload’. We Brits felt rather on edge as we carefully removed magazines and ‘eased springs’ while the evening sky lit up with Dutch tracers 20 yards to our left or right.
Besides these two exceptions, I do enjoy shooting in company. And no companion is better than Ed.
Ed Avery setting up the decoys from the boat as he and Simon mark the changing of the seasons again
Wild expanses
Our meeting point was on the far side of the sea wall. The wild expanses of Essex marsh so beloved of James Wentworth Day and Arthur Ransome lay before us. Ed was packed and ready — outboard fixed, and Rex and Rosie the Labradors slotted between the decoys and the oars.
The tide was high and we had about two hours until darkness. A thick layer of cloud, blustery wind and patchy drizzle meant our decoys wouldn’t shine and we could wear waders without fear of drowning in sweat. The motor fired first time and we were on the grey waters, wending our way through a maze of creeks.
Common seals watched us pass with huge black eyes. Dunlin, redshank and plover lifted and fell like leaves in the wind. The water ran quickly beneath us and only once did we churn up the oozy east coast mud. As distant houses began to light up and the grey sky in the west turned salmon pink, Ed nudged the boat into ‘Teal Crescent’, I slung out the kit and he set up a line of assorted decoys.
Whereas I have become a master of the swing-and-hope school of shooting, Ed is an exceptional proponent of his craft. I might try my famous imitation of a 1950s policeman’s whistle in the vain hope that it sounds like a wigeon or a teal. Ed, on the other hand, can talk in the birds from distances I can’t even see.
Despite being capable of shooting three teal out of most bunches, he would always rather see someone else enjoying their shooting than wield the gun himself. He unfailingly volunteers to take new members on to the marsh at club meetings, and once — when the beaters’ wagon died on my little driven shoot — he beat a long partridge drive almost single-handedly, using some skilful dog work and a very fast walk.
Goose skeins
I’ve also seen him call four separate skeins of geese over a novice without a single bird being harmed, and remain cheerful throughout.
Tonight was different. The dropping tide and fading light meant we both needed to work with some urgency. It had been a long time since either of us had been well out on to the marsh. Birds were on the move. I slung up a hessian hide while Ed sorted the decoys. I used reeds from the marsh to break up the shape and as we worked we watched while a pack of four mallard circled a distant pond across the marsh and away over the sea wall.
Jobs hurriedly completed, we hunkered down. A chattering quack drew the birds’ attention and they turned in our direction.
We pushed ourselves into the mud; the ducks had clocked the decoys. Time stood still as they came and came. Perhaps it was the exertion of mud jumping but my legs twitched as the birds approached — a sure symptom of goose fever.
Then, just as they were on the edge of range, something spooked them. Ed jumped up and fired twice. They seemed unaffected, turning powerfully back towards the setting sun. Then one seemed to dip almost imperceptibly. While the others climbed, it began a steady descent to land at a bend in a creek some 100 yards to our north.
Mallard and teal
The shot had lifted a pack of mallard and teal and both of us called. They, too, responded well. There were perhaps 40 or 50 birds and we once more pushed ourselves into the samphire and sea purslane. Closer they came, 50 yards up and heading from behind us into the decoys.
Before they set their wings to land, they saw us and flared. A mallard peeled out of the pack then dropped to my first shot and Ed, too, connected. A young drake naively failed to realise the danger and kept coming with webbed feet splayed and wings wide to slow his descent, while the rest of the pack took evasive action. Though I was now thigh deep in mud, a flick and twist of the gun was enough to connect hard with one wing and he spun heavily into the decoys to my second shot.
An essential guide to getting started in this challenging sport
Avocets
Ed set off at high speed to gather in the distant fallen bird and I picked the mallard to our front. Rather ridiculously a greylag swam past only 80 yards from the action, as though oblivious, and a beautiful flight of a dozen avocets drifted along the line of the creek equally unperturbed.
The two distant birds took Ed some time to find. Somewhat selfishly I settled back behind my hide and squinted into the sunset while he worked his dogs and broke into a sweat creek-leaping. Then came the unmistakeable bullet forms of a pair of wigeon. They headed straight into the decoys, needing no whistle to entice them.
For a glorious moment I thought I’d got both with one shot as they crossed in front. However, the female powered away as the male somersaulted to my left and I couldn’t stretch far enough to get off the second barrel. Ed reappeared and Rex, who is the strongest and boldest of our dogs, made the retrieve in water that was now dropping and running powerfully.
Ed Avery’s yellow lab Rosie retrieves a mallard, picking it skilfully from among the long marsh grasses
It was a good moment to end and, as if to confirm it, a spectacular rainbow looped over the distant sea. Had we stayed until darkness we might perhaps have added to the bag but we would also have had to push the boat through stinking gloop for the majority of the homeward trip. Discretion being the better part of valour, we hauled in the decoys, bundled gear back into the boat and made for the safety of the shore.
Fellow fowlers were having some success as we headed home, slower now against the tide. A huge skein of Canadas was met by a pair of shots from the sea wall and friend and local engineer Gav Mortlock had also been among the teal, exchanging yarns with us.
Time for home
My fingernails are now ringed with the thickest of Essex mud and probably need another scrub. The gun has been cleaned but will need rechecking tomorrow. There’s some plucking and gutting to be done. But these are not chores, they are blessings. The wigeon have arrived and so has the weather.
Ducks pair for a season but geese will mate for life - and it's pure convenience, says Mike Swan
Greylag geese will pair for life, unless one of them is killed
Have you noticed how often ducks coming to a flight pond come in twos, especially later in the season? It’s no accident — by this time of year the breeding pairs have mostly formed.
If you are a sentimental old fool like me, you could be distressed about this, and worry that you are likely to leave a bird without a mate, but it does not quite work like this.
What actually happens, with pretty much every species of duck, is that they form a pair bond each year for breeding, but that this breaks down afterwards.
Since most members of most species also migrate, often to Arctic or near-Arctic breeding grounds, they have a short summer in which to find a nest site, lay a dozen or so eggs, incubate, and then rear a brood.
In the case of a mallard, for example, it would need two weeks to complete a clutch, four to incubate, and around eight for the young to fledge.
Add on a couple of weeks to get reasonably strong on the wing ready for migration, and you end up with a four-month breeding season, so turning up already paired and raring to go is a distinct advantage.
It is no coincidence that you often see mallard in pairs on a flightpond
Absent fathers
Once the clutch is laid, dad loses interest and leaves mum to do the work, while he hangs out with the lads until moulting and migration time. Meantime, he will happily shatter all your dreams about being part of an ever faithful pair by forcing himself on any unattached duck that happens into view.
In areas where the birds congregate in higher numbers, such as town parks where the free food from people keeps them concentrated, this can result in very poor productivity, as ducks that are off the nest for a quick feed get harassed so much the eggs can chill.
Even when they have broods in tow, ducks are often persistently pestered by randy drakes, with ducklings dying of starvation, chilling or predation as a result of lack of maternal care.
With the young reared, the birds then flock up ready for migration, arriving on the wintering grounds with no specific attachment to any other bird. Then, any time from about November, once they are back into full plumage, they will start to show off and pair up, read for next spring.
When you add a duck to the bag, you need not fear you are condemning its mate to a life of loneliness
Any birds that lose their partner will try to find another, both through the winter and even after arrival on the breeding grounds, so few if any of the ladies will be without a mate. This is because there is almost always a slight preponderance of drakes, since they are less vulnerable to predation in summer, while their ladies are on the nest.
If a pair end up together again for the next season this is most likely to be sheer chance, and not because there is any lingering bond from the previous breeding season.
There are odd exceptions to this. Some species that nest in holes in trees, like goldeneye, have a very strong philopatry, both breeding and wintering in the same places year on year. This means that pairs often meet up again on the wintering grounds and return to the same lake as the previous year to breed.
In most geese species, both parents share care of the goslings, later forming bigger family groups
Geese
Geese are rather different and geese mate for life, as do swans. If you look carefully next time you visit a town park in summer, you will notice that while the ducklings are following mum alone, goslings are looked after by both members of the pair.
Just like the ducks, they will form up into post-breeding gaggles composed of many families. They then move around or migrate in skeins, according to the norm for the species.
If you watch a gaggle in winter on the feeding grounds you will gradually manage to work out the family groups. They may be part of a bigger group, but they still stick together within this. It is not really until late winter that pairing of younger birds takes place, and this normally only applies to second year birds. From this age onwards pairs will normally stay together for life, but those that lose their mate will seek a new partner.
When the pair gets back to the breeding grounds, they will settle to breed quite quickly, and in the case of adult pairs will normally end up nesting at the same site as previous years. There are no elaborate displays like those of pairing ducks, but they will often march side by side with necks outstretched, honking their calls. This ‘triumph ceremony’, as it is called, is a clearly a part of cementing the bond and happens when they first arrive back, as well as being used when the gander has seen off some threat to the safety of the family.
Birds that lose their mate on spring migration, or worse still once back on the breeding ground, will rarely find a new mate until the following winter. Meanwhile, first-year birds that are not yet of breeding age will hang around in small gaggles while their elders hatch and rear the next batch of young, before everyone gets back together ready to head off to the wintering grounds.
Knowing about lifetime pairing in geese you could easily begin to feel guilty about shooting them, but really it is just a practical way to succeed for relatively long-lived birds, most of whom have no time to waste during a short Arctic breeding season.
Likewise for ducks, the short-term pair bond is a good way to be ready to breed quickly. The fact that the drake leaves once incubation starts is perhaps also helpful, in that he will not be competing with his mate and offspring for what may be limited food available in the breeding pond.
So let’s not get too anthropomorphic about this — these birds pair for sound ecological reasons, not because they are in love.
In the first part of our series on fowling in the footsteps of the greats, Patrick Galbraith visits Hull - the birthplace of the modern sport
The author felt outclassed by his fellow fowler's hammer gun
You might not have heard of him but if you’re a member of BASC — and by my reckoning you ought to be — you owe a great deal to a railway engineer called Stanley Duncan.
In 1907 Old Man Duncan, as he came to be known, moved to Hull from Newcastle to work for LNER. It is said that one autumn day, while holed up in a black hut on the northern bank of the Humber, Duncan realised he was under attack.
It is tempting to look back at the past as a foreign country, where fox hunting and wildfowling were seen as integral and valued parts of British life, but in reality it wasn’t so.
Concerns of Stanley Duncan
Duncan feared for recreational wildfowling on two counts. He noted there was a growing number of extremists set on a wild bird shooting ban and he worried that drainage, in an effort to bolster the nation’s agricultural output, was ruining vital fowling habitat.
In 1908, after canvassing opinions from other sportsman including that legendary gentleman of the marsh, Sir Ralph Payne-Gellway, Duncan called a meeting at the hut.
Upon agreeing that steps needed to be taken to safeguard the sport, the Wildfowlers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland (WAGBI) was born.
The long-anticipated Protection of Birds Act came in 1954. Thanks to WAGBI’s intervention, it was a much more reasonable piece of legislation than many had feared.
Stanley Duncan with a shot curlew, which were on the sporting quarry list until 1981
Twenty-seven years after Duncan’s death, the world was changing fast and the likes of pheasant and partridge shooting were also firmly in the line of anti-fieldsports fire. Accordingly, at the 1981 AGM, it was decided that the organisation should be rebranded as the British Association for Shooting and Conservation — BASC — to spearhead the fight for our sport as a whole.
By the time I was on to my second pint in a little pub outside Hull, darkness was closing in. On the table in front me were four copies of Shooting Times from the mid-1930s, all open at Duncan’s column: Jottings for Wildfowlers. In a late February issue, I came upon a stark passage about the motivation to found WAGBI: “Sportsmen in general, besides the wildfowler, did not realise that his sport was threatened with prohibition and does not even yet.” I couldn’t help wondering if Duncan would feel that his point still stands today.
The finest sight a wildfowler can see
Skein upon skein
Then, hauling me from my gloom, the night sky burst into life. Skein upon of skein of pinkfeet were on the wing — ‘heaven’s hounds’ as another great contributor, BB, called them — heading back to their roosts.
The following morning, at the back of five, I drove out of town to meet Paul and Dave Upton, two stalwarts of the Hull & East Riding Wildfowlers who have been fowling in the footsteps of Old Man Duncan since they were boys.
In another column, Duncan refers to his sport as ‘a secret one’ and so it is today. I can’t divulge exactly where it was that we left the beaten track and set off through brackish marsh towards the foreshore, but the distant glow of light from the Humber bridge was just visible in the blackness. After half an hour or so of tripping and stumbling, the darkness in the east started to fade to grey.
Passages of Duncan’s I’d stopped at when making my way through our archives on slow days in the office came to me. “Features are presented in wildfowling that no other forms of shooting can boast,” he wrote. “Some of them either encouraging, aspiring and elevating in atmosphere or sad and repressive in spirit. With the season come the dawns and sunsets that make for all there is and can be. We see the beginning of each new day and its close.”
That particular day seemed slow dawning but, when it did, I found myself in a glorious landscape with the dappled Humber stretching far out in front and miles of flat East Riding farmland out behind.
Dave and I hunkered down in a little inlet, shared a flask of tea and waited. Just inland a marsh harrier was hunting mice and on the water, a large boat was thundering up the channel. But above the engine noise came another sound. Restless pinkfeet on the mudflats were about to take to the sky.
I had been told by a friend that if there is anyone in Yorkshire who can get you under geese, it’s the Upton brothers and they were right. For the next hour and a half, pinkfeet poured over us but the wind was not on our side and they were well out of range. As we drained the dregs of the tea, however, our fortunes changed and a lower skein appeared on the horizon.
Patrick’s mallard drake that was later gifted to a window cleaner
Deep boom
“We’ll leave the first ones and take the second,” said Dave in a hushed tone. Just as I was getting ready to spring up, the deep boom of an old hammergun sounded behind us. Turning, I saw a goose tumbling towards the ground. Paul had hit the mark and, in doing so, sent the skein heading towards us, flaring out into the estuary.
By the time the pinkfeet stopped coming, the tide had come right in, cutting off our way out. So we stood and watched a seal. As Dave was telling me a story about a lad in the club whose dog was attacked by one as it went to retrieve a bird, two mallard appeared, heading straight for us over the rushes.
On spotting me, they swung out to the right and I fired at the drake that fell, instantly, among the waves. After another half an hour, the tide was starting to draw back over the mud, allowing us to wade towards dry land.
Over breakfast, the brothers asked me if I’d like to see the grave. We slipped under an old fence and I followed until we stood in front of Stanley Duncan’s final resting place. A headstone reads: “Founder of the Wildfowling Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland” then underneath “not for one but for all”.
“That was sort of his motto,” Dave reflected. “He used it in his book.” It is frequently seen on graves in Latin — Non sibi sed omnibus — but for Duncan it was about geese and access to fowling. These, he thought, should be a right for everyone, not merely for a privileged few.
Stanley Duncan memorial and a pair of pintail shot nearby. Stanley Duncan was the founder of WAGBI (now BASC)
Later that evening, as we gathered at another bit of marsh for a return flight, Dave explained that the famous fowler had originally been buried in a pauper’s grave. He managed to find out where it was “about 10 years ago and, with donations from a few local wildfowlers and other clubs, they paid to have it marked”.
Tom’s wildfowling gear is good to go for September 1st. Here he gives a run down on the wildfowling gear…
Scrubby saltings
With darkness falling fast and rooks squalling across the sky, it was time to head across the train tracks to where the fields fall away to scrubby saltings. “Do you think,” I asked Ken Arkley, secretary of the Hull & East Riding, who was standing at my side, “that if those who dislike fieldsports were to spend a day out on the marsh, they would rethink their position?”
He replied: “I’d like to think so. But we’ve been saying to those who regulate us, like Natural England, for years that it would be a good thing for them to come out and see what we do so they have a better understanding of what it is they are actually regulating, but they’ve yet to come.”
Then he grew a little more exasperated: “The irony of the whole thing is that dog walkers and members of the public who use this foreshore don’t ever put anything back.
Wildfowlers are constantly putting things back. We spend our money in order to fund conservation projects and we are doing it because we know that if we don’t nobody else will.”
Stanley Duncan’s words about wildfowling as a sport that evokes a myriad of sometimes conflicting emotions are perhaps even truer today than they were then. Standing on the Humber estuary next to Ken with pinkfeet in the sky, I felt both hugely proud of wildfowlers down the decades and deeply depressed that they aren’t celebrated as they ought to be.
A reader is mystified, so David Frost explains ...
Pump-action illegal for wildfowling
Q: I own an 8 shot pump-action, which I use for pest control. I know it is illegal to use a pump-action for wildfowling but I don’t know why. It doesn’t make sense that a person with a three-shot can shoot duck and someone with a four-shot cannot.
Nobody seems to know the answer.
A: It’s all to do with the European Birds Directive and the Wildlife and Countryside Act (WAC) which implements the Directive in the UK.
The WAC prohibits the use of any semi-automatic shotgun for shooting wild birds.
For this purpose semi-automatic means a self-loading or pump-action gun capable of holding more than three cartridges.
The reason, says the EU, is to prevent the wholesale shooting of large numbers of wild birds, which could lead to a serious population decline.
The WAC permits the issue of general licences for shooting pests and those licences include the use of multi-shot shotguns, which is why you can use yours for pest species but not quarry species.
Every time I pick up a pump-action shotgun I still feel a slight vibration as my ancestors turn in their…
Are 3in Magnum cartridges safe in my pump-action?
Q: I recently bought a 12-bore Winchester pump-action SXP, which is chambered for 3in cartridges. Some years ago, I acquired a box of 3in Winchester cartridges, which are still in good condition. They are the Winchester Power Piston Magnum, loaded with 1.7⁄8oz of BB shot. Are they safe to use with this gun?
A: One of the basic principles of the CIP international proof system is that any CIP-tested cartridge is safe to use in a gun, which has been tested in the proof house of a CIP country, provided that it is used in a chamber of the same length as the cartridge.
If you look on the box of Winchester cartridges, you will be able to see if they have been CIP-approved; there will be a little mark of a crown over a rose over the letter B in Birmingham or L in London.
The shotgun will have passed through Winchester’s own proof facility for testing. However, this is not recognised by the UK proof authorities and the gun must be re-proofed on import to the UK at one of the two proof houses.
It may well have been proofed in another European proof house, such as in Germany or Belgium, so it is likely that it bears CIP proof marks.
If the gun has CIP proof marks and the cartridges are CIP-tested, then it is safe to use them.
Any wildfowler should be able to identify ducks and recognise their flight patterns: Mike Swan gives you some tips on what to watch for
Identifying different duck breeds
The question “What’s that one then?” should never be heard from the person who shot a bird, so knowing what the odd unusual duck looks and sounds like is a real benefit at flight.
So, too, is knowing what to expect, so you don’t pass up an opportunity that might just have been the chance of a lifetime to shoot something different and delicious.
For every wildfowler, knowing our nine legal quarry ducks inside out is not just desirable — but well nigh essential to getting the most from our wonderful sport.
Wigeon
Wigeon
Most flightpond shooters will never see one and if your pool is surrounded by trees, you can effectively forget them. Wigeon, whether inland or on the coast, are primarily grazers, so open pools, splashes of floodwater and creek edges at full tide are the real draw.
They love to land on water and walk ashore to feed in the margins, or graze the eelgrass on the estuary flats when the tide is out. Look out for something a little smaller than a mallard, with a relatively longer tail and a noticeably short bill. The wonderful whistling ‘wheeoo’ of the cock bird should have your hackles rising in excitement when it comes to you out of the dusk.
Teal
Teal
The tiny teal buzzes with life and is the ‘whiz-bang’ of the duck species, suddenly appearing and just as quick to depart. There should be little chance of a mistaken identity because it is so much smaller than the rest of the quarry ducks. On the marsh teal will often fly low when the other ducks are in the stratosphere, so it always pays to keep watch at head height, especially if you hear the sharp whistling ‘crick’ of the cock.
If you are alongside a river or creek, your first view of a teal may well be as it comes around a bend towards you, below bank height. The only real risk of misidentification is with the protected garganey, which is a very rare summer visitor to the UK, and usually gone by the time the season opens.
Pintail
Pintail have distinctive wingbeats but will rarely call to each other
Pintails are almost as big as a mallard, but are slimmer and much more elegant. The long neck, long tail and slender wings are all noticeable in silhouette, and the white breast and neck of the drake in full plumage are obvious in good light. The flight pattern has a rather shallower wingbeat than other ducks, too.
Pintails are pretty much coastal in distribution and very much a wildfowlers’ duck. They will flight inland to pools and freshwater marshes, but are extremely rare at flightponds. Apart from the distinctive sound of the wingbeats, they are usually very quiet birds and I have never heard any sort of call.
Mallard
Beware the easy mallard, coming out of the sun with wings set
The mallard is so familiar that it should not really need any description. The question is not so much how to identify it as how to spot something different. I well remember my first trips wildfowling on the Medway and my father’s warning to “beware the easy mallard, coming out of the sun with wings set as it tips into the decoys”. How right he was, for though I never actually made the mistake, I came close to firing more than once. Normally the slower wingbeats of the shelduck — a protected species — would be a dead giveaway, even if you can’t see any colour, but with wings fixed for the descent you have nothing but the silhouette to go by.
Mallard is one of the most easily identified ducks — but don’t get fooled by a shelduck
Pochard
Pochard
With his rich chestnut head, black chest and stern, and finely marked grey body, the full-plumage drake pochard is a very striking bird. Both he and the rather drab female have pale grey wing stripes in place of the white of the tufted. They are mainly freshwater birds and often flock together with the tufteds on lakes and gravel pits, though they seem less keen on moving water. The divers generally have a fast and direct flight pattern and are much less likely to rocket skywards if alarmed by a shot or other land-based disturbance.
Shoveler
Shoveler
The huge spatulate bill of the shoveler — which makes it look almost like a cartoon creature — is specially adapted for filtering out small invertebrates from shallows. When the shoveler is swimming, its bill seems to weigh down the front of the bird, causing the tail to be cocked higher than the other surface feeders.
Flight is fast and direct, with less inclination to twist and turn than other ducks, and the big bill is obvious even in poor light. Shoveler have a quack very similar to mallard, but they seem to be rather less vocal, so you will probably not hear anything but a rush of wings when they catch you unawares.
Gadwall
Gadwall are of similar size to widgeon but feed mostly in the water
The gadwall is very much a small and refined mallard. Like the wigeon, it is mainly a plant feeder, and it is of similar size. However, rather than grazing it feeds mostly in the water, taking significant amounts of the finer pondweed, as well as seeds and such like. As a consequence it has a ‘normal’ duck bill for its size, rather than the short stubby grazing one of the wigeon. In good light the white wing patches, where most other surface feeders have their iridescent speculum, is easily seen.
Gadwall are very much freshwater ducks and are notably infrequent on the coast, though they will take to the shore when fresh water freezes over.
Tufted duck
Tufted duck
These are diving ducks that take their food from the bottom. In common with the other divers, their silhouette on the water is distinctive, with the tail lying flush with the water surface, rather than cocked above like the preceding surface-feeding species.
Tufted ducks appear very black and white, with a white belly and flanks in the full plumage drake, and a very extensive white belly on the females. When they take to the wing, divers must run to take off, rather simply springing from the water like surface feeders, and in the case of the tufted, the long white wing stripes that reach out from the speculum into the primaries become very obvious.
They share these in common with the protected scaup, which are very much offshore sea ducks, while tufted are primarily found on freshwater, inhabiting both lakes and rivers.
Here is our list of deer seasons for shooting. All dates shown below are inclusive. Red deer England and Wales:…
Goldeneye
Goldeneye
The angular and iridescent green head, white spot at the base of the short bill and bright yellow eye of the drake goldeneye are unmistakable, and most of the rest of the body appears to be white as he sits on the water.
When he takes flight he suddenly appears blacker, as the dark flight-feathers are spread. Females and juveniles are much browner, but they retain the distinctive head and bill shape. Goldeneyes are perhaps the most solitary of all the ducks, and the adult drakes especially so. If you see a group in winter, it will usually be no more than five or six, and I speculate that this is a family party still living with mum.
They are also the quarry duck most inclined to stick out over the water, flying low and fast, and unlikely to cut any corners that bring them closer to land.
There are a lot of people who turn their nose up at driven duck but done properly it is a glorious sight to behold, says Charles Grisedale
Duck must be a challenge but must also be in range for the Guns
Like many, I have occasionally been appalled and disgusted when duck have been on the menu on a shooting day. I will not go into detail.
What an absolute waste of such potential. Experienced Shots struggle at five cartridges per kill. It is not that they are out of range — you will be warned not to do that — it is because they are a challenging target. Duck will change height and direction at the flick of a primary feather if they see you, hear shooting or for any other duck reason. You must blend into your available cover, with minimum movement. Then pick the best possible targets.
I have always dug ponds, creating habitat for waterfowl, plants and insects. My first was at the age of seven, with my pocket money, for my Muscovy ducks, and I now have more than 100 pools under my belt.
It was a natural development that mallard and shooting would feature in my life. Forty years ago I bought mallard from game farms, then spent all August teaching them to fly. The only successful way was to walk them away from the pool and, with a dog or two, encourage return flight back to the pool, until free flight was achieved. If that failed, sewelling and black umbrellas often featured — anything to get them airborne.
Now there is another issue: polluting wild stock with mongrels.
Young mallard, one in 3000 ducklings is hatched white
The right colour
I started hatching my own from this stock but at least 15% were totally the wrong colour. The eggs were also miscoloured. There was a clue here. For many years we have overcome these problems, breeding from correctly coloured mallard, only using drakes and hens that have survived the shooting season by their flying abilities. Pretty well every wild duck that flies over west Wales calls in here.
The breeding flock run as one, with a field, running water and a clean, strawed shed to lay in, with six hens per drake. Top-quality feed produces top-quality eggs that are picked and washed every day. They are set every Tuesday, hatching four weeks later. Where before 15% were the wrong colour, now one in 3,000 ducklings comes out white. If you breed these white together, they produce normal ducks. Eggs are now nearly all that lovely shade of green.
The ducklings are reared in hygienic, warm conditions, with clean, plentiful water and food. When they are 19 days old, if the weather is warm, they are released on to the water. People are surprised by this but think about wild hatched mallard; their down is waterproof at one day old, courtesy of their mother’s oil. At nine days old they produce their own.
Whatever age you release them, if they are overcrowded and dirty they will strip the covering off their backs and will not be waterproof. You can guess what the result will be.
Despite having more than 50 pools here at Cefngwyn, we only release on three areas. The first night I will leave the tractor running with the lights on, over the pool, just in case there is something about that eats duck. The second night they will all be roosting on the water. Other than otters and mink, no problem.
Having started to dig ponds at the age of seven, Charles now has more than 100 pools
Conservation
If you have otters, think about electric fencing. I am blessed in that I have a foxproof fence for my lapwings around 250 acres. It does not always work, but it helps. People who shoot here usually contribute towards lapwing conservation. The income I get from shooting means I can afford the conservation work I carry out.
Mistakes that can be made so far are buying ducks that are poorly bred or that are poorly feathered. The poults we supply are five weeks old. At that age they can stand any weather and have had 24-hour access to the outside world here.
The quicker they are on the water the better. Muscles are built through good food and exercise so those who keep them captive longer than five weeks are not helping them. A good-quality pellet is required until they are eight weeks old, on a dry bank. Do not put it in the water. It will go to mush and pollute the environment. From thereon mix the pellet and barley for a few days then straight barley or wheat in shallow water, where corvids cannot get it.
Now comes the potentially tricky part. Your boss is either going to be unhappy at ducks swimming about in front of the Guns or the reverse: ducks that are so jumpy and frightened that very few get shot at.
Duck must be a challenge but must also be in range for the Guns
A problem, of course, is that a good gamekeeper likes to see his charges every day, knowing they are safely at home and not being shot by someone else. My duck released at 19 days old, never short of food, become instantly wild.
By September every pool has duck on it, despite food only being available in approximately four areas. I am fortunate here; I have 50 or so pools, and am not worried that, once we start shooting, a goodly percentage may be miles away in the day. They will return at night.
I have very good neighbours. In the middle of, say, Hampshire, I cannot see this working where nearly every bit of ground is shot. Think of your duck as fighter pilots, going into battle. They need to be strong on the wing, able to dodge the enemy. If you shoot at them as poor fliers, they will never fly again. They are somewhat more intelligent than a pheasant.
A successful duck shoot is what the Guns are paying for; the difficulty is in getting it right
Speed and verve
If you deny them sanctuary by standing your Guns around their pool, you will lose them. If possible, have a second pool that they can fly to. If you overshoot them they will either leave you or refuse to co-operate. You cannot starve them into submission. When they are feathered, feed away from the pool to encourage them to fly back. Like any bird, they need to get airborne into the wind. Never put a dog in the water and expect them to leave it. They can outswim any dog.
With birds that are fit, well fed and confident on the wing, duck shooting is as good as it gets, as they fly with speed and verve — masters of the sky.
Charles Grisedale is a keen angler, deer stalker and forager and helps to run a wild bird rough shoot in Wiltshire.
Paying a guide to put you under geese lacks the joy of finding birds yourself but it can still be a fine experience, writes Jamie Tusting
A couple of years ago, on a rather grey October afternoon, I was trudging around Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis with my good friend Will Martin, looking for the local goose guru. After knocking on a few wrong doors, we found him. Despite a bottle of Scotch as a peace offering, he looked at us rather suspiciously, gave us only a whisper of his knowledge then closed the door.
Disheartened, we went to fill up the car at Engebret’s, a petrol station-cum-gun dealer (perhaps the only place in the country you can get a full tank and a slab of cartridges). The £30 we spent on fuel and pick’n’mix led to a far more productive conversation than the one we’d had earlier, and after half an hour of talking geese with Engebret’s owner, we had gathered vital intelligence about the best spots around Stornoway.
Goose behaviour
Despite studying animal behaviour at university, the behaviour of geese remains a bit of a mystery to me. I’m sure there are wildfowlers out there who could major on the flight lines, grazing and roosting patterns of geese, and I take my hat off to them. My experiences to date have depended on guess work, little snippets of local knowledge, and a large dose of luck.
In Stornoway, the geese graze on the grassland around the estuary during the day. Then, when it gets too dark to see any predators coming, they fly out and roost in the middle of the estuary. But pinpointing them was difficult. It often felt like we were trying to crack a code and unearth the secrets of their movements, using any morsel of information and plotting at length the night before a morning flight, trying to decipher the pattern.
Over the course of a week in Stornoway, we managed to shoot 26 geese between four of us, all of them plucked on the island and taken back to the mainland where they kept us fed for weeks. It was amazingly good fun but there were a few mornings we retreated for a coffee with nothing to show for our early start except cold toes, cursing the geese that had once again chosen a flight path different from the one we thought they’d choose. These failures were followed with more recons and often another fruitless attempt.
Something for nothing
Last year I was invited to go and shoot pink-feet geese in north-east Scotland. It was going to be a trip with five flights over three days and the price was £600. Talking it through with Alex, the organiser, he seemed convinced by the hassle-free nature of the shooting and the high chance of some good sport (always tricky with wild birds). Part of me felt that £600 was a lot to spend when I knew I could shoot them elsewhere for nothing. As it happened, the dates didn’t work and I wasn’t able to go. However, the reports that came back from the trip were of some top-quality goose shooting and that it was worth every penny.
It is important that a guide doesn’t take people to the same areas repeatedly or birds will get wise
Perhaps Alex had a point; goose shooting does not have to be hard work if you don’t want it to be or if you simply don’t have the time to undertake the research. I decided to put my parsimonious nature to one side and investigated some options. My focus was Scotland, but there are numerous places across Britain that are plagued by geese, notably East Anglia. It does not take too long on Google to find plenty of opportunities. I came across an advert for goose shooting in Scotland, close to where I was going to be on another trip; it looked like the kind of thing I was after and I put in a call to Matthew Hollington at Atlas Sporting.
The goose grapevine
Matthew was incredibly helpful and I could see the benefit of going through someone in the know immediately. He explained that he had started small and grown the business through building a good network of farmers and wildfowlers, and working in partnership with them to achieve their goals. It had started with Matthew and a group of friends from college traipsing up and down the Scottish coast knocking on the doors of farmers, offering their goose control services.
For the farmers, especially the smaller ones, a large flock of geese can decimate crops so quickly that in a matter of days the farmers can, in some cases, lose an entire harvest. The farmers therefore need the geese to be controlled and kept off their crops. Interestingly, it seems that control rather than cull appears to be the mantra; most are not keen to see the local population gone, but simply a tempering of the vast numbers that can so easily destroy a livelihood.
Those who have only shot pheasants and partridges often find wildfowling enriching
Goose shooting
It seems that one of the main advantages for farmers advertising their fields for goose shooting through a sporting agent is that it regularises the shooting, and a more concerted effort can be made in the control of geese numbers, not just the occasional university student.
Matthew also explained the importance of a local network of keen and knowledgeable wildfowlers, who could recce areas and who had a good understanding of goose behaviour. For instance, knowing that if a flock of geese leaves a field half eaten one evening, they’re likely to come back to that field the following morning. It also takes time and effort to scan the coastline the evening before a morning flight to try and find the geese or that half-eaten field.
I have often been pigeon shooting on our family farm, with a few pigeon decoys plonked sporadically across a field. I tend to shoot a handful but never the mega bags you sometimes hear of. I’m sure there is actually a great deal of skill in setting out the decoy pattern and this is the same for geese. When a big skein comes across, you have hundreds of eyes spying down on the ground below. If one goose notices something it doesn’t like, the chances are the skein will fly on to another spot. So the art of laying out a good goose decoy pattern and making it as attractive as possible for wild geese to come in is key.
By the end of the conversation with Matthew, I had booked in a morning flight in November and handed over £150. Whilst it may sound a lot for a bit of goose shooting, to me it now sounded fair when you take into account all the work that has to be done. If I had more time, I could perhaps spend a couple of days knocking on doors and trying to work out where the geese are. Matthew explained that an expected bag would be between 30 and 50 geese in one flight, and that if that was an equivalent pheasant day, you would be paying a lot more than £150.
By going through a sporting agent or local goose guide, the hassle is removed completely. All that a gun needs to consider is getting to the grounds and where they’re going to have their pint that evening.
Bill Elderkin selects three of the best guns for wildfowling this winter.
But are there rogue goose guides out there? Of course there are and lots of people have had experiences of handing over a wad of cash only to be left feeling that they are maybe being led on a bit of a wild goose chase. You might not have the time to do three days of recon but you probably do have a few hours to speak to friends and ring round gun shops in the area in order to find out if someone really is able to produce the goods.
I am looking forward to November immensely. Perhaps my only concern is that the sense of adventure and the satisfaction of cracking the code will be lost, but time will tell. Having spent so many mornings on the cold, dark, windy and wet Scottish foreshore without seeing or even hearing a goose, it feels like a luxury to be going somewhere with a much better chance of finding some sport.
