Wildfowling – the pursuit of ducks and geese below the high water mark on the foreshore – has been practiced by humans in one form or another for millennia. It is typically cold, muddy and the danger to life is very real if you misjudge the wind over tide or your ability to cross a piece of mud. It is however one of the most rewarding experiences both in terms of the effort one puts into sourcing a meal, and the spectacular environment in which you do it.  At the turn of the 19th century wildfowlers began to express serious concern at the loss of wetland habitat to industry and farming. They were not the sort to shrug their shoulders or sign a petition. They took action and formed their own association to protect areas important to birds and their ‘fowling. They were conservationists before the term was fashionable and long before there were any votes in it. Sir Peter Scott, wildfowler and founder of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust is perhaps the most famous of them. Still today there are unsung heroes in wildfowling clubs around the coast of East Anglia who fight hard to protect their ‘fowling, their heritage, and the right to go down to the tide’s edge for a shot, more in hope than expectation.

Inevitably as part of my [previous] job representing shooting sports, I occasionally pay my respects at a funeral of one of these titans of wildfowling and conservation. The last one was awkward, and not because I knew few people in the church. The presiding clergyman opened with “Margaret was a devoted mother of five”. Now, if you are reading this thinking ‘that doesn’t sound like your typical grizzled, frost-bitten ‘fowler with teeth like a plate of burnt chips’ you would be right. It turns out that Horsham St. Faiths has both a church and a crematorium both of which had the flames lit for 2.30pm that afternoon. The challenge before me was getting to the right funeral after performing a covert extraction through the heaviest door in Christendom –
don’t they ever oil those hinges?

First Published in the Eastern Daily Press. Sept, 2017