Kent wildfowlers secure shooting rights in Norfolk

Kent wildfowlers have acquired nearly 800 acres of land in the past year.

By Barnaby Dracup

Thursday, 20 January 2011

Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association adds 564 acres of East Anglia to its extensive 10,500-acre portfolio.

Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association (KWCA), the country’s biggest wildfowling club, has announced its latest land acquisition — 564 acres of the Thornham Marshes, in Norfolk.

This latest purchase is the fifth new area of land to be bought by the club since January 2010.

The KWCA said the deal will secure the future of wildfowling in the area, and that the land will be managed in a “sensitive way”.

Shooting will be available to club members on a permit-only basis.

Club chairman Alan Jarrett said: “We have had another highly successful year, with new land in the Medway Estuary, The Swale, East Sussex, Essex and finally in north Norfolk. These purchases have allowed us to add almost 800 acres of prime shooting land to our portfolio.”

“Our strategy of providing more and diverse shooting for the club is helping us to maintain membership at a high level of almost 500, and this in turn will help to finance the purchase of more land in the future.”

KWCA already owns more than 2,000 acres of wetland in Kent and East Sussex, and has a total land portfolio of more than 10,500 acres.

It is regarded as a progressive force in buying-up and managing land, that otherwise might be snapped up by other conservation groups that restrict access for shooting.