Wildfowling is shooting at its rawest. No beaters, no pegs, no lunch in the shoot hut – just a gun, a dog and a stretch of foreshore at first light, with the tide doing exactly what it pleases. It is a sport of long walks in the dark, cold hands, and a great deal of waiting for a few unforgettable seconds when the geese finally come over.
This is where you’ll find everything ShootingUK publishes on the foreshore: seasonal news from the marsh, quarry guides to duck and geese, kit that will stand up to mud and salt water, gundog work in the tidal creeks, and the practical detail of tides, permits and safety that no wildfowler can afford to get wrong. We cover the law as it affects the coast, the work of the wildfowling clubs and BASC’s part in it, and the conservation record that goes with the sport.
Mindful of Arthur Cadman’s old dilemma, Gethin Jones forgoes the ducks on a late-September morning flight and waits for the geese to lift
For 45 years a Suffolk wildfowling club has looked after a coastal wetland, and now its members are helping to ring migrant birds, writes Graham Downing
Mike Swan climbs the sea wall to find the first pintail of the season, then settles on a south-coast creek as close to a thousand duck lift and swirl at dusk
Early starts, late finishes and an endless supply of mud: BASC’s wildfowling adviser Chris Wright on the week he spent helping to film the documentary Call of the Marsh
Graham Downing returns to the Ouse Washes marsh his father bought in 1969, now shot by his own son, to trim the willow hides, let the water on and wait for the wigeon
For James Green, late September has always meant the arrival of wigeon – a lesson first learned alone on the marsh at the age of 17
Stubbles being turned in mean busy days with pigeons and corvids, but Alan Jarrett finds Canada geese are also keen to share the spoils
A September day on the Medway in 1986 brought Mike Swan a first foreshore greylag – but it was the incoming wigeon that stole the show
Opening day brings greylags off the estuary in their hundreds, and Graham Downing learns that it pays to pick the right spot on the saltings
No camouflage pattern works everywhere, says Gethin Jones, so what should the wildfowler wear – and why do silhouette and movement give you away long before colour?
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