Tuesday 26 December 2017

Boxing Day

Boxing Day, a traditional day for getting out and about in the countryside, working off some of those Christmas Day excesses. It is the one day of the year when most forms of the hunting fraternity are guaranteed to be out and about on the same day, whether it be the fox hunts, game shoots, ferreting, or wildfowling. This morning I arrived at the reserve just as a dark, starlit sky was beginning to brighten in the east with a promise of blue skies and a spectacular sunrise. Below is the view across the marsh to the sea wall in the east at 7.15.


Gradually the light increased to reveal clear blue skies and this one, anvil shaped cloud on the eastern horizon.

 Finally, at 8.15, the sun here was seconds away from rising above the horizon.
Alongside the reserve on Boxing Day morning it is only the wildfowlers that I usually see although even their numbers, like the wildfowl they pursue, have gradually dwindled. Ten or more years ago it wouldn't be unusual to see as many as twenty wildfowlers strung out along the saltings near the sea wall, shooting many dozens of geese and ducks. Nowadays their numbers have mirrored the wildfowl numbers and dropped to three and fours and sometimes even none.
And so it was this morning, in the increasingly cold wind and dawn light, I could see three wildfowlers hunkered down in the muddy gullies in front of me, two close together and a third several hundred yards further on. There were no shots fired while I was there but the lone guy packed up as I walked along the sea wall in his direction and he carried a dead Greylag Goose as he came alongside. We walked along the sea wall together, chatting about the shooting that morning before I'd arrived, or more to the point, the lack of it. It transpired that between the three of them out there in the dark just two shots had been fired and one of them by him had killed the goose that he was carrying. Presumably a nice organic meal, tasting far better than anything shop bought.
I left him to carry on home and re-traced by steps back along the sea wall to have a brief chat with the other two wildfowlers now coming towards me. It was their first visit to that particular site and as now becoming the norm, their first words to me were "where are all the birds", to which I replied "there's no bloody water to attract them". It was good to chat to them - about our dogs, shooting in general, doubtful wildfowl breeding prospects for another potential dry Spring coming up - and then I left them and headed off to wander through the middle of the reserve.
So, almost twelve months since last New Years Eve, I'm having the same conversations as then - where's the water, where's the birds, it's looking quite sad.

13 comments:

  1. Well you have had a full morning Derek. Out and about so early. The bird issue on the reserve reminds me of that old song by Peter, Paul and Mary. We should add a new verse...
    Where have all the wildfowl gone?
    Long time passing
    Where have all the wildfowl gone?
    Long time ago
    Where have all the wildfowl gone?
    Towards extinction every one.
    When will they ever learn?
    When will they eee-ver learn?

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    1. We have different views on shooting YP, as you know.

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    2. Not being aware of any extinction threats to any wildfowl, on the UK list, I am rather bemused by this comment. A bloke shoots a "feral" goose, out on the marshes, and carries it home to eat. Where's the problem?
      Wildfowl on the North & East Kent marshes are reliant on suitable habitat - no water = no wildfowl. Shooters don't come into the equation, the numbers they take during the season are directly in relation to the numbers of birds present. No wetlands - no wildfowl, a very simple concept to understand by anyone with a brain cell between their ears?

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    3. My new verse does not mention shooters and they were certainly not in my mind as I composed it. There are plenty of other threats to wildfowl numbers. Nonetheless your hypersensitivity about your "sport" is interesting.

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    4. I have taken a bit of time to look at the threats to UK wetlands, via the WWT news system and have come up with just one duck species which is "Globally Threatened"- White-headed Duck; not regularly encountered by UK birders, let alone wildfowlers! The demise in UK wetlands is directly attributed to the actions of humans and started with The Industrial Revolution. Sadly, the reports are completely ruined when I read about the "Critically Endangered" status placed upon The Freshwater Eel. Something which has been demonstrated to be total farce; so how many other statistics quoted are also heavily flawed? As for being hypersensitive about my sport - never owned a shotgun or pointed one in the direction of a live bird. Being an angler, and birder, I am able to empathize with other legitimate users of our countryside, however they seek their enjoyment. Opinions which differ from my own are to be expected, particularly from folk who think that our countryside is a natural phenomenon and not the product of man's constant management/interference over the eons

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    5. Food for thought Dylan. There is room for most forms of hunting in this country providing those practising it take a sensible and realistic approach to it.

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    6. Very well said Derek. And locally, there are some good guys amongst those widlfowlers, as I am sure you know. From what they tell me, they eat all/most of what they shoot. Like country folk have been doing for a very, very long time. But, as you say, there is very little for them at present.

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  2. I went to Harty ferry on Xmas Day, birdwatching.

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    1. I spoke to one guy along the Harty Road early on that morning, but I don't think it was you. Did you see much?

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  3. Derek when I looked at the forecast on Breakfast T V this morning it did look as though the South East corner of the country was in for a few wet days soon.

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    1. So far you are very right Pat. Today in particular, is in stark contrast with yesterday, with lashing rain and wet snow and a N. wind gusting to 60mph at times.

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