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Chichester Harbour Wildfowlers' Association

 

  

 

What is wildfowling?

Wildfowling, broadly, is the pursuit of certain species of duck and geese on the foreshore of our coastline between specified dates in the year.

The technical & legal bit...

Currently, in England and Wales, the foreshore is defined as that area of land covered by the flux and reflux of the four ordinary tides occurring midway between the spring and neap tides. In Scotland, the definition is slightly different in that the high and low water marks of ordinary spring tides are used as the deliminators. In practise, both definitions refer to land that is covered at some point in the tidal cycle by sea water. 'Specified dates' in England, Wales and Scotland currently refers to 1st September to 20th February inclusive.

The species that can legally be pursued are listed in Schedule 2 Part 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, and are as follows:

Duck

Mallard, Widgeon, Teal, Pintail, Shovelor, Pochard, Goldeneye, Tufted, Gadwall.

Geese

Canada, White front, Pink foot, Greylag.

The interesting bit...

What does wildfowling mean on Chichester Harbour? Well, it means being up before dawn on a winter's morning to see the sun rise across the harbour. It means hearing the Oystercatchers start the shoreline morning chorus, and it means bags commonly made up of Mallard, Widgeon and Teal, of Pintail and Goldeneye when it's colder, and of Canada geese. Most of the quarry species are represented at one time or another throughout the season, Chichester is a migratory harbour so species come and go producing varied shooting throughout the winter.

Wildfowlers' are at the mercy of wild birds and the weather. Ours is not a sport confident of large bags for little effort. Those who take it up come to understand about the wetland environment that they shoot as much as the traits of the different species they pursue. They learn to understand the flighting preferences of their quarry, their feeding and roosting habits. They also learn to turn the weather and tides to their advantage. Man-made help is not uncommon, though the skill to use the decoys and duck and goose calls is only achieved once a wildfowler begins to understand his quarry better. To turn a flock of birds who were originally flying away, to bring them back over your decoys and guns by calling to them in a way that they recognise is to really understand the birds. Wildfowling takes more effort than some forms of shooting, but the rewards in terms of quality of sport and sense of achievement cannot be matched.                 

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