LETTER OF THE WEEK

Don’t throttle wildfowling in red tape

I read your news article on the threat to the sport’s heartlands (01 July issue) with a heavy heart. Although I was born in North Bucks, about as far from the sea as you can get, I took up wildfowling more than 30 years ago after meeting the chairman of the then Kent Wildfowlers Association on the BASC stand at the CLA Game Fair. I am now a member of six wildfowling clubs along the East Coast, with a combined membership of 1,200 members –around 10% of the UK’s wildfowling community.

I have found that the common theme that links these individuals together is the love of wild and often remote places, respect for their quarry and a deep knowledge of their foreshore patch and its wildlife. To them, wildfowling is not just a sport but a way of life and it is never about the number shot.

Some of the