Becoming a wildfowler is not an event, it is a process, shaped by interests, experience, mentorship and love of place.
For some, it is inherited through ties to family, nature and landscapes, traditions passed down across generations. For others, it begins with a memorable outing that forges a lasting connection.
In all cases, becoming a wildfowler involves more than learning to shoot. Wildfowlers need to develop an understanding of tides, weather, wild foods, bird behaviour and landscapes. It involves a code of ethics and a care for wetlands and quarry. It is about lending a hand, sharing work, knowledge, responsibility and a love of the marsh.
Wildfowlers tell us that there is no single pathway into wildfowling. Many are drawn to wildfowling because of longstanding family traditions rooted in place and sustained across generations. Others become involved having first tried other shooting disciplines. Friends and neighbours and contact with a local clubs led others to join.
The motivations vary as well, wildfowling might offer the chance to spend time with friends and families, or people may become involved out of simple curiosity.
Other motivations include desire to harvest wild food, a love for the peace that wildfowling offers or the opportunity to spend time in a unique habitat. Across these different routes, the importance of older, more experienced practitioners in passing on the practice and the central role of clubs in turning initial interest into long-term participation are constants.
Wildfowling emerges not simply as an individual activity, but as a social tradition maintained through kinship, mentorship and shared access to place. Wildfowlers are keenly aware of the history and nature they safeguard.
Many wildfowlers we have spoken to in the development of this archive describe how their participation has extended to a relationship with the landscape, where observation and conservation are as important as the act of harvesting wildfowl.
Wildfowlers stories of how they became wildfowlers can be accessed below:
A long-established tradition Evidence from Skara Brae shows that wildfowl were being taken for food in the Neolithic period, requiring detailed knowledge of bird behaviour and coastal environments. By medieval times, wildfowlers had developed specialised equipment, including distinct arrowheads and mist nets. Almost certainly, mud pattens (used to walk across marsh and mud) were in use by then. Meanwhile,
Living heritage include practices shared and safeguarded by communities. It is seldom passed on through “official channels”. It is held in trust, conserved, developed and transmitted through the communities that value and continue these practices. It follows that the UK’s Living Heritage Inventories process is based on a grass roots approach that requires clear evidence that the inclusion of practices on the inventory
We invited wildfowlers from across the UK to share their experiences. In response we received accounts that are, at times, almost lyrical in their evocation of dawn, the wonders of nature, the wild birds, and the ever-changing seascapes of our coasts. Alongside poetic reflections, many also spoke of the pride and fulfilment they gain from honing their craft and gathering their own wild
