Winning wings: Fenland wildfowler scoops a year’s membership

Fenland Wildfowlers Association member Nathan Watson won a year’s free membership after supporting the BASC Wing Survey. He explains what drew him to wildfowling and why every submitted wing matters.

For the love of country sports

Nathan Watson has been involved in country sports for as long as he can remember. His earliest memories include going ferreting with his father at the age of five.

As he grew older, Nathan wanted to experience more. At ten, he and his father took up falconry, alongside some shooting. Falconry remained a large part of his life for almost 20 years before changing work commitments made it difficult to continue.

Nathan then joined two pheasant shooting syndicates, but another branch of shooting eventually caught his attention: “I moved on to wildfowling around 2023 or 2024 and gradually became more involved,” he said.

Finding wildfowling

Nathan is now a member of Fenland Wildfowlers Association (FWA) and Ely and District Wildfowlers Association. Between them, the clubs manage several hundred acres within the Ouse and Nene Washes. FWA also manages more than 16,000 acres of foreshore around the Wash.

For Nathan, wildfowling is closely connected to looking after these places and the birds that depend on them: “Wildfowlers spend a great deal of time on the foreshore,” he said. “They keep an eye on the ducks, geese and wading birds found there, including the species that arrive for the winter.”

Both clubs carry out practical work to improve habitats. This includes creating ponds and splashes, installing duck nest tubes and putting up nesting boxes. Members also undertake annual litter picks along nine miles of foreshore between the rivers Nene and Great Ouse. The rubbish washed in by the tide can range from discarded balloons to vehicle parts. Nathan added: “Our members have also acted as wardens of the area for almost 75 years.”

Supporting the BASC Wing Survey

During the 2025/26 season, FWA introduced a raffle to encourage members to support the BASC Wing Survey. Every member who submitted a survey return was entered into a draw to win a year’s club membership.

The initiative helped the club submit 142 wings. Nathan was later selected as the winner during the raffle draw at The Game Fair: “I think the raffle was a really good idea,” he said. “All you had to do was put your details on the BASC Wing Survey form to be in with a chance.” Nathan believes other clubs could adapt the idea to suit their size and resources.

“Fenland is a large club, but smaller clubs could offer 25 or 50 per cent off membership fees, or perhaps a few complimentary flights on club land,” he said. “The important thing is encouraging members to send their wings to BASC so they can be included in the survey.”

< Nathan Watson at The Game Fair, holding up the BASC Wing Survey packs - find out more about these at the end of this article

Why the BASC Wing Survey matters

The BASC Wing Survey uses wings from shot birds to gather information about the age and breeding success of quarry species. More than 4,000 wings were submitted from across the UK during the 2025/26 season, making it the survey’s biggest year on record.

Nathan sees the survey as an important way for wildfowlers to contribute evidence about the populations they quarry: “The data helps us understand breeding success and population trends across the flyway,” he said. “It also helps demonstrate that wildfowling is sustainable and gives us information about where birds may have come from.

“Submitting one wing might not seem like much, but when everyone contributes, it can make a real difference to the information available.”

“Doing something as little as giving one wing that you have shot can go a long way in proving the sustainability of our wildfowl and we can look after them better.”

With another season approaching, Nathan hopes FWA’s raffle will encourage more clubs and individual wildfowlers to support the BASC Wing Survey.

Find out more about the BASC Wing Survey and how to submit wings. You can request BASC Wing Survey packs which include three zip-lock bags, three wing cards and a copy of the Sustainable Shooting Code of Practice from our wildfowling team or your regional office.