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Welcome to the East of Scotland Association for Wildfowling and Conservation. Please use the links in the navigation bar above to move around our website about wildfowling in Scotland.
WILDFOWLING
Wildfowling is the pursuit of wild fowl in wild places. As a shooting sport it is unique in that success depends more upon the wildfowler’s knowledge of the habits and habitat of his quarry than upon his marksmanship skills. It is, however, more than just a sport. For those who have responded to the call of a wild estuary, fowling can become a way of life, a consuming passion which leads them relentlessly to seek a better understanding of the birds which inhabit the land and water beyond the tideline.
In the eyes of many folk, the wildfowler must appear to be a very strange individual. Whether he sets out on a mild October morning, battles against the gale of a November storm or endures frozen fingers in late December, the longshore gunner is privy to a world which is known to only a tiny proportion of 21st-Century mankind. The marshes and saltings below the sea wall, especially in mid-winter, constitute one of the last remaining areas of true wilderness to be found in this crowded country. When the rest of the nation is asleep, a solitary wildfowler can experience a communion with nature which is well-nigh impossible in any other setting.
Not only will he share his world with a rich multitude of genuinely wild fauna, he will encounter weather conditions which would send most of his compatriots scurrying for sanctuary. To be successful at his craft he must learn to read the natural signs – wind, tide and moon – and become thoroughly familiar with the topography of his chosen estuary. Dawn and dusk will become as significant to him as “News at Ten” is to his city-bound brethren.
All the fowler’s senses play their part in revealing to him the full wonder of this environment. He sees dark storm clouds scudding across a slowly lightening sky. He hears the ebb and flow of tides and the myriad calling of dozens of species of shore birds. He smells the iodine of estuarine vegetation and tastes the salt spray in the air. All of those combine to fill out the mental images which colour his anticipation as each new season draws nigh and they are all part of the memories which sustain him through the days when his gun is safely locked away in its cupboard.
The east of Scotland contains several of the UK’s prime wildfowling areas – Montrose Basin, the Tay and Eden Estuaries and several sections of the Firth of Forth. In some place the wildfowling is now restricted by permit schemes but, in others, it is still pursued in the traditional manner under the ancient rights of the Scottish foreshore.
If the sport of wildfowling is to survive in the east of Scotland (and Scotland in general), it is essential that everyone who comes here for fowling supports this club. There are three categories of membership: Full Member, Junior Member and Supporter Member.
About The Club
The Association was founded in 2008 to provide a wildfowling club to serve all wildfowlers living in south-east and east-central Scotland and also those from further afield who come to our area to hunt ducks and geese. Click on the “The Area” button to find out more about this part of the Scottish coast or on the “Wildfowling” button to learn about the sport.
Traditionally in Scotland wildfowlers have felt secure that their “free shooting” in the foreshore was safe. Against that background, existing wildfowling clubs tend to be fairly small and often cover only a single estuary or, in some cases, just a small part of an estuary. With very few exceptions, those clubs have never sought to lease foreshore areas or purchase coastal marshes – quite simply because, under the existing legal framework, there was little to be gained by doing so. But even under the existing laws in Scotland, unrestricted access to some of the best wild-fowling has already been lost and, of course, the threat of future changes is very real. To put it simply, we need a club with the resolve and commitment to meet the challenges of the future.
The area covered by this club might more accurately be described as east-central and south-east Scotland. It encompasses the coastline from Montrose Basin south towards the English border and includes the major fowling grounds on the Tay, Eden and Forth estuaries. From the centre point of this coastline, every other location on it is within a drive of 60-90 minutes, i.e. well within the distance that a keen wildfowler will routinely travel for a morning or evening flight. It also contains areas that are very popular with visiting sportsmen from farther afield who will often visit for a weekend or, indeed, a longer period.
From the south, one of the prime fowling locations is Tyninghame Bay, the estuary of the River Tyne. This entire estuary is now part of the John Muir Country Park and is a local nature reserve (LNR) administered by East Lothian Council, There are some time restrictions in force here and Lothian residents get preference for wildfowling permits. Nevertheless, it is a fruitful area for wildfowlers who take the time to understand its moods.
Farther west on the south shore of the Forth is Aberlady Bay which is also restricted by a permit scheme and is totally inaccessible to non-residents. This LNR is, perhaps, the prime example of why wildfowlers must club together to fight any future attempts to restrict their traditional freedoms in such a way. Even the locals are barred from harvesting geese on the Bay.
Moving west from Aberlady there is a large section of coastline of the Forth where wildfowling is unrestricted until one reaches the city limits of Edinburgh. There are fowl to be had here but sensitivity to the local populace is required and the area is not well documented. It is definitely a region for sensitive personal exploration.
From Musselburgh to Silverknowes the coast is really too urbanised for wildfowling although, many years ago, a club member did have success shooting pochard and scaup (now protected) from the Seafield sewage pipe! Cramond Island was once a popular wildfowling location but it is not until Blackness, in West Lothian, that the south shore of the Forth again picks up from a wildfowling point of view. Travel farther west and – avoiding the flares and smells of Grangemouth, one comes to the inner Forth estuary where there is good wildfowling to be had from Skinflats until the water ceases to be tidal just beyond Stirling. Car parking along this stretch can be a sensitive issue, so take care not to park on private land or to block field access gates.