Small is beautiful — but big is better

I read Mike Swan’s feature with interest and could not disagree with a word he wrote (Club together for the survival of our sport, 29 September). Unsurprisingly, I agree when he says: “The KWCA is a good example of the sort of club that might attract you.”

One of Mike’s general premises is strength in numbers and this has never been truer than it is today. From the day when the

KWCA [Kent Wildfowling & Conservation Association] disaffiliated from BASC, for what we perceived as poor service delivery and an inability to effectively protect our sport, the club has never looked back.

Our membership stands at more than 1,000 for the first time, and the members keep on coming on a weekly, if not daily, basis.

We like to think there are a number of reasons for this: affordable, value-for-money subscriptions; diversification of offer; open to all; shooting open to all members, regardless of time served; continuing growth in our land offer, much of which is owned freehold; and our willingness to fight our corner against all comers.

Some might not care for our expansionist programme — managing land across

Kent, East Sussex, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk — but we firmly believe the future of the sport partly rests in the strength of the wildfowling community.

With all due respect to the many excellent small fowling clubs around the country, their days are surely numbered.

Over the years we have worked with and jointly purchased land, and/or shooting rights, with a number of forwardthinking clubs. Our joint ventures with Chichester Wildfowlers’ Association, Cambridge Field Sports Association and Ely

& District WA have worked well to the mutual benefit of all parties. We carried out a formal merger with Leigh-on-sea WA (Essex) 10 years ago, with the smaller club benefiting from the financial muscle of the KWCA. Westbere Wildfowlers (Kent) merged with us in order for us to buy their marsh and thereby protect the shooting there for the foreseeable future.

To some extent wildfowlers can be their own worst enemies, choosing to squabble with each other instead of coming together. The enemy is at the gate, with Natural England’s overzealous use of the ‘precautionary principle’ giving it the excuse to issue almost unworkable consents. United we stand. Alan Jarrett, chairman, KWCA

through the trees straight at me, with the dog snapping at his haunches. I managed to call the dog off for the briefest of seconds to get a despatch shot into the animal’s shoulder.

Upon further inspection, the client had shot the animal in the front leg. It was probably not a fatal wound, but I believe it’s still better to put the beast out of his misery. This highlights the fact that a good stalking dog is a real asset.

Jack Cory Wright, by email

sport more accessible. However, I frequently see people selling shoot days with pictures of how many birds have been put down. The ground can be totally obscured due to the abundance of pheasants.

Call me old-fashioned, but

I’m not sure these pictures are a particularly good advert for our sport. Surely people buy days’ shooting on the promise of wellpresented birds and a good day out, not the quantity that can be crammed into a release pen.

Are we so unimaginative that we cannot come up with better ways to advertise our trade?

And perhaps we should be doing more to call out bad practice? Jamie Tusting, Shooting Times contributor

‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who come after.’’ King George VI