LOOK TO THE SKIES

With the moon rising full and big tides due, the foreshore is a fascinating place to be, day and night. A few early wigeon and teal will be arriving on migration, and the mudflats will be alive with waders again after the quiet times of midsummer.

My father, being a proper longshoreman, loved the spring tides from August onwards. By then, the flounders were fat and fully recovered from the rigours of spring spawning. He learned the old-fashioned craft of ‘griping’ for them by hand in the shallow rills at low tide. It was back-breaking work.

He soon moved up to using a locally designed spear to probe for them blind. I was lucky to be taught the trick, too, and remember the almost electric thrill of feeling the spear vibrate when you found one. Gently fried whole on the bone, with home-grown veg, they made a special supper, too.