LOOK TO THE SKIES

Many will say that it is not real wildfowling, but dawn on 1 September brings back some magic memories.

More than 40 years ago, I was courting a feisty Welsh woman whose PHD involved understanding the saltmarsh soils of the Burry Inlet, near Swansea. Yours truly ended up digging the pits for her studies, but between digs, this gave me the opportunity to investigate the creek networks and watch the birds.

Towards the end of August 1979, I realised that there was what was then a ‘free foreshore’ at the inner end of the estuary — and that there were several home-bred mallard in that area.

At 5am on 1 September, I was hidden in a little creek at the marsh front and, as dawn broke, a single mallard did the decent thing and flew over me. One shot, one bird in the bag and I was off home before sunrise with a spring in my step.