Welsh Journals

THE WILDFOWLER NATURALIST W. A. CADMAN Happily the era of the bird-skin collector is past. In the days when it was a case of What's hit is history, what's missed is mystery," any rare bird which turned up on the East Coast (and elsewhere) was shot first and identified afterwards. Bluethroats and other such rarities, which had no possible place in the larder, were all sought after for the value of their skins by the old 'fowlers. Today there are far fewer professional wildfowlers working for their legitimate livelihood. Those few who remain are good naturalists and zealous observers of the game laws and close seasons. The place of the former professionals has been taken by a multitude of amateur wild fowlers drawn to the sport, partly by a genuine love of what is the least artificial of all sports in Britain, and partly by the hope of adding to the larder. Infringement of the 1954 Bird Act is usually a case of ignorance rather than one of calculated abuse. The Bird Watcher, armed only with field glasses, misses much which is but a matter of commonplace observation to the 'fowler. The reason for this is that the 'fowler is constantly out on the estuary at all hours and in all weathers (for the worse the weather the better the fowling) the bird watcher does not get up before dawn morning after morning he does not very often lie in a mud hole for hours on end, with the rain lashing his face and mud caking his clothes he does not lie out in the saltings under the moon until the small hours of the morning. Very often he knows little about the tides and sometimes does not even trouble to look up the tide table before he goes out. On the other hand, the fowler whose only interest is the bag, who goes forth with the gun, but without field glasses who shoots before he identifies his quarry who fires long shots and who disturbs the estuary in fine, calm weather, is unworthy of the name wildfowler. The scientific study of Natural History owes much to such great wildfowlers as Abel Chapman. It was he who recorded the first British Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus) at Fenham Flats on September 16th, i 386-a remarkably early date. By his accurate and careful observations he laid the foundation of much of our present day knowledge of wild fowl and waders. In this brief article I want to make a plea for tolerance. Let the Bird Protectionist be tolerant towards the wildfowler, who is following one of the oldest and finest sports in the world and who may often be in a position to provide information which is only