Wildfowling club memberships .

[Dave at kelton]

1 hour ago, marsh man said:

Are we getting near the stage where club meetings will just fade out before long as more and more people are on line and can find everything that is going on at club level with a touch of your finger while drinking a beer or a cup of tea .

I found it pretty full on pay your subs night , several turn up if we were having a sporting auction and at Christmas ,although this was dependant on the weather , we had no meetings in the Summer through lack of interest , and having them the last Friday of each month didn't suit the younger ones as it was there night out in the pubs and clubs , so is it worth still having club meetings    MM

We find it almost impossible to get members to meetings even when they live locally. That though is common to many organisations, sporting and professional!

[nic]

even at a free barbecue we do not get more than 25% of the club turn out for it!  

part of this may be down to the fact that less people are local.  more are willing to travel to shoot

[Keith 66]

Much the same at our club, lucky if we get more than half a dozen members to a meeting now, didnt help losing most of our inland shooting grounds a year & a half ago. Most guys joining today just want to go pigeon shooting & wildfowling is dying. We have a good marsh heaving with teal & widgeon, mallard & geese in the winter but hardly anyone shoots it nowadays. I think our club will be history within 5 years.

[marsh man]

14 hours ago, Dave at kelton said:

We find it almost impossible to get members to meetings even when they live locally. That though is common to many organisations, sporting and professional!

 

4 hours ago, nic said:

even at a free barbecue we do not get more than 25% of the club turn out for it!  

part of this may be down to the fact that less people are local.  more are willing to travel to shoot

If the truth is known I think you would find the bulk of the members are not really interested what make the club tick over and what go on behind the doors , they pay there subs and that is it ,they might show interest if more marshes are rented and then a few might drop out if some marshes are lost .

Wildfowling is only a small part of there life , work , family and other commitments come first and getting up early when it is raining and blowing hard and then driving a fair distance need a certain amount of willpower . you have either got it , or you haven't and that's the way it always have been .   MM

[CumbrianWildfowler]

I have been involved in field sports clubs for 20 odd years. Falling numbers at meetings and events is, in my opinion, largely down to the advent of social media. There is no 'need' to meet at the pub to catch up on the seasons goings on, there is no need to bring your camera or album or slideshow as everyone and their dog has already seen it on Facebook photos. There is no need to hold the raffle as the tickets were bought and drawn on-line. It's quite sad. 

 

[Dave at kelton]

17 minutes ago, CumbrianWildfowler said:

I have been involved in field sports clubs for 20 odd years. Falling numbers at meetings and events is, in my opinion, largely down to the advent of social media. There is no 'need' to meet at the pub to catch up on the seasons goings on, there is no need to bring your camera or album or slideshow as everyone and their dog has already seen it on Facebook photos. There is no need to hold the raffle as the tickets were bought and drawn on-line. It's quite sad. 

 

It’s a sign of the times! No point harking back you just have to drive things forward and adapt to the changing world.

[CumbrianWildfowler]

1 minute ago, Dave at kelton said:

It’s a sign of the times! No point harking back you just have to drive things forward and adapt to the changing world.

Very true. Embrace it I guess. I think that people still want to be in the club and do the thing that its about. Just not meet in person or go down the pub. My experience at least.

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, CumbrianWildfowler said:

Very true. Embrace it I guess. I think that people still want to be in the club and do the thing that its about. Just not meet in person or go down the pub. My experience at least.

Same as B A S C , a g m , with the amount of members on there books , how many bother to go , I have never been and never likely to , most or what they talked about will no doubt get shown in the B A S C magazine .   MM

[Penelope]

23 hours ago, Keith 66 said:

Much the same at our club, lucky if we get more than half a dozen members to a meeting now, didnt help losing most of our inland shooting grounds a year & a half ago. Most guys joining today just want to go pigeon shooting & wildfowling is dying. We have a good marsh heaving with teal & widgeon, mallard & geese in the winter but hardly anyone shoots it nowadays. I think our club will be history within 5 years.

Leigh? (only going off your location - I'm just up the road).

Thought they were in cahoots with Kent?

[grahamch]

18 hours ago, Dave at kelton said:

It’s a sign of the times! No point harking back you just have to drive things forward and adapt to the changing world.

its not just wildfowling clubs, fishing clubs, Rotary, Roundtable, Lions, Masonsetc. etc. are all struggling.

Folk dont want to be part of clubs today 

 

 

 

[Dave at kelton]

1 hour ago, grahamch said:

its not just wildfowling clubs, fishing clubs, Rotary, Roundtable, Lions, Masonsetc. etc. are all struggling.

Folk dont want to be part of clubs today 

 

 

 

Yes it’s a different social mindset!

[Duck all]

From personal experience I would say that many clubs are their own worst enemies, unless you’re part of the clique they don’t want to know. 

[scolopax]

We have a rule, turn up to a minimum of half the club meeting to qualify for a marsh permit.

every year there are a couple who do not get to shoot because they have not attended enough club meetings.

[situndertree]

In our club apart from the odd junior member brought in by their parent the majority are in the more senior age group.

Its the same in a little fly fishing club in North Yorkshire that i am a member of with regard to age group. Waiting list perhaps a year at the most. Not dead mans shoes any more.

very few members below the age of around 50.

[holloway]

2 hours ago, situndertree said:

In our club apart from the odd junior member brought in by their parent the majority are in the more senior age group.

Its the same in a little fly fishing club in North Yorkshire that i am a member of with regard to age group. Waiting list perhaps a year at the most. Not dead mans shoes any more.

very few members below the age of around 50.

That is something i have noticed in my own club ,new young members are very rare ,which leads me to think that  eventually wildfowling will die a natural death.

[Dave at kelton]

19 minutes ago, holloway said:

That is something i have noticed in my own club ,new young members are very rare ,which leads me to think that  eventually wildfowling will die a natural death.

That is why we need to do something about it now. I was talking to BASC only yestrerday about our Club running an “Introduction to Wildfowling” course for adults next season. Aim it at the age range that are going to want to get out on the Merse. It’s just a matter of getting it planned and enlisting enough helpers to make it a success. 

[Ajarrett]

Leigh? (only going off your location - I'm just up the road).

Thought they were in cahoots with Kent?

Keith is Canvey I believe.

Leigh is not 'in cahoots' with Kent. LOSWA merged with Kent in 2011 and is an important contributor in what we do as we expand our club offer. We also have shooting agreements with clubs at Chichester, Cambridge and Ely.

I'm afraid Kent gave up holding social meetings some while ago due to poor attendance. Even our last meeting, which was important as we were setting up corporate trustees and changing our constitution, was poorly attended.

We reached the conclusion long ago if we were to continue to thrive and grow - thereby protecting the sport we love - we would have to diversify our offer. That is why we now offer fishing, rough shooting, and air rifle hunting. We acquired a major carp fishery three years ago, which more than doubled our membership at a stroke. Club wildfowling membership continues to thrive, partly no doubt because of the breadth of our offer across five counties. Whilst still taking new members membership currently stands at 565. Add in all the other categories we are at 1,465.

Whilst hard-core wildfowling continues as the core offer at Kent, our diversification is for us the key to growth. More land = more members = more cash = more land .............

Clubs joining together where appropriate and palatable is one way of securing our sport for the future. Super clubs? Not for me to say! A step too far for many

Alan

[Penelope]

12 minutes ago, Ajarrett said:

Leigh is not 'in cahoots' with Kent. LOSWA merged with Kent in 2011 and is an important contributor in what we do as we expand our club offer. We also have shooting agreements with clubs at Chichester, Cambridge and Ely.

Mmmm, a bit techy. There was no need, it wasn't a smite, or did it touch a nerve?

I am aware of Kent's plans for world domination.

 

Before this incites a fit of apoplexy, it's a joke.

Edited August 23 by Penelope

[Ajarrett]

Not tetchy! Just thought it was worth clarifying. LOSWA as a small club are doing a great job in managing our land in Essex. Mainly because they have strong leadership, and clear vision.

World domination? I'll settle for the East Coast for now! 😄

[Ajarrett]

Part of the diversification work being done by Kent - drawing down funding by working with others to carry out conservation work. Even with the RSPB!

Media release RSPB launches major new wetland restoration programme in Southeast England • The Species Coastal and Wetlands Programme will restore and create vital habitats at landscape-scale, for the benefit of multiple threatened species including Lapwing, Redshank, Crane, Bittern, Water Vole and Common Tern. • The UK has lost 90% of its wetlands in the past 100 years. • Now covering just 3% of the UK, wetland and freshwater habitats are still home to 10% of our native species. • Work is taking place at over ten sites from the Solent to the Norfolk Broads. • The programme will also offer 900 ‘nature prescriptions’ by training practitioners at Rainham and Dungeness. • The programme is funded by the UK Government’s Species Survival Fund. • It is a partnership between RSPB, The Prince’s Trust, The Church Commissioners for England, Kent Wildfowling and Conservation Association, and private landowners. Wallasea, RSPB Reserve, 2019, (David Wootton - RSPB-Images)---- The RSPB has launched a major coastal and wetland restoration programme across Southeast England. Over the next 18 months, work is taking place at a range of sites from the Solent to the Norfolk Broads, to enhance habitat at landscape-scale for threatened species including Lapwing, Redshank, Bittern, and Water Vole. The programme is funded by the Species Survival Fund, a partnership between Defra and National Lottery Heritage Fund to support projects which create and restore habitats to help reverse the decline of species. This is part of the Government’s legally binding commitment to halt the decline in species abundance in England by 2030. ‘Species Coastal and Wetlands’ will restore and create 246ha of grazing marsh, 7,500m2 of saline lagoons, 4ha of reedbeds, and 0.5ha of vegetated islands. Other capital works will include the creation of seasonal pools for waders, tunnels and barriers to manage water, nesting rafts for breeding terns, and the restoration of rare, vegetated shingle. The result will be that these habitats are ‘more, bigger, better, joined’, in line with the Lawton Principles. The programme will run from August 2024 until February 2026. With threatened wetland species like Lapwing and Redshank continuing to decline and now absent from many former breeding areas in Southeast England, landscape-scale restoration is an urgent conservation priority. Water Voles have also declined by as much as 90% across Britain. This is in part because the UK has lost 90% of its wetlands in the past 100 years. Today covering just 3% of the country, freshwater and wetland habitats are still home to 10% of all UK species. By restoring these habitats along England’s Southeastern coastline, the programme will not only benefit UK wildlife, but the millions of migratory birds which traverse the East Atlantic Flyway every year. Much of the work will take place at RSPB reserves, but the programme will also work with private landowners to enhance habitat and safeguard low-lying landscapes against droughts and rising sea levels. This will be achieved through a range of actions, including the installation of solar pumps to better manage groundwater. Mike Shurmer, Head of Species for England at RSPB, said, “Habitat loss and degradation is one of the leading causes of the UK’s steep decline in biodiversity, with many threatened species restricted to small, disconnected areas of habitat. The Species and Coastal Wetlands programme is a major effort to restore, enlarge, and reconnect crucial habitats in landscapes including the Greater Thames, Suffolk Coast and Norfolk Broads. This work will help to relieve the pressure on some of the UK’s most threatened species, and to better protect the habitats upon which they depend. With nature in crisis, it is vital that we act quickly and at a landscape-scale to conserve and restore our precious wetland habitats which support one in ten UK species”. Beyond direct interventions in the landscape, the programme will seek to engage communities in some of the most deprived wards in Southeast England, working with 40 young people who are not in education, employment or training, creating two apprenticeships, and offering four Get Started in Conservation programmes in partnership with The Prince’s Trust. Following the RSPB’s successful delivery of ‘nature prescriptions’ with NHS Scotland, the programme will help pioneer this approach to improving people’s wellbeing in England. In essence, nature prescriptions mean prescribing nature to patients with both mental and physical difficulties. During its two-year lifespan, the programme will train 30 prescribers and offer 900 such prescriptions in Rainham and Dungeness. Robbie Brett, Environmental Asset Manager within the Farmland team at the Church Commissioners for England, said, “We are proud to work together with the RSPB on this transformative project, harnessing the potential of our land and securing funding to enhance and restore sensitive habitats alongside sustainable food production. Home to a number of nationally significant wildlife sites, this collaborative effort across the Southeast will address an urgent need to create healthy habitats at the scale required for species at risk to recover and thrive.” Species Coastal and Wetlands is a partnership between RSPB, The Prince’s Trust, The Church Commissioners for England, Kent Wildfowling and Conservation Association and private landowners. To find out more about the Species Survival Fund, please visit: https://www.heritagefund.org.uk/publications/faqs-species-survival-fund

[harkom]

Seems like you have put a lot of trust in RSPB for the future of wildfowling on coastal marshes and reserves? How many of their 

"reserves" have been opened for use and access by wildfowlers?

[Keith 66]

On 22/08/2024 at 20:27, Duck all said:

From personal experience I would say that many clubs are their own worst enemies, unless you’re part of the clique they don’t want to know. 

It is not just wildfowling clubs it is across the board from shooting clubs, sports clubs, yacht clubs, bowls you name it. The concept of a club where everyone mucks in & helps is becoming a thing of the past, many people belong to the david loyd leisure generation, they expect to pay, turn up do their thing then throw their towel in the bin & walk away. They have forgotten what a club is.

Many clubs have people who have been in post for many years & run out of ideas, then insist the club continues down the same path even though its dying. Yet they wont let anyone else have a go at running it in case they make a better job!

I belong to a large yacht club where this is painfully obvious, we are turning it round but it takes just a couple of narcissists & you have problems.

[Aled]

Good point Keith 66, a surgeon friend of Dad was saying that his local golf club is struggling to get youngsters into the club. There used to be a lot waiting to join, and were given access to play, but youngsters no longer want to play golf! 

[Ajarrett]

Seems like you have put a lot of trust in RSPB for the future of wildfowling on coastal marshes and reserves? How many of their 

"reserves" have been opened for use and access by wildfowlers?

 

Quite the reverse Harkom. Happy to do business with them, and benefit financially and with any good PR as well. But only where we own the land and have control. We all know how much damage is being done to the sport and which organisations are responsible. The answer to that last question would be "none that I'm aware of; and not holding my breath on that!"

[Keith 66]

I echo Alans sentiments on the Rspb. I was secretary at Canvey when the Thames Gateway project was introduced by the last Labour government. We had a meeting with the RSPB's new land acquisition officer Paul Fisher, very personable bloke who quite unnerved me after a while. It was after he had left that i realised we had sat with him drinking for over an hour & not once had i seen him blink. Truly like the android gunfighter from westworld!

Anyway he made it quite clear & stated that as far as the Rspb were concerned Wildfowling had no place on the Thames estuary & was to be stamped out. No pest control was to take place, nothing, no shooting, period. We were simply an irrelavance to be gotten rid of as soon as possible. And so it largely turned out.

You cannot trust them, Ever.