Clever by haaf

Brought to Scottish shores by the Vikings, the art of haaf netting has been practised for centuries but could now be at risk of dying out, laments Sir Johnny Scott

- Johnny Scott

The estuary of the river Nith is a dangerous place of shifting channels, quicksands, soft mud, rip tides and volatile weather. A neap tide rises 11ft and a spring one, which covers the surrounding marshes and travels faster than a galloping horse, as much as 23. This is an enchanting area of broad horizons and spectacular natural beauty filled with birdsong.

The vast expanse of mudflats and salt marshes are historic feeding grounds for waders and a winter haven for migratory ducks and geese, their movements controlled by the endless ebb and flow of the tides. Revered by wildfowlers, it is one of the three rivers in Scotland, the other two are the Annan and Urr, where the ancient art of haaf netting is still practised. For centuries, the families living beside the estuary have waded into the shallow waters of the Nith carrying the ‘haaf back’, as it is known, over their shoulder and faced the incoming flood or outgoing ebb tides.

Old Norse

Haaf netting is of Viking origin — haaf is old Norse for sea or channel — and is of such antiquity that it has been described as living archeology. A haaf net consists of a poke net mounted on a rectangular frame, 15ft long by 4ft high, made of a shaved cedar beam supported by three ash rungs, the central one extending above the top beam by about 18in. The frame is held upright by the central rung in one hand, while a few strings of the net, which billows round the netter like an enormous brassiere, are held loosely in the fingers of the other hand.