Northern firths

Since the first seed of interest was planted, Alan’s wildfowling passion has taken him to incredible places all over the world, but the northern firths stand out as particularly special

- ALAN JARRET

My fascination with this sport began as stories leapt out at me from the pages of the sporting magazines of the day. That has long been a driver for my writing: knowing the impact it had on me in my formative years, as well as knowing this is one way of spreading the word, and thereby helping with the health and vitality of our sport.

It was probably inevitable that as well as exploring and delighting in the coasts of my native Kent, my reading would lead to a resultant interest in sport further away from home. This eventually led to my travels to far-flung sporting grounds in Canada, Iceland and South Africa; but for coronavirus, Argentina would have been added to that list.

But long before those international adventures began, my travels took me around many parts of the UK. Indeed, what was to be my ill-fated and still unpublished treatise, Wildfowling In Great Britain, involved me travelling to all parts of the mainland, gathering material into a manuscript that still sits unloved on the top shelf in my office.

Scotland, as well as being another country within this United Kingdom, is another world when it comes to wildfowling. A foreshore that is still largely open to all-comers made a refreshing change from the heavily regulated shores of England and Wales – although that is not necessarily always a good thing!