Bog Myrtle & Peat

Today is worthy of celebration more for the fact that it means that wildfowl are on their way than it does that shooting can begin. As a goose struck teenager on the Solway, I used to lurk in the mud beneath Criffel in the hope of shooting a goose on the morning of the first, but aside from the occasional speculative shot at a distant canada, my enthusiasm never showed fruit. It now seems much more sensible to have a lie in on the opening morning of the season and come at it gradually during late October and early November.

It’s always interesting to visit the birds at WWT Caerlaverock before getting stuck in to the shooting, and I may well be making my annual pilgrimage to see the first arrivals of wigeon and teal at the end of this month. You may have to pay to watch the birds at Caerlaverock, but you do get in nice and close for sketches and photographs (above). It’s also a good way to remind yourself of what you’re dealing with.

People shoot for a lot of different reasons. Some like the social side, while others like to work their dogs. I’ve even known shooters whose main area of interest is in guns and the physical act of pulling the trigger, but for me it’s always the birds. I’m often as happy to watch them as I am to shoot them, so while the first of September may be a sporting anticlimax, knowing that the prospect of hearing skeins of geese over the house is just around the corner is cause enough for celebration.