Ruling the roost

Though the covering tide at Funton was at a nice lazy start time of just before nine, it had to be remembered that this meant Thursday and Friday would have seen 'morning flights' perfect for the guns. Sure enough, when I arrived no wildfowlers- but very few wildfowl on show either. One of the commercial shoots was in full swing, and their gunfire was making the remaining duck wary.

The waders had clearly been shuffled as well. There is a well-used, well-known beach at the mouth of Chetney Canal that holds a large roost of Oystercatchers. For the past week or so they had been pushed off by the Knot and had moved further up the Chetney peninsula, but with the tides now getting higher some of the Oycs were claiming squatters' rights on the beach. They had settled not in a 'lump' as usual, but instead spread out along the small beach. The Knot, which had favoured feeding in Halstow/Twinney Creeks of late, started to arrive in small groups to head straight for the Canal roost, but were now not prepared to settle among the Oystercatchers. Instead they seemed to hover overhead for a short while before setting off on a circuit of the Funton complex as if to make another choice. The eastern saltings were already full of Dunlin so, for the first time in quite a while, they had to put down alongside the Avocet under the Barksore seawall. Unable to crowd together, they were strung out, from the concrete barges all the way to The Shade.

I felt I was being dumb. Why had those Knot not headed for their other preffered roost? What was I missing? You know, the roost site just near where the Greenborough wildfowlers sometimes operate... ah, that'll be it then. Perhaps the gunners have been out in force.

The gunners have to make the most of the tides and the weather. Many syndicates work to a small limited number of 'days' per month, so will cancel a day if the weather is bad and then work hard to reschedule if they can find a gap; overshoot an area and the quarry wise up. they might also bring forward a shoot date near the end of season if weather is better.

The tides had been good. The weather had been good. And the Oystercatchers had taken their chance and got their roost back.

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Many types of quarry have their seasons finish on the 31st January. Snipe, Woodcock, Golden Plover, Moorhen and Coot. And wildfowl- but only in part. 'Inland' shooting certainly ends on the 31st, but shooting below the high water mark continues up until February 20th.

The local game shoots finish February 1st, so much of the onshore disturbance disappears and the birds will be quick to take advantage of safer feeding/roosting areas along the seawalls or on pools (guns will still be out from time to time for rabbit and the like).

I remain unsure as to how many local birders appreciate Saturday is the busy day for game shoots- Sunday shooting is not allowed by law, so to cut down on disturbance, weekday shooting rarely happens. Why weekend birders often hear so much gunfire if out on a Saturday.

Some English counties/county boroughs do not allow Sunday wildfowling, but Kent is not one of them. (Bans are in place in Cornwall, Devon, Doncaster, Great Yarmouth County Borough, Isle of Ely, Leeds County Borough, Norfolk, Somerset, and the North and West Ridings of Yorkshire.) Again, just as there are more birders about at a weekend, so are there more wildfowlers. A quick-tot up, this wildfowling season I've made just over 30 visits to Funton for the rising tide, and just twice have I been out the same time as the wildfowlers. Before I really studied the Medway, when I was a weekend birder, I continually worried about overshooting and disturbance, now I've come to understand a little more just how used to switching roosts/flights these birds are.