Anyone visiting Ken Burton's house would turn into a driveway made up of stone and broken clay pigeons that had been picked up from the many shoots he run for charity to an area of ponds and mud inhabited by various wildfowl that he bred. Like Tony Creasey he was a keen countryman that went everywhere in a large Volvo estate car. He once rolled the car onto its side driving off road, only to get it pushed upright and continue on his way. It is with much amusement he told me once that he had been deer stalking in Scotland when the gamekeeper he was with encountered an injured deer stood before him. The gamekeeper got out his vehicle grabbed the deer by the antlers and wrestled it to the ground before despatching it. A while later Ken was by himself when he encountered a similar wounded deer by the side of the road. He therefore ventured to do the same, unfortunately not accounting for the fact he was both shorter and lighter than the Scottish gamekeeper the deer stood up with Ken holding the antlers lifting him off the ground before starting to run off with Ken hanging on for dear life! Sadly Ken passed away whilst driving in 2009. The following gives an insight into his observations of ducks made in 1967:
“This month I would like to give you my observation of the duck breeding and rearing in this area.
The first lot of ducks that hatched started off fairly well but were soon reduced in numbers by two weeks of stormy weather, with gales and quite a lot of heavy rain. As I went round the Postland and Cowbit Wash area I found quite a lot of baby ducklings dead in the dykes. Bourne and the marsh area seemed to have faired a lot better with fours and sixes, but you will always get the odd exception.
Now the ducks that bred later or had second clutches came off quite well with eights and even elevens to a brood. With lots of hot weather which brought out the flies and the water weed the little ducks had everything in their favour. This week, 12th August I have seen a brood of eight ducklings I would say about two days old. I have also seen quite a number of tufted with large broods.
I am pleased to say that the duck releasing project by the Gleed School and the club on the river Welland has been very successful. There are 34 ducks now on the river and it is nice to see what a great interest they have caused. I don’t think they will bother to fly away because the majority of people in the district are spoiling them. Everyday there are people down there feeding them with bread. They are so tame that they will fee out of your hand.”
The arrival of migrating geese to the marsh has always been a distinct event worthy of recording as the great noise of large flocks of geese calling to each other as they fly has got to be one of nature’s great wonders. In 1923 accomplished naturalist Frank Hind made the following observations:
“The numbers of wild geese that passed over the town during the closing months of 1923 were astounding. Day after day, wisps were to be seen, ranging from 30 to 500 individuals. On December 28th considerably more than the latter number were to be seen feeding on grassland near Wainfleet. Most of these appear to be brent geese with the bean goose second in numbers and the pinkfoot third. There have been many ducks, especially the beautiful mallard with teal, wigeon and shovellers. In mid December a flight of 30 whooper swans passed four miles north of Skegness.”
This is of particular interest in that bean geese and brent geese are seen in greater numbers than pink feet geese. At the beginning of the twentieth century brent geese were regarded as an ocean going bird feeding on zostera marina, common eelgrass. Improving Agriculture and an increase in cultivated grass for livestock made grass a more attractive source of food. At this time they would be seen in several thousands across the North Sea in the Wadden Sea and estuaries of Zeeland in Holland. By 1948 they dropped in numbers to a few hundred with both the adults and the young and their eggs predated by hungry humans in wartime Holland . In the post war period their food source declined with eel grass being less prevalent in their pre-war feeding areas. Fortunately their numbers recovered well by the late 1980’s and when I first carried a gun down the marsh they were the most numerous goose to be seen. However, as grassland became cultivated into arable land they became a pest species to many farmers and discussions were had to see if they could be added to the quarry list. Instead, more prudent farmers worked with nature by leaving sugar beet tops on the fields after harvesting it diverted the potential damage. Currently in 2020 the pink foot is seen in larger numbers than the brent goose, with the bean goose not as common. This shows how trends of species adapt to interaction with man.
In 1924 Mr G.H. Caton Haigh made the following observations of arriving geese for the Lincolnshire Naturalists Union:
“Wild geese came early as on August 16th one of the professional wildfowlers reported a flock of fifty going south over Tetney Cow Marsh; and another wildfowler reported a flock of six going south west over North Coates on September 6th. As usual, however, the great arrival of geese took place from the middle of this month to the middle of October, and large flocks were seen on the 17th, 19th, 24th 27th and 28th. The passage of the peewit commenced on the 20th September, and continued with little intermission till December 5th, with immense flights on October 23rd, November 5th, November 11th and December 5th. During the latter part of the winter a great camp of plovers formed in the Tetney Cow Marsh – it must have numbered from 20,000 to 30,000 birds.”
The land use in this area would have been dominated by grazed grass land, pasture and marsh. This land use was clearly beneficial to wildfowl and waders. The land use in this area changed in the second half of the twentieth century to arable with the great loss of many dairy and other livestock farmers. Initially such change of land use to arable has a benefit in that years of nutrients help yields and crop performance, but about 10 years after grass is ploughed up inputs of artificial nutrients have to be made, thus putting the farmer on a treadmill of increased costs to increase yield with little long term financial or environmental benefit. Certainly those numbers of plovers would not be seen today.
1926 saw the virtual disappearance of the Bean goose from the Lincolnshire coast, although they were still seen in reduced numbers. It is thought that they may have reduced in numbers as they were seen increasingly as a source of food at some of their nest sites in Stalin’s Russia.
“On the 16th September, the first flock of pink-footed geese was reported going south and further flocks were reported on the 22nd and 23rd, and on October 1st. Between October the 5th and 16th, the most important migration of geese took place, flocks of various sizes from 50 to 250 being reported almost every day. Some of these were going south, but the greater number were going northwest, no doubt making for the upper part of the Humber, where large numbers winter. On the whole pink-footed goose was very abundant throughout the winter. I never either saw or heard of a bean goose, and this species seems almost to have disappeared from the county.”
Autum 1926 Mr G.H. Caton Haigh of the Lincolnshire Naturalists Union.
The Marsh is a dangerous place and key to keeping safe as well as being successful in the sport of wildfowling is an understanding of the tide and wind. The importance of this was described by Tony Creasey in April 1967:
“One of the predominant factors that governs ‘fowling is the wind, and it is also one of the dangers. If we take a 23 foot tide (Just covering the stalk edge and filling all the creeks) with a force 7 blowing from the North East a rise of one and a half feet above the predicted tide can be obtained and at this rate will bring water to the bottom of the sea wall, it will also hold the water up for three quarters of an hour.
Now should the wind be blowing from South West it will tend to hold back the water, but only to the extent of 6 to 9 inches below the predicted tide.
Now I will come to the most important factors. The moon as you will all know governs the tide, if we take the nights of the New and Full moon it will be almost certain the tide will be full between 18.10 hours and 19.00 hours. With the quarter moon the tides will be around 22.4hours to 24.00 hours, this of course Greenwich Mean Time. Also, the tides following the quarter moon will decrease in height for three days and then increase until they reach peak around the Full moon.
Always remember treat your tides with respect.”
It is very easy for modern man to have a false sense of security on tidal marshes as he is used to having a mobile phone – but basic information like telling people where you are going, what time you will be back can be invaluable. I found this out personally once when I was taken out onto the mudflats as a young man by a highly experienced wildfowler, only to spy my brother in law heading off to the marsh to search for me as I had panicked my parents by taking longer than they had expected, although not longer than the time I had told them, when going down the marsh.
Some wildfowlers have lucky escapes as illustrated in this account of a Frieston resident in February 1893:
“ Lost on the Marshes – A most uncomfortable predicament was the lot of Sergt. Sharp, an army pensioner of Frieston, whilst returning home after being out shooting during the day on the marshes when a thick fog came on, and he was entirely lost, experiencing a most remarkable escape. The tide was also making, and, in his endeavour to find his way, he fell into a deep creek, but managed to get to the top, although he was completely submerged for some time. On gaining better ground he called for help. Meanwhile, the tide rose, and reached beyond his waist, when his cries were heard by the skipper of a trawler, who called the attention of Mr Stevens. The latter went with his smack to the rescue, and brought Sharp to the cut end, where he was put ashore, and made his way to the Jolly Sailor Inn, and subsequently to Frieston.”
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