Getting out onto the marsh – adapting to a challenging year
By James Mepham.
IT was a generally quiet off-season for Ely and District Wildfowlers’ Association
(EDWA) with work parties limited by the lockdown and COVID situation. That said, we
have seen good membership numbers this year. Personally, I was quite worried in April
as to whether the club would gain normal membership considering the swathes of
people that faced reduced incomes and the number of wildfowling clubs generously
reducing their memberships.
As a club we stuck to our guns (excuse the pun) and continued as normal, knowing the development of the club is greater than a year or so a ected by a pandemic. Our new member induction wash walks were filled with some really keen new members and so far it has been a pleasure shooting with some of them.
The COVID situation has really highlighted how important belonging to a club (by this I mean any club, my rugby club was vital in keeping me sane during the first lockdown) and going shooting is to our mental health and well-being. Walking out onto the washes and immersing one’s self into the silence of the everyday outside world and noise of nature (in a naturally socially distanced manner) can be an ideal opportunity to escape from the ‘real world’.
Over the summer my interest in fishing piqued having dabbled in coarse and sea fishing when I was younger but never really got properly hooked. I enjoyed sea fishing but for me, fishing was a little slow with lots of waiting around and limited adventure.
