Peter Carter, our speaker for the February meeting told of his family going back to the 1500s.

This true Fenland family has been mentioned in five books & the skills have been passed down through his family.
Attired in his working clothes Peter fascinated his audience with his knowledge of the country – side. He described the life cycle of eels & how they were caught using wicker traps & special eel forks, & explained how their numbers were diminishing partly due to the large catches made at sea preventing the eels coming into local waters for breeding.
With the aid of a computer pictures we saw different types of punt gun & how they were used to shoot duck, & Peter described the careful approach used in a punt in the early mornings to catch duck as they settled on the marshes.
We then heard how poaching in the past was carried out, always illegal, but if carried out during the daytime & the poacher got caught he was sent to prison, but if caught night poaching then this was a hanging offence! It was presumed that the daytime poaching took place ‘by chance’ but that poaching at night was pre- planned. Peter pointed out that birds & animals were always killed for food & never for fun.
Peter is responsible for willow beds & described the growing & coppicing to maintain their usefulness in providing willow for traps & baskets for the long term.
The Woodland Trust also provides work for Peter as he makes fences & does hedge laying which he much prefers, to the practice of flaying hedges to reduce their height.
Peter also visits schools & instructs the children on the use of willow & how they should treat the Countryside, and his ‘claim to fame’ when he met & spoke to the Queen at the Welney Wild Life Association.
We saw a few artefacts & Peter answered questions, especially on how to trap moles, for the rest of the evening whilst we enjoyed light refreshments.
[Barbara Holmes]