Metadata
WORK ID: NEFA 22294 (Master Record)
| Title | Year | Date |
| PUNT GUNNING FOR WILD FOWL | 1930 | 1930-01-01 |
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Details
Original Format: 16mm Colour: Black & White Sound: Silent Duration: 20 mins 21 secs Genre: Documentary Subject: Sport Seaside |
| Summary Amateur or educational documentary in two parts on the sport of wildfowling using manually propelled gunning punts in the north east, filmed off the Northumberland coast near Lindisfarne. The punt gun was a massive smooth bore gun. |
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Description
Amateur or educational documentary in two parts on the sport of wildfowling using manually propelled gunning punts in the north east, filmed off the Northumberland coast near Lindisfarne. The punt gun was a massive smooth bore gun.
Title: Punt Gunning for Wild Fowl
Title: Round the shores of Britain are a few places where there are dozens of square miles of tidal mud flats
Panorama of the mud flats off the Northumbrian coast near the Holy Island. Closer shots of the mud flats with sunk...
Amateur or educational documentary in two parts on the sport of wildfowling using manually propelled gunning punts in the north east, filmed off the Northumberland coast near Lindisfarne. The punt gun was a massive smooth bore gun.
Title: Punt Gunning for Wild Fowl
Title: Round the shores of Britain are a few places where there are dozens of square miles of tidal mud flats
Panorama of the mud flats off the Northumbrian coast near the Holy Island. Closer shots of the mud flats with sunk wooden posts marking pathways. A wildfowler in waders strides through the mud flats using a stick, testing each step.
Title: These mud flats, saltings, or slakes, are the home of many wild birds.
Birds paddle around the pools at the sea’s edge.
Title: The Wildfowlers are after the wildest, and most unapproachable, birds of all – duck and geese.
Three wildfowler stand and chat at the edge of the mudflats. Portrait shot of a wildfowler in a beret.
Title: An outsize cartridge is required.
A wildfowler prepares his punt gun, displaying the metal cartridge construction for the barrel of his punt gun. Close-ups of him crafting the cartridge for the gun and feeding in Curtis and Harvey’s extra course grain for punt guns. He pours in the grain and compresses it in the barrel. Wadding is then pushed into the barrel and compressed. A sack of Newcastle firm, Walkers, Parkers & Co’s patent shot is displayed to camera. The wildfowler then pours it into the barrel, and again compresses it. Snipping the metal end of the cartridge, he folds it down at the base of the gun barrel.
A wildfowler looks out across the mud flats with binoculars, and up towards the sky where birds are flying. Ducks bob in the sea.
Title: Launching the duck punt.
A wildfowler unlocks his shed at the waterline and pulls out his punt gun. He and a colleague drag out the punt.
Title: Mounting and loading the two inches bore stanchion gun.
The two set up the gun on mounts on the narrow boat. Cartridges are fed into the massive gun. A brief shot follows from behind the gun mount as the boat bobs in the water.
Title: When the tide is out the burn is dammed to enable the sea to be reached.
The two wildfowlers drag the punt across the mud flats along a dammed burn, opening makeshift wooden locks to allow water to flow. They make their way gradually to the sea. They board the punt and use stick paddles to manoeuvre the boat away from the mud flats. Portrait shot of one of the men as the punt sails out further.
Title: The slakes are alive with sea birds and waders.
Travelling shot of the partly submerged mud flats from the punt where birds are dotted around. The gun pokes menacingly into frame.
Title: A heron.
More travelling shots of sea birds follow.
Title:
Ugh! – just gulls!
Seagulls fly around. The wildfowlers shift in the punt.
Title: Sailing down on a few young cormorants.
Young cormorants paddle and dive or fly away as the punt closes on them.
Title: One and two man methods of approaching within gunshot.
A solo wildfowler moves his punt along with his stick, laying low in the punt as he stealthily pursues his quarry. Travelling shot, gun barrel in frame, as the punt closes on flocks of birds at the water’s edge, which then take flight.
Title: Elusive duck at last!
A two-man punt crew now float towards their quarry, one man manoeuvring with the stick while the other looks through the sight of the mounted gun. Travelling shot from the back of the punt, the two wildfowlers low in the boat. More point of view shots looking along the barrel of the gun follow.
Title: Aiming, elevating and FIRING!
In range of the wildfowl, one of the men fires the gun, which explodes, the punt engulfed in smoke. Birds take flight.
Title: Now comes the job of collecting the dead.
Close-up of a pair of dead birds laying in the mud.
Title: Some are floating away on the tide – a few cripples are attempting escape – the rest lie on the slake.
The two wildfowlers wade in the sea, pushing the punt, collecting the dead birds. Dead birds are thrown into the punt. Injured birds struggle and are killed by hand.
One wildfowler makes his way on foot across the mud flats, a smaller gun over his shoulder. Carcasses float in the sea. He takes aim with his gun and shoots injured birds on the water. He strides across the slake collecting dead wildfowl. He joins his companion at the punt, throwing a brace of dead birds in the boat, and laying down his rifle. The collecting continues. They heave the punt back across the mud flats, the boat filled with dead birds. One of the wildfowlers unties wooden boards from his feet, an aid to walking on the mud without sinking. One cartridge is removed from the punt gun ad a replacement inserted. The wildfowlers display the tidy row of birds now filling the punt. The two sling birds over their shoulders and work their haul back to shore.
Back on land, the two wildfowlers celebrate by swigging back a bottle of ale, smiling.
Title: Unshipping and cleaning the gun.
The punt is pulled onto the mud and the gun is dismounted. It takes both men to carry the huge gun back to shore. The barrel is rested on metal posts and cleaned. View down the barrel, now cleared of cartridge and gun shot. The two men now enjoy a cigarette after the hard work.
A bird is plucked of its feathers. A pair of roast ducks lie on a platter surrounded by peas on a table set for dinner.
Title: The End [over picture]
Context
The introduction of 16mm film in 1923 opened up the world of filmmaking for the first time to non-professionals and was popular with non-theatrical procuction (for instance, industrial and educational films). Eastman Kodak first developed this film format and pioneered accessible and affordable film technology during the early 20th century. Kodak had vastly improved the safety of its products too, with new-fire resistant acetate rolls of film meaning that amateur filmmakers could enjoy a...
The introduction of 16mm film in 1923 opened up the world of filmmaking for the first time to non-professionals and was popular with non-theatrical procuction (for instance, industrial and educational films). Eastman Kodak first developed this film format and pioneered accessible and affordable film technology during the early 20th century. Kodak had vastly improved the safety of its products too, with new-fire resistant acetate rolls of film meaning that amateur filmmakers could enjoy a cigarette whilst projecting their home movies without fear of causing an inferno.
By the mid-1930s, a German observer estimated that the British amateur cine scene had around 250,000 hobby filmmakers and about 3000 to 4000 of those people was a member of an amateur cine club; the home movie craze had taken hold of Britain. Skilled amateurs were frequently involved in semi-professional and educational productions, which may have been the case with this rare 1930s record of wildfowlers and their technique of punt gunning. This film centres on the practice of wildfowling near Lindisfarne, Northumberland. Research has shown that punt-gunning such as this most likely took place from the start of the 19th century, though other forms of hunting wildfowl by attaching guns to boats has existed for at least 200 years. (1) Wildfowling involves the pursuit of migratory ducks and geese during the autumn and winter months and has historically been undertaken almost exclusively on coastal marshes, tidal estuaries and mud flat regions. Wildfowlers lurk in hides to shoot the prey as well as pursuing them in punts, specially constructed shallow bottomed boats camouflaged with grey paint and armed with a bore gun. A typical single-manned punt gun like in this film weighed 60-70 lb and fired approximately 12 ounces of swan shot. It took meticulous control to maneuver the punt guns into shooting range in open water without startling the wildfowl, meaning those who operated the guns required an extensive degree of craft and stealth and a considerable knowledge of water, weather and seamanship. Due to the vast weight of the equipment, the process also required the wildfowlers to have considerable physical strength and accurate judgement seeing as a typical hunt would involve just one shot of the punt gun. By the late 19th century there were two types of wildfowlers, amateurs who enjoyed it as a sport and professionals who lived in coastal regions and relied on their catch as part of their income. Due to the volume of birds caught in this film it can be assumed the wildfowlers are professional and would sell their catch to the locals. As this was a seasonal profession, wildfowlers of this type supplemented their income in the summer months by selling fish and eels, cockle gathering, rabbiting and collecting samphire. An average catch from one shot of a punt gun would typically kill up to 10 birds, so the catch in this film is significant in size and would have provided a sizeable income for the shooters. (2) The below anonymous poem entitled Puntgunning provides an insight into the solitary practice of wildfowling: This is the law I quotes, For the flats where the sea-grass roots:- "Where the tide flows, I floats, and where I floats, I shoots". Landed gentry may claim rights on the foreshore mud, But ownership's all the same with a spring tide on the flood. Mallard are reared under hens, They guard the teal on the lake, And it's all private ground in the fens, But the wigion are mine to take. Out of the dark I come towards the growing light, The lanyard under my thumb the gun laid straight and right. Bird watchers stretch their throats uttering dismal hoots, But where the tide flows, I floats, And where I floats, I shoots. - Anon (1) By 1939 there were less than 100 punt gunners in England and Wales so this film acts as a lasting document of a dying trade peculiar to mud flat regions of Britain such as the north east tidal island of Lindisfarne, also known locally as Holy Island. The film evokes the metaphor between cameras and guns and the shared vocabulary of photographing and shooting. Susan Sontag has elaborated on this shared vocabulary, noting the practice of ‘hunting’ or ‘stalking’ ones subject leads to ‘loading’ ‘aiming’ and ‘shooting’ in both photography and hunting. When we think of the term ‘‘snap-shot,’ it evokes a poorly or quickly executed photograph, however the term originated before the invention of photography, referring to a hunting shot executed in a hurried, amateur manner. The concept of a trophy has also been likened to both photography and hunting, where objects of desire are stalked, possessed and finally ‘captured’ for prosperity. It has been theorised that the rise in wildlife photography came in response to hunting regulations, meaning hunters could return with evidence of their travels and trophies without diminishing wildlife populations in ‘a form of conservation by necessity.’ (3) The metaphorical connection between photography and shooting is unmistakable, but the relationship transcends mere language and word-play and in fact has its origins in the manufacturing and design process. Technically, camera and gun technology evolved along similar lines during the 19th century, both being developed from a combination of multiple elements (bullets and propellants or plates and emulsion) and simplified ammunition (bullets and film) which vastly improved the mobility of shooting in both senses. (3) It has been suggested that Kodak founder George Eastman’s hunting interests inspired his photographic innovations, particularly the firearms technology of Samuel Colt. Several early camera designs borrowed motifs from the Colt revolver mechanism, most obviously the Thompson revolver camera of 1862. (3) However it was Eastman’s use of chemistry that evidences the greatest link between camera and gun technology - when the first Kodak was released in 1888 it took 100 exposures on sheets of etherized guncotton paper. Kodak’s chief chemist then added amyl acetate to the guncotton, creating a “celluloid” and a couple of years later English chemists created explosive cordite by adding nitroglycerine and acetone to this type of guncotton. (4) It was not just the technological process of camera manufacture that relates to gun technology, but also the aesthetic design. The first ever portable motion picture camera, invented by French scientist Étienne-Jules Marey, was in the shape of a gun. The ‘Fusil Photographique,’ or ‘photographic rifle,’ made its debut in 1882. This camera was designed to take motion pictures of birds in flight: Marey would aim up his subject by pointing the camera rifle at them, alter the length of the barrel for focus, then ‘shoot’ 12 exposures in quick succession. (5) Unfortunately for the wildfowl of Lindisfarne, they were shot in a literal and not metaphorical sense, but the irony is not lost that the whole hunting expedition was itself shot on film based on gunpowder technology. References: (1) Punt Gun - http://www.wildfowling.com/puntgun.htm (2) Punt Gunners 'The Decline Of The Professionals' - https://www.gunsonpegs.com/articles/shooting-talk/punt-gunners-the-decline-of-the-professionals (3) CAMERA-GUN, GUN-CAMERA: A SHORT HISTORY OF SHOOTING - http://www.disphotic.com/camera-gun-gun-camera-a-short-history-of-shooting/ (4) The Gun and the Camera: A Historical Relationship - https://petapixel.com/2012/05/29/the-gun-and-the-camera-a-historical-relationship/ (5) Did You Know: The World’s First Portable Motion Picture Camera was a 12fps ‘Rifle’ - https://petapixel.com/2013/04/27/did-you-know-the-worlds-first-portable-motion-picture-camera-was-a-12fps-rifle/ (6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16_mm_film (7) The dangers of cellulose nitrate film http://www.hse.gov.uk/PuBns/indg469.pdf |
