Well worth the frostbite

Spending the night in our hut on the marshes had not been conducive to peaceful slumber. But now, standing outside amid reeds straining in the wind and a pre-dawn darkness a-quack with duck, what did a little lack of sleep matter?

My two companions, stirred by the second prod of a wadered foot, failed to show gratitude either for the early call or the cup of tea that accompanied it. A hut about 9ft by 11ft is no place to linger amid two disgruntled wildfowlers, not to mention two eager, gear-scattering dogs. So I put up my camp bed and walked out alone.

Slung about with gun, cartridges and oil drum seat, it was all I