Join the Gloucestershire Wildfowling and Conservation Association
GWCA Membership Application
Please complete all areas of this form and the membership secretary will get back to you. Membership for the 25/26 season is £218 (this includes BASC membership) and applications close at the end of June 2025. If you have any questions, please email membershipgwca@gmail.com
The Gloucestershire Wildfowling and Conservation Association promotes responsible, sustainable wildfowling on the Upper Severn Estuary.
We restrict our numbers of new members to ensure that they get enough opportunities to get out and to ensure a good ratio of instructors to Associates on our Bird ID course.
The association welcomes applications from anyone that is interested in taking part in the ancient craft of wildfowling on the shores and wetlands of the River Severn.
Benefits of membership include:-
Full training in wildfowl identification.
Access to over twenty miles of prime Severn wildfowling.
Full BASC membership.
£10,000,000 third party liability insurance.
Active social events calendar.
Regular Newsletter.
Junior members welcome.
BASC Affiliated club.
Associate Membership is to cost the same amount as Full Membership. Their first year's subscription is to be made up of a non refundable application fee of £30 charged on joining the waiting list, with the balance to be paid on joining. For the 25/26 season the cost for a full member will be £218 which includes BASC membership. Our membership runs from July to July. If you are also a member of another BASC affiliated club you can claim the duplicate membership fee back from BASC, providing it has 6 months or more to run.
The GWCA has access to about 30 miles of foreshore on both sides of the Severn estuary (about 3,500 acres, of which over 50% is held as reserves and no shooting areas for conservation purposes) and Associate members are entitled to shoot on all of our marshes but must be accompanied by a full member when they do so. This is to ensure that newcomers learn the details of the boundaries of our different shooting grounds and the potential dangers on some marshes. There is a limit of 4 visits a season on the Frampton marsh by associates.
On joining we give all associate members access to maps and details of our marshes and a record book to keep track of the marshes visited. We give access to the members area of the website which has more information about the club, our marshes, news and other information. The majority of our members are now online which makes it possible for us to send newsletters more frequently and we regularly send general communication about club news and events by e-mail. Email is our default means of communication. We also have a private Facebook page and a WhatsApp group.
Although there is no fixed period for which it is necessary to be an Associate member before progressing to full membership, it is usually taken to be a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 2 seasons. This gives associates the opportunity to attend the marsh walks we hold in the summer, shoot the main marshes, attend the social events and also to complete the wildfowl identification course which we hold every year. The course is designed to teach anyone from a complete novice the skills to identify quarry species, judge range etc. The course is held at Slimbridge over 4 Sundays throughout the season with the final Sunday being the test. There is a separate cost of entry to Slimbridge, but depending on how confident you are you can reduce the number of days attending.... but you have to pass to progress!
Associates need to be accompanied by a full member on the marsh, our facebook page is the best way to ask to be taken out. You may know members who will accompany you but we would advise to experience as many trips with different full members to gain as much experience as you can. Once associates have been a member for at least 1 season, shot the 5 main marshes, passed the bird ID course and demonstrated they would be suitable members, they are invited to attend one of our monthly committee meetings for a brief interview. Here the committee would check that you know everything you need to know to shoot independently in a safe and legal manner, whereupon you can become a Full Member. We expect our associate members to take an active role in the club so please bear this in mind before applying. I am happy to discuss this further if you have any questions.