Worm charming is not cruel and that's official. The RSPCA decided in 1984 that worm charming in charity competitions was not cruel, so long as the worms were returned to the ground after dark and not left lying there as a free meal for birds. Worm charming? It's bringing earthworms to the surface by vibrating a garden fork, spade or stick in the ground, or by jumping up and down on the spot.
Thought everybody knew that... The World Worm-Charming championships are held every year in mid-June at Willaston County Primary School in Cheshire, with the entrance fees going to the school fund.Each competitor operates in a 3 × 3 metre plot, and charms away for thirty minutes. Garden forks are used, with the optional addition of a smooth or notched piece of wood to strike or 'fiddle' the fork handle. Competitors squeamish about handling worms can appoint a second, known as a gillie, to pick them up.
Any form of music can be used to help the charming along, but drugs are definitely banned... though the rules do not specify whether for the worms or the charmer. Charmed worms are released the same evening 'after the birds have gone to roost'. The presence of anglers among the competitors could mean that not as many worms go back as came out.
... No matter how charming you are, it is cruel to dig lugworms for sea bait. At least in some quarters.
In June 1985, three anglers appeared in court at Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland, accused of 'taking, molesting, wilfully disturbing, injuring or killing a living creature, namely a lugworm'.
(The lugworm, arenicola, as every schoolboy knows - or bloody well should - is a highly- prized bait among sea anglers. The worms grow up to a foot long in burrows in the sand between high- and low-water marks.)
The case was referred to Alnwick Magistrates, 40 miles away, as the lugworms in question turned out to be dug outside the jurisdiction of the Berwick court. But the law took its inexorable course. At Alnwick, in August 1985, the anglers each fined the maximum of £20.
The issue involved, however, was not cruelty to the worms, but the fact that the digging of lugworms had been banned in parts of the nature reserve where the digging took place. Four million worms had been removed in a four-month period, which left only one or two per square metre from an original population of thirty to forty. The anglers concerned were convicted of digging only six hundred and eighty-five worms, but seemingly it was enough.
And still the issue was not just the worms. The activities of bait-diggers at night, involving artificial lights, were disturbing the birds on the nature reserve, many of which fed on the worms. Not only did the birds have a lousy night's sleep, they emerged at dawn to discover their breakfasts had disappeared.
Anyway talking about a lousy nights sleep, with some friends over for a BBQ Saturday night I sleep like a log which is surprising as I was a little hungover when I woke up at 7.30am. That's late for me and after pottering about the house thinking I should have set my alarm to get up early and down the canal, in the end after a late breakfast decided to go to the Alne for some trout.
I only fished for a couple of hours in the morning sunshine but the trout were just not showing whatsoever. In-fact swim after swim I was looking at a blank, and even the weir didn't produce a bite which is rare. However a recent fallen tree that has had some work already, much of it is no in the middle of the weir after a flood that happen a couple of weeks ago.
I nearly knocked the session on the head thinking that the stupidly clearly water and clear skies was maybe putting them off, but in the last swim I fished after the umpteenth cast as trout came out of nowhere and nailed the lure. After a spirited battle it was soon in the net. Only a little'un with sadly some mouth damage, but it was a very pretty fish indeed and went back fighting fit unlike the worms to see another day.
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