The Plover Catcher
==================
Capo III D
©Elizabeth Padgett September 2000

Chorus:
D.       A.          G.               A
Silent in his house of willow branch and reed
G.          A.    D
Hiding on his island small,
D.             A.               G.            A
Waits the Plover Catcher with his whistle in his hand
       G            A.          D
Till he mimmicks his preys’ sharp call.
D.            G.       D.               A
All along the Welland on Cowbit’s flooded wash
D.       G.            A
Trying to find food for all,
D.    A.             G.               A
Wartime measures to put meat on London’s plates,
G.            A.             D
He waits for the small birds to fall.

Verse 1:
   D.         A.            G.               A
His hand moves swiftly to control the capture net
      G.         A.    D
As the birds come warily down.
D.       A.          G.             A
Necked and plucked and sent off on the train,
      G.             A.             D
In the City they’ll be sold for half a crown.

Verse 2:
The trade from Cowbit station is really rather good
Through the winter right into early spring.
With wartime shortages the City bears the brunt,
What joy those small birds will bring.

Verse 3:
Wildfowlers are busy with their punts and their guns,
For decades they have plied their trade.
Now native Cowbit men catch the Plovers with their sons
And wartime memories are made.

This song by Elizabeth Padgett tells about men shooting plovers in the south of Lincolnshire, England during the Second World War and shipping them off to London. Plovers being game birds were "off the ration" and therefore the amount of their meat that could be bought and consumed was unlimited. It has been suggested however that any birds arriving in London would not end up on the tables of the needy but those of the wealthy.

The man was hunting the plover with a "punt and a gun".

The location mentioned in the song is Cowbit, a village in the South of Lincolnshire. The name of the village is pronounced "Cubbit".

I have been singing this song for a few years now but before I first sang it I had only seen the words and chords as reproduced above, and had not heard Elizabeth sing it, therefore by a version of the folk process, my singing is a bit different to hers.

Elizabeth Padgett singing Plover Catcher which she wrote.

Simon Meeds (rosma) singing Plover Catcher.

Elizabeth is happy for anyone to sing the song providing that she is credited as the writer.