Worm charming, worm grunting, and worm fiddling are methods of attracting earthworms from the ground.
The activity is usually performed to collect bait for fishing but can also take the form of a competitive sport in areas such as east Texas.
As a skill and profession worm charming is now very rare, with the art being passed through generations to ensure that it survives.
The earliest place to practice worm charming was in London, which is today in the UK.
The competition
In most competitions, the fiddlers with the collector (or collectors) of the most worms in a set time are declared as the winners. They usually have a zone in which to perform their charming, measuring three yards square.
One of the first worm charming events took place in a school fête at Willaston County Primary School in Willaston, Cheshire. The World Worm Charming Championships started in 1980 and is now an annual event that celebrates the sport.
It was organised by then-deputy headmaster John Bailey, who wrote the original rules for the competition.
The current world record was established on June 29, 2009, by 10-year-old Sophie Smith of Willaston, England, who raised 567 worms during Britain’s World Worm Charming Championship
How it’s done
Most worm charming methods involve vibrating the soil, which encourages the worms to the surface.
In 2008, researchers from Vanderbilt University claimed that the worms surface because the vibrations are similar to those produced by digging moles, which prey on earthworms.
The same technique is used by many species of birds, which devour the worms as they appear above ground.
The activity is known by several different names and the apparatus and techniques vary significantly.
“Worm grunting” generally refers to the use of a “stob”, a wooden stake that is driven into the ground, and a “rooping iron” which is used to rub the stob.
“Worm fiddling” also uses a wooden stake but utilises a dulled saw which is dragged along its top.
Techniques vary from sprinkling the turf with water, tea and beer, to music or just “twanging” with a garden fork.
In some organized competitions, detergents and mechanical diggers have been banned.
