Friday 23rd January
Reeces done at first light were:-
| Snettisham North | 3-400 small waders, some Sanderling but probably with a substantial number of dunlin just where the road comes up to the sea wall. Also 13 Grey Plover. Whilst observing this flock 200 Oystercatchers flew past going south and expected to be the flock from the north end of the beach, having been disturbed by a jogger. However found, still on the beach there, 200 Oystercatchers, 250 Knot, up to 50 Turnstone and 6 Bar-tailed Godwit. This flock stayed put as the tide ran off with many of the Knot spreading out to feed. |
| Heacham South | No birds although may have been disturbed by jogger earlier. |
| Heacham Far North | 87 Sanderling, 25 Oystercatcher and small numbers of others Falling tide site; Oystercatchers and Knot, mainly from the Snettisham North flock assembled on the beach below the public hide just before the mussels became exposed. |
PLI spent rest of day shopping and sorting equipment. Most of the team had arrived in time to depart for setting about 20:30. This coincided with the expected rain starting which made setting three narrow full size nets unpleasant. Life was also complicated by a problem with the lock on the gate at Snettisham so the equipment had to be taken round to come in from the other direction whilst the team walked in from the public car park. Back at base just before midnight with a rush to the utility room to put wet clothing up to dry.
Saturday 24th January
Up 05:45. Now dry. With clear skies it was beginning to get light very early so hide party abandoned attempt to crawl in to hide and watched from a safe distance. Realised immediately there was a large flock of Oystercatchers present (900) and as it got lighter could see there was also a huge flock (5000+) of Knot with some Dunlin. Finally as the position of the nets became clear, it could be seen the birds started from just beyond the far net! The tide was about 6 metres from the nets at this stage. Either because of the presence of the hide party or a car shining headlights along the beach from the public car park, 200 Oystercatchers had left early and as the light got better the Knot became restless and gradually peeled off. Eventually left with a flock of a few hundred Oystercatchers plus a flock of Sanderling and small numbers of other waders, all still beyond the nets. As the tide had fallen off to the point where firing was possible, LW went to twinkle. Rather as expected the birds did not like this and most left. This left a few Turnstone near the hide so SD twinkled these and since there was nothing much else about these were caught.
| Species | New | Control / Retrap | Totals |
| Turnstone | 7 | 1 | 8 |
| Sanderling | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 8 | 1 | 9 |
After breakfast there was the opportunity to get some jobs done before going to set mist nets. The forecast earlier in the week had given some concern over the likely wind strength but in the event it was not a problem. The usual 'E' shaped set of 9 nets was set on the pool to the right of the barn whilst seven newly made single shelf nets were set straight out from the barn. SD was left on guard and had a long conversation with one of the wildfowlers who walked out to the nets whilst the rest of the team returned to base and had the evening meal prepared by HL and LW (SD did get some later!). Tape lures out two hour before tide and an extraction round at 19:00. Rather surprisingly, the tide was already under the nets and once the birds had been extracted both teams beat a hasty retreat. In the event the tide made nearly a foot over the expected height, completely covering the saltmarsh. With cattle in the barn processing had been set up out side
| Species | New | Control / Retrap | Totals |
| Dunlin | 41 | 3 | 44 |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 13 | 1 | 14 |
| Knot | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Grey Plover | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Oystercatcher | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Totals | 76 | 6 | 82 |
Having processed the catch, the tide eventually dropped enough to allow the nets to be taken down. Bed around midnight.
Sunday 25th January
Up 05:30. Ice on car windows. Arrived at Heacham far North at first light to set two nets. Decoys set in one net. With the tide now only 12 yards from the net twinkling was soon started, LW being sent to bring some Oystercatchers that had been present whilst the nets were being set along the beach. This worked very well with the birds initially joining a closer flock and then the majority landing in front of the decoys in the net. Meanwhile a Sanderling flock had been forming right by the firing position, the number of birds reaching about 100. With the tide now at the ideal level for catching PLI left the firing point and twinkled along the beach. This also worked well and the birds landed beside the Oystercatchers, with some in both nets. Base who had been watching from behind confirmed a reasonable number catchable in the same net as the Oystercatchers so PLI gave SD the command to fire this net.
| Species | New | Control / Retrap | Totals |
| Oystercatcher | 43 | 18 | 61 |
| Sanderling | 16 | 15 | 31 |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 11 | 0 | 11 |
| Turnstone | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Redshank | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Ringed Plover | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 76 | 37 | 113 |
The other net, which was not fired, had at least the same number of Sanderling and 13 Ringed Plover at the time of firing. Processing done on the beach with an increasing number of interested passers-by as time went on.
Meanwhile, NAC had visited Port Sutton Bridge to do some follow up observations on the colour ringed Turnstone there. The birds were busy feeding in amongst the piles of steel piled on the dockside and sliding on the ice just below the surface water on the dockside puddles! The colour ringed birds observed included one from the Canadian Arctic. Having done the observations, NAC returned to the base and trimmed the hedge. A phone call just as the team was leaving the beach meant that breakfast was nearly ready when they arrived at base.