Wash Wader Ringing Group

Friday 15th October

Recces done in rain:-

Rain continued, mainly heavy, throughout daylight hours. Several team members were expected to arrive early so food was arranged for 18:00. With a large team coming (31 in all!), the decision had been made to set at both Snettisham and Heacham South. The rain stopped just in time for equipment to be loaded into trailers at dusk and held off to allow both sets of nets to be set in the dry. Both teams back at base by 23:45. Short team brief then bed.

Saturday 16th

Up 05:15. Despite team size managed to leave on time at 05:45!

Heacham net set: The set the previous evening had put two full nets down, the position back from the expected tide height being complicated by a ridge of shingle on the beach. On arrival, 50 Oystercatchers, 40 Grey Plover, a few Bar-tail Godwit and 30 Sanderling were a net length south of the nets set. As twinkling was about to start Godwit from a passing flocks started to join this flock with a maximum of 150 on the beach. The twinkle was not successful, possibly due to wave action making the birds jumpy, and all that remained were the Sanderling. The tide just reached the nets and, although an attempt to twinkle 30 juvenile Sanderling on the falling tide was considered, it was decided to abandon and join the Snettisham team since their prospects looked good.

Snettisham net set: Deciding where to put the nets had also been difficult here when setting the previous evening. The position along the beach had been well marked by the recce but the height of ridges relative to the expected tide height had made making a decision difficult. In the event three narrow full nets had been set to just fire over the ridge with a fourth net a couple of meters back in case the tide swamped the ridge.

Just starting to get light when the observers (JAC to the North, PLI to the South) got in position. Soon became obvious there was a substantial flock on the beach. Establishing communication between the two observers and the base camp firing position proved difficult and JAC was on her third mobile phone brought from base camp before the problem was solved. Radios also proved temperamental. As light improved it could be seen the flock of up to 7000 Dunlin was in front and either side of the nets and, at this stage, the tide was well away from where the net would reach. Birds were very jumpy as the tide rose with many large lift offs but always returning to the same area. As the tide rose and pushed birds close enough to catch it was realised that the numbers in front of the net were too great to catch on a rising tide. It was judged that the water was unlikely to go over the ridge at high tide so we waited. Extremely nerve-wracking as the birds were constantly up and down and with the possibility they might leave. Then near high tide the odd wave started to come over the ridge. Fortunately the tide turned just in time. As the tide ran off the birds became a little more settled and constantly returned to a favourite spot in net 2. Helpfully, the flock tended to stay on the ridge and away from the receding tide edge so the net was fired when the tide had run off sufficiently. As the net went out it was obviously a very big catch and the team from base were quickly able to lift the relatively few birds in the leading edge above the falling tide line. Dealing with the catch went extremely smoothly with the large team working well together to not only ring but also to fully process every bird caught!

Having dealt with the catch so successfully within the time limits we set ourselves the team returned to base, tired but happy, for breakfast.

With breakfast over it was soon time to get organised for the evening mist netting. The large team allowed two sites to be used. The Wolferton team went off to set at 15:15 and the Terrington team at 16:00. PLI stayed behind to sort out equipment for dealing with the catch and for setting cannon nets in the morning. MW cooked food for the Terrington setting team but the others had to make do with fish and chips.

Wolferton mist netting: Team of eleven set 11 nets on the pool. Since it is many years since the group mist netted here an advance recce had been done on the way back from the Snettisham catch. The pool is quite deep and the saltmarsh vegetation lush but flattened by recent tides covering it so not too difficult to walk over. A visit to the head of the bay showed it is rather firmer than many of us remember. The tape lure was put out at last light and whilst initially there was no evidence of any birds about, within minutes several hundred Redshank were circulating.

Terrington mist netting: Nets set on the two usual pools. The presence of wildfowlers on the tide edge may have caused birds to come over the saltmarsh early and both sets of nets had several birds in when the tape lures were put out at 19:15. Extraction teams quickly organised, leaving a small number of people to finish setting up base and for MS to get the generator going.

The Terrington team arrived back at base first but were soon followed by the Wolferton team. Bed shortly after midnight

Sunday 17th

Up 05:45. Not as efficient at leaving as the previous morning! Overnight rain had stopped.

Equipment taken to Heacham North to set two narrow full nets and two small mesh half nets but again beach topography made choice of site difficult. Decided to set one full net and the two small mesh nets. Sanderling were present in similar numbers to previous days further along the beach during the set and as tide approached these were twinkled. They stayed on the ridge, that failed to cover, out from the nets. The decision was then taken to set the second narrow full net further along the beach at a point where it would reach the tide edge. This was done with a small team to minimise disturbance and the Sanderling flock stayed put during this.

Twinkling resumed and initially the birds decided on reaching the net to double back. After a couple of instances of this they started to land in front of the nets but rather far out. However, there was a movement inland and when a good proportion of the flock had moved NAC gave the command to fire. The net caught rather better than expected and with an onshore wind all were caught on land rather than in the water.

Expected to deal with the catch on the shore which would have been uncomfortable due to the wind but a lady in one of the chalets very kindly offered the use of her garden (and loo!) meaning the catch could be ringed and processed in much better surroundings. One of the objectives of catching Sanderling was to colour ring some of the wintering population for CK to do a study on their feeding ecology in the Wash. To ensure it was wintering birds that were being colour ringed, retraps were chosen and ring numbers looked up on a laptop to check their history. Whilst the catch was processed the colour ringing team managed to deal with 25 adults and 10 juveniles.

Rain came just as dealing with the catch was finishing.

Back to base for another late breakfast and then an efficient clear up for all to be away mid-afternoon.

……….And to save you adding it up, the total number of birds caught was 1335!