Wash Wader Ringing Group

Tuesday 8th August

Recce of Terrington Marsh only produced 40 Greenshank in the borrow pit towards Ongar Hill. At 21:00 the team went to set 2 narrow nets on this borrow pit but had to check that the mud was not too soft; RR was the sacrificial volunteer who proved it was OK but lost his sandal in the mud in the process – giving amusement to the rest of the team.

Wednesday 9th August

Up 04:30. except 4 members of team who rose earlier to put out cables, decoys etc. Arrived on site to find 15 Greenshank already in the area. Setting completed quickly before retreating to base camp behind the wall and the hide as the remainder of the team arrived. 12 Greenshank (2 colour-ringed) came back and it was looking good until a Heron arrived and everything left. After this small numbers were came and went along with gulls and Little Egrets. Some twinkling to remove Greenshank from the far end of the borrow pit did not result in a catch. Gave up at 0715.

Recces of Terrington saltmarsh found the only area containing any birds was the strimmed area out from the fence line which had a handful of Curlew and 1 Whimbrel. 500 Curlew, 100 Blackwit and 50 Barwit came up far out on the saltmarsh at the Ongar Hill end but these were undoubtedly uncatchable.

Recce by LJW of Heacham and Snettisham beaches and inland fields. Found 150-200 Sanderling on the beach, but with lots of disturbance from dog walkers and joggers so the flock never settled. Inland a flock of 65 Curlew and 80 Oystercatcher were on the field between the new and old seawalls where the catch was made last trip, and a flock of 150 Curlew and 20 Bar-tailed Godwit on a recently mown hay field immediately inland from the old seawall. At high tide the Oystercatchers were joined by another 450 oystercatchers which came over from the beach. Both flocks were still present and very settled at 0830.

Decided to catch on the Heacham inland fields and left at 13:30 to give time to eat supper after setting but before the birds came over. At the end of setting NAC, JAC and JG went to circuit test from the hide and upon checking that there was no one in the way before they tested they saw 30 curlew in the area! They scrambled into the hide and luckily the firing boxes were in the car next to them. NAC then crept back into the car to get a better view. The numbers slowly increased until there were 56 Curlew in 2 nets. At this point the birds became alert and 2 left so decided to fire. Several birds got out of the front back and the gap between the two nets so had a smaller catch than expected.

Having dealt with the catch, reset for the morning. 

Then had the food which had been intended for before the catch at the side of the field.

 As this was being finished, realised there were birds back on the field and some in the catching area. Briefly manned the net and tried one twinkle but birds not interested

Thursday 10th August

Up 03:00. To Heacham field and in position by 04:30. Curlew straight in to the catching area and by 05:10 seventy birds in the area and fired. Nets did not overlap so catch rather disappointing.

This picture shows a male and female Curlew just before being released. The male on the left has a shorter bill than the female on the right.

Whilst dealing with the catch, Godwit flew over the field several times looking as though they wanted to land. Returned to base having dealt with catch and picked up nets by high tide.

Recce by NAC – Terrington; Saw Curlew mainly; Did not locate Dunlin.

Concern over weather forecast as it was already windy and rain forecast. The best option was a field in Terrington(W) where Curlew had been seen the seaward side of the sea wall and there was the possibility of strimming an area on a stubble field to attract them when the came over the sea wall on a higher tide. Four nets set as a clap net pair. Having set, and a after a brief return to base, went to Terrington Saltmarsh to set 2 small mesh nets as near as possible to the expected tide edge as possible. These set as a clap net pair.

Food at base, then nets manned with NAC and JG observing. Curlew present in some numbers and soon a couple in the catching area. For some time, the number in the catching area varied from 2-11 but most activity was seaward. About ¾ hour before tide, increased activity but still seaward of nets. JAG went to see if those towards the white barn could be persuaded to move and react to the decoys. This shifted several hundred bar-tailed godwit and gave NAC an exciting time as the flock went over the decoys and landed at various places near the nets. None actually went in to the catching area. At high tide storm clouds coming towards Terrington so decided to clear the nets from the saltmarsh as soon as possible. The catching area was still just dry but full creeks caused some difficulty and some wet feet in getting the equipment off.

Friday 11th August

Up 05:00 for hide, 05:30 for rest. Single hide erected to observe both lines. Apart from Golden Plovers and Gulls moving further inland no wader activity for some time. Base then reported movement over sea wall but still nothing coming inland. NAC had predicted first birds over by 0730 but it was nearer 0800 when activity started. First birds went on to the adjacent field, very close to sea wall but the majority returned seaward. A single Curlew briefly landed in the catching area. NAC went on the adjacent field to move the forming flock but again these departed seaward. This activity coincided with the arrival of two Marsh Harriers which decided to look seriously at the decoys and had to be put off by both waves from the hide and NAC by car. Various parties of Curlew looked at the fields but took no interest in decoys. It was clear that the Curlew wanted to be only 50-100 yards from the sea wall so in future we must not set too far inland. NAC with KS and JA went to look at field at far end of reclaim where some birds had gone down. This also confirmed that whilst saltmarsh had flooded there was enough vegetation that the birds could remain seaward of sea wall. NAC continued along the sea wall to recce with KS.

Shortly after high tide, gave up and then lifted nets. Once this was done realised there was insufficient space in cars to get the team away since KS, whose car was also at side of field had gone off with NAC! A phone call rectified this.

Recces: Holbeach (C) (JG) birds only came off near high tide with only 500 Curlew and 150 godwits landing on the stubble fields. At Terrington (C) (NAC) only birds on fields were ca 5,000 Golden Plover and 50 Curlew.

After breakfast most of team to Holbeach to set on two adjacent fields. JS, NA, MS sorted food then went off to Terrington Saltmarsh to set two small mesh nets for the evening. Rain started just as Holbeach setting finished. The Terrington setting team got to the marsh to find the marsh still flooded and the intended catch site unusable! Thought about other possibilities but with it also raining and nowhere for a team to lie, decided there was no feasible option.

After food, a few people went to see what happened on the saltmarsh and KS went to check what was happening at on the inland Heacham fields. Weather continued to be showery with wind increasing. At Terrington, about 1¼ before tide 150 Grey Plover and later 200 Dunlin in area where net would have been set. Water had fallen off to make catching a more practical but wind was too strong for the nets.

Bed before 22:00.

Saturday 12th August

Hide up 04:30, rest 05:45. Rain started during journey to Holbeach. Plan had been to man both sets but, in view of weather, conferred in the farm yard and then went to see what field surface was like. Decided just to man one net set, use a car hide on the sea wall, and only put out plastic decoys. 

The first birds over were fairly large numbers of Curlew which initially landed on the field where the not-manned nets were set and then some went beyond. These flocks were moved by LW, resulting in a focus on the field with the manned nets. A long Land Rover twinkle was then started. Occasional heavy rain storms and LW, having completed her twinkle, failed to hear the instruction to return to her car and got very wet over next 1½ hours. Twinkling did not work and 500 Curlew and 2-3000 Bar-tailed Godwit left the field. As the rain now cleared enough for a few poor quality feathered decoys to be used, the temporary lack of birds gave the opportunity for these to be put out. After about five minutes birds reappeared, mainly Black-tailed Godwit. Further twinkling. Most birds were moved 200 yards across the field and it looked good until a major lift off resulted in most birds temporarily leaving the field. They returned and landed behind one of nets and for a while 150 could have been catchable with a backward firing net. A very gentle twinkle slowly moved a few into catching area but always birds in the safety area. Jiggling was effective at moving birds out of the catching area completely. Having noticed that in each heavy rain shower the birds only moved short distances and were reluctant to take off this was exploited with further twinkling in a heavy rain shower. Resulted in birds being in the catching area and jiggling during rain cleared safety. As soon as clear fired.

Land Rover got to nets fast from twinkling but X-Trail with covering got bogged down on wet field. Soon rectified by Land Rover ferrying the covering material. 

Birds put into boxes and transported back to farm buildings for processing. All were colour ringed see picture. Removed the fired net from the field but left the others set. 

The Lincs team requested an additional net to save them retrieving nets from field they wanted to use later so they were given the one lifted, JK and AK coming to collect it.

The weather forecast continued to be appalling with more rain and gale force winds predicted. 

No catching planned for the evening so equipment prepared for the morning and the rest of the day off.

 

The weather did as predicted. Roast Chicken meal at 19:00.

Sunday 15th August

Hide team up 05:00, base team at 06:15. Still raining hard. Although the plan had been to man both sets of nets, the condition of the fields and limited number of plastic decoys resulted in the decision to concentrate on the single net on the field where the catch had been made the previous day, this being more easily accessible by vehicle. Early on a flock of a few hundred assembled more inland of the nets but went elsewhere on twinkling. Other flocks were seen on more distant fields and encouraged to return in the direction of our field but this proved ineffective. With the weather clearing feathered decoys were put out but few birds came past to see them. At high tide the few birds present on the field were twinkled but left the field. Finally, five Oystercatchers just beyond the reach of the net were twinkled to join the two already in the net and this was fired.

Checking the weather forecast on return to base indicated that there would be a gap in the adverse weather and mist netting was feasible. With the need to set nets at Heacham inland fields for the morning timing was fairly critical so the setting team departed as soon as possible. Nets were set in two adjacent fields avoiding the large straw bales present in the fields being used. 

A BBQ meal was eaten outside before departure to set and man mist nets. Two lines were set on the ‘E’ pool and the pool directly out from the white barn. With dusk relatively close to high tide and clear skies there was concern about it being dark enough but in the event it was satisfactory.

Monday 14th August

Up 05:30 only to find rain had returned and looked set in. At Heacham decided only plastic decoys could be used, these being put in the clap net pair set of nets. NAC watched these whilst PLI, minus binoculars which he forgot watched the line of nets. Fortunately these nets were very close since by the time someone was ready to bring binoculars birds were landing in the catching area and delivering binoculars would cause a disturbance. This flock rapidly built in numbers and soon a total catch of about 150 was available, comprising of Curlew and Black-tailed Godwit, but with several in the safety area. During this time the weather started to clear and information from the Lincolnshire team indicated this was likely to remain the case. Hence the decoys in the clap net pair nets were changed to feathered ones. Since Bar-tailed Godwit were the target species decided not to attempt to jiggle and catch the birds in the line of nets at this stage but to wait to see what else arrived. Further Black-tailed Godwit arrived on the field with the potential catch, out of the catching area but bringing the total flock to about 800. Eventually, something disturbed the flock and lost the flock in the catching area. Some Curlew returned in the catching area but the main Blackwit nucleus was away from the nets. With no evidence of Barwit appearing and the time closer to high tide than when they had appeared during the recce decided they they had probably gone elsewhere. Hence JG twinkled the flock. Some landed in the area but most went beyond. As twinkling started from the other direction some Barwit did appear and a proportion of these dropped into the catching area. By this time the centre of gravity of the flock had moved to being just in the far net and some were in safety. Jiggling cleared safety and after waiting for a further landing agreed that it was better to take what was in rather than risk further twinkling or safety problems.

When extraction was complete, NAC realised birds were dropping in on the field where the clap net pair nets were set. Hence he went carefully back to the firing position and found that the flock was centred on the catching area with ca.300 safe and catchable on the one side and a further 1000 on the other side but with many in the safety area. Having established that the team had repacked the covering material in the trailer and were ready he fired the safe net.

JG who had stayed at the first catch site, joined by AF, dealt with the birds caught during the first catch before joining the rest of the team dealing with the larger second catch. 

Just over 1/3 of the catch was fully processed and all had whether in moult or not recorded.

Back to base for a rapid tidy up so that people could get away in the late afternoon.