Wash Wader Ringing Group

Wednesday 14th July

Wainfleet Isalnd recced by MW and DW, 2-3000 knot, 1000 dunlin, some oyks going to N island. Also 500-1000 godwit-curlew on cabbage field to N of main Control Tower.
SD & AD started recce at Horseshoe, up to 30 redshank, 50 barwit and few dunlin came onto pool. 220 Oyks went straight to cabbage field as mud covered.Butterwick had 2 fields with 350 dunlin on each – one with min 8 small flocks, while the other had good compact flock.
Breakfast at Wrangle snack bar. MW and DW went shopping while SD & AD went back to Terrington to fetch the trailer and equipment.
4pm set 4 nets on better cabbage field (couldn’t use other one for 24 hours due to spraying.)
After meal, had quick watch of saltmarsh, but nothing exciting.

Thursday 15th July

Arrived at on site at 0545 - Leverton
Quiet until 0700 with first groups over field. More birds arrived over the next 30 minutes. Always had birds in area however always birds in safety. Twinklers were deployed into field and other fields to move dunlin around. Peak numbers of dunlin using the field reached about 1,000. After many jiggles, some fantastic twinkling from JR, ID and DC a nice catch was taken when nets finally became safe 20 minutes after tide.
During extraction ID exclaimed ‘It’s one of my birds’ when he extracted a colour ringed bird from Scotland. Back for breakfast around 1500.

MW recce’d and found no water as the tide severely cut around the control tower. Significant numbers of godwit were found near the control tower at around tide. Near Island at Wainfleet had Knot and Dunlin 1 hour before tide. 1-200 oyk at Wainfleet outer island.
Set line of 2 on cabbage field near Horseshoe, where the oyks had been seen again. This was best option, given cutting tides leaving saltmarsh exposed, and forecast of strong winds. Exact location to set the net was made more complex by the field being hoed after the tide hiding all evidence of the Oystercatchers from the morning tide.
Evening was taken off due to weather forecast. Teams went out to watch Wainfleet Island, Horseshoe and Leverton for mistnetting options. Other members of the team decided the best option in the wind was a visit to the pub.
Bed around 2230

Friday 16th July

– Wrangle/horseshoe
Up 0600, hide party departed at 0630, rest of team at 0730 after clearing the village hall. Set up hides, deployed 8 decoy oyks with 3 in each catching area of the line of two nets. 2 decoys set some way in front of nets. By the time hide party were in position one oyk had landed with the two decoys and walked into the catching area. At one point significant numbers of gulls landed with the decoys before being disturbed by a bird scarer. Little else happened until around 0845 when the first flock of 30 landed in the field. As they landed in with decoys something spooked them causing them to take off and land behind and in safety. Further birds arrived landing in the catching area, safety and behind. A total of about 250 were on the field when action was taken to move birds around. AS was deployed along the track behind the nets to move birds back into the area while gentle jiggling took place to move birds out of safety. Around 100 birds were catchable in net 2 with birds in safety. A well timed bird scarer caused a lift of most birds which cleared safety and shuffled birds slightly into net 1. A quick decision was taken to take what we had as catch appeared good. Lack of warning and moderate breeze meant base camp were somewhat surprised when they saw the hide party running over field. Nice catch of 99 oystercatchers including 1juvenile with Norway ring and a bird ringed in 1982.

Breakfast at road side cafe before SGD, RdF, ID, RP & RC went to look at Wainfleet Island and mistnetting pools. On arrival at Wainfleet island it was clear a significant roost of Knot/Dunlin used the site for prolonged periods. Long discussions with NAC to decide on best plan of action for catching. Plucking of safety area then commenced to make setting quicker in the morning. Decision to mistnet taken quite late after rain shower stopped the wind. Very light evening and a lower than expected tide caused no birds to be caught until taking down was happening. Dunlin then caught midway through.

Saturday 17th July

– Wainfleet island
Up at 0520. Met Terrington team at sea wall and walked out to Island with 4 small mesh half nets. Setting went very smoothly and in position 20 minutes earlier than expected. Rain arrived as setting was finishing. As not forecast some of the team caught out. Early on up to 200 dunlin catchable however at that stage better options were expected. Knot started arriving into catch area on Samphire with a catch looking very good however at a critical moment a Peregrine flew by causing most Knot to move to Gib. Up to 500 Dunlin returned and landed on mud where nets not set. Heavy twinkling by RR and RP however with all but 1 net flooded catching options became high and dry as tide fell. Gave up 15 minutes after tide with a hunt for ringed plover chicks for something to do while the tide fell. Search ended in failure so equipment packed and left around 1200. Back to village hall for breakfast with Terrington team where decision to call off mistnetting due to poor forecast, lack of tide height and relatively low numbers of birds. Equipment packed into trailer so it could be taken by Terrington team and M&DW. Terrington team departed around 1330. Lincolnshire team departed around 1530.