Wash Wader Ringing Group

Mini Week - Lincolnshire

Saturday 30th July

Assembled at the village hall 1630-1700, ate a salad prepared by M&DW, then left 1750 for recces: M&DW to main Control Tower, RduF to Horseshoe, SGD and DGC to North Pumping Station. M&DW had huge flock of Knot (c.50-100,000), RduF had 5 people watching and hoping to see us catch – as they were standing on the seawall, the birds weren’t!; so the pools were not used, and relatively few other birds were seen, except for a good Oyk flock that moved towards Wainfleet as the tide rose; SGD and DGC had 150-200 Curlew near tide edge just south of Pumping Station. Also flock of several thousand waders in bay at Wrangle(N) , and a bare field with gulls and Golden Plover at Leverton(N).

After recce and displacement of inquisitive herd of cattle, set two small-mesh narrow nets in clap-net pair c.100m out from corner of sea wall at North Pumping Station, with a view to catching Curlew in morning using decoys. Hide just below crest of sea wall, and base camp a short way onto saltmarsh, beyond worst of mud stirred up by cattle. Then back to village hall for more detailed introduction and briefing before bed c.2230.

Sunday 31st July

Hide team up 0400, left 0430, in position 0500;  Wainfleet reccier (DGC) up 0430, rest of team up 0500.

In position with a view to allowing birds to collect south of nets, then twinkle them north.  Curlew and godwit assembled as expected, but were then disturbed by a raptor c.20 minutes before planned twinkle time.  Birds flew north, but in view of extensive area of saltmarsh still exposed between nets and sea, showed no interest in catching area.  Waited to see what would appear, got up to 5 Curlew catchable.  While checking for any other birds in the area, three birds walked out.  Fired one net on the remaining two birds and caught:

During recces MW watched Knot at Friskney, but not much else came over.
At Wainfleet DGC had Knot arriving c.0630, initially flying quite high and potentially heading for Gib Pt.  However, after circling for some minutes over the bay they began to land in numbers on Wainfleet North island.  Meanwhile Oystercatchers appeared from the south and landed at the northern end of South island, possibly joining Oyks that may have walked up from the mud out of sight of the sea wall.  Some Knot also landed with the Oyks.  Numbers of Oyks in 4 figures, Knot several tens of thousands (though c 20,000 remained near the control tower).
c.500 Dunlin were seen on the bare field at Leverton (S).

After breakfast decided to try for Knot on Wainfleet North island on Sunday evening, and for Oystercatchers on Wainfleet South on Monday morning, netting (only) for the latter being set by SGD and a small team late Sunday morning.  It was arranged to seven members of the Terrington team to come round to assist us for the Sunday evening attempt (with the longer walk out to North island).

Main team out to seawall 1430, prepared equipment and ate al fresco meal of baked potatoes with accompaniments.  Set off from seawall c.1545 for Wainfleet North island.  Set four nets, as a line of two plus two singletons, at various distances from likely tide edge, to accommodate uncertainty owing to near-level saltmarsh.  Encountered major problems with SCAN firing box requiring extensive surgery and cannibalisation of DGC's circuit tester by SGD and RduF in the hide, to enable two nets to be fired from one side of the box.  Birds began arriving from south around 1900, and initially congregated either side of all nets, but not in front.  When birds were close to nets there were typically many birds also in safety.  Eventually a situation developed with a small part of the flock in front of one net, as other nets were about to be flooded, so fired the one net at 1940 and caught:

Monday 1st August

Up 0330, left 0400, in position 0530.
Finished setting cannons etc for nets which had been placed on Wainfleet South island the afternoon before.  Nets located on higher part of island, with hide to north of the nets and base camp under tarpaulin at extreme south end of island.  Footprints suggested birds preferred to congregate on beach on vicinity of hide, but beach there rather low and level, and highly susceptible to flooding soon after a catch might be taken (South island is being extensively remodeled by tidal currents).  Given the target species was Oystercatcher it did not seem feasible to move a large catch a significant distance along the beach to higher ground, even on a tarpaulin.

c.500 Oystercatchers walked off the mud as tide rose, then many more arrived as expected around 0700, and assembled down beach from hide, also as expected.  Birds initially reacted well to twinkling, but then many birds lifted.  A small flock remained but then they also lifted and all birds departed, many inland.  There was still a flock of 60 Dunlin between base camp and the nets, and an attempt was made to twinkle this, also without success.  By this time the net closer to the hide was getting well flooded, and the further net was at imminent risk.  Decided to lift further net while it was still dry and reset on bend of south island, further from hide and c.100 yards from base camp, with a view to catching any small waders that might choose to land on the point.  Attempted to twinkle two Ringed Plovers and a Sanderling without success.  By this time tide was running off strongly.  Abandoned catching, rescued flooded net and spread it to dry, collected equipment and consumed chocolate bars while waiting for tide to fall sufficiently for walk back to the cars.

During his recce MW had found Oystercatchers, Bar-tailed Godwits and Curlew on several fields north of the main control tower, including a flock of Oystercatchers on the field approx one mile north of the tower where we made a godwit catch in 2010.  He also found a flock of Dunlin on a very large field to the north of the North Pumping Station (same field where gulls and Golden Plover seen Sat evening).  This field was being actively worked, with ploughing, preparation and sowing of young cabbages taking place successively across the field starting from the seaward end.  After discussion decided to set four nets on the godwit field for a catching attempt on Tue morning: two full nets roughly in the centre of the field for the Oystercatchers, and two narrow full nets towards the south end of the field and only a short way in from the seawall, fairly close the godwit/curlew pre-roost area on the saltmarsh.  This net setting was accomplished during Monday afternoon, after which the team took the evening off in view of strenuous exertions at Wainfleet over the previous two tides.  To bed 2230.

Tuesday 2nd August

Up 0515, away 0545. Decoys set and team in position without particular incident. SGD and 3 others in main hide watching godwit/curlew nets, RduF and 1 other watching Oystercatcher nets. DW and other team members in truck with trailer 200-300 yards along inner seawall south of main hide, DGC and rest of team behind inner seawall north of RduF hide, as potential twinkling vehicle.

Early on there was some excitement/concern as a raptor (subsequently identified as a Merlin) was observed on fence at far end of field consuming prey (songbird?) it had caught in the vicinity. As high tide time approached there was considerable movement of birds over the saltmarsh, but not much interest in visiting our field.

Approx 30 minutes before high tide birds did appear over the field and began to land: Curlew and godwit fairly close to the seawall, but north of the nets in that part of the field, and Oystercatchers in the middle of the field, in the vicinity of the full nets but again not catchable. Efforts were made to bring in further birds from nearby fields, without significant results, so then DGC was asked to begin a vehicle twinkle along the northern edge of the field. This initially caused the godwit and Curlew to lift and land again further north up the field, still close to the seawall, and then ultimately leave the field altogether. The twinkle continued, now aimed at moving the Oystercatchers into a catchable position. Initially they responded well by walking, but then ceased to respond, as the vehicle reached the seawall, turned and traversed the full length of the field, and then returned more rapidly back to the seawall. Thereupon DGC commenced a foot twinkle which reasonably quickly succeeded in clearing the field of birds altogether. Gave up c.45 minutes after high tide, noting that the catching window had been comparatively brief, owing presumably to the relatively low tides on this cycle and continuing accretion of the saltmarsh.

Concluded that whatever plans we made for Wednesday, we would need to move/remove nets currently set, so all nets were lifted. Then returned to village hall for breakfast and to hear about MW’s recce and make plans. MW had found the flock of Dunlin again at Leverton (N). Preparation and planting of young cabbages had been proceeding apace, so there was now a substantial portion of the field at the seaward end where we could potentially set nets.

Decided to seek permission to set two full nets among the young cabbages on the Dunlin field, while resetting the narrow full nets on the godwit/Curlew field at Friskney, but further north into that field (still relatively close to the seawall), where the birds had wanted to roost. Because of the limited number of experienced team members, and the desire to operate as two independent teams at least initially, invited members of the Terrington team to join us.

After breakfast setting team first returned to set the narrow full nets (while SGD went to decide where to set nets for the Dunlin), then moved south to set the Dunlin nets. While these nets were being set, one member of the team enquired why we weren’t planning to man those nets on the Tuesday evening. Upon reflection decided that was actually worth doing, in case birds landed in the right place, but without intention to twinkle. After a meal most of the team accordingly set off south, leaving DGC to “babysit” our equipment in the hall during a meeting of amateur radio enthusiasts. Before departure SGD asked DGC to check rainfall radar for any signs of incoming rain. Although weather forecasts were silent on this, radar did seem to suggest a line of rain approaching from the southwest, which turned out to be correct: arrival of rain induced the team to quickly retrieve the decoys and return to the village hall.

In the meantime RduF went to watch at the Horseshoe, and saw c.150 Grey Plover, godwits and other waders using the pool there where we’ve caught in the past. To bed 2230.

Wednesday 3rd August

Up 0530, team for Leverton (S) cabbage/Dunlin field away 0615, team for godwit/Curlew field away 0645 (allowing more time to empty and clean the hall before departure, in anticipation of local event that morning).

At the godwit/Curlew field, RduF was in the hide, with DGC’s vehicle and the truck/trailer backed up 200-300 yards south along the inner seawall.  Birds began to arrive a little earlier than the day before, building up a scattered flock in and around the catching area, with eventually a larger number south of the nets and towards the seawall.  Ultimately a reasonable number of birds had accumulated in front of the nets, so just before 0900 RduF fired both nets, catching:

The retrap Curlew was originally ringed 11 August 1998 at Wainfleet Marsh (just under 13 years previously).

SGD was promptly informed of the catch by phone, so he could take account of this on the Dunlin field. There, several hundred Dunlin had arrived as on earlier tides, and initially roosted some distance from the nets. While the team waited for any further arrivals, a raptor flew through and effectively cleared the field. A small number of birds remained, and after twinkling some landed in front of the nets. Firing of one net at around 0920 caught:

The retrap Dunlin was originally ringed at Leverton Outgate (ie the same locality) on 10 August 2006.

After dealing with the birds and retrieving equipment the teams reconvened at the roadside café at the Wrangle Lowgate layby (just east of Wrangle village), for breakfast and to organize equipment and hand the trailer over to PLI who had come round to assist.