Wash Wader Ringing Group

Thursday 10th October

In the run-up to this mist netting session there had been worries about the weather. In the event, a decision was made on Thursday morning to go ahead with strong winds predicted to abate before high tide. A net setting team met at the new base in Terrington just before 17:00 and sorted equipment. Although earlier thoughts had been to set two lines of nets, the strength of the wind meant the decision was taken only to set one line so that it could be continually supervised. A team of about 13 set these 9 nets well in advance of dusk, leaving the wildfowlers on the adjacent pool as darkness fell. By this time the team had grown to 16 and an order was phoned to the Terrington fish and chip shop. A visit was made to the wrong shop to collect these before collecting them from the correct place. The new, more powerful, tape lure was put out at 20:00 with the Redshank flock tape. No birds were caught at this stage. The next team to visit the nets (at 20:30) found relatively few in on arrival but more got caught even whilst extraction was in progress. Eventually decided reinforcements were necessary so base contacted by phone. From this point to high tide a team was constantly at the nets and birds were entering the nets as fast as extraction could take place. Just after high tide the nets were fully cleared and most of the team went back to base to deal with the catch. The tape lure was left running and the net dismantling team has another 25 or so birds to extract. Ringing and processing was done in the white barn, the generator providing excellent light to do this. The final catch for the evening was:-

As well as the usual processing, all birds had a cloacal swab taken as part of project to study the transmission of influenza by birds. All birds had been dealt with by 1:30 and most people went home although three stayed at the Terrington base. Overall the weather had been better than expected with winds dropping.