Wash Wader Ringing Group

Friday 22nd July

MS was first to arrive having gone ahead of the others to recce. MS found 1600 grey waders on Butterwick fields sitting in young cabbages (mostly dunlin and 250 barwits), on the fields south of Sailors Home 500 dunlin on a flat rolled field and on a newly planted cabbage field just north of the northern pumping station, 3000 grey waders (1000 knot, mix of other species). After the recce MS went to the Village Hall, where the team were to base themselves for the trip. It turned out to be ideal with excellent catering facilities including boiling water on tap and some of the biggest pots the writer had ever seen. A small team set a clap net pair on a very young cabbage field at Butterwick, near to the Freiston realignment for the evening tide. The remainder of the team arrived periodically during the day and evening. We arrived at the field at 1730 and everyone was in position by 1800. Very soon afterwards a flock of 80 goldies with small numbers of dunlin landed in the catching area, these were turned down after a discussion about scientific targets. These were then spooked by a car (not a team member) beeping their horn as they came over the inner seawall. Birds came and went and were generally very jumpy due a marsh harrier and after this were landing in the older and taller cabbages. At this point 120 barwits landed with birds in safety but they quickly left the area. JS was sent to twinkle in the taller cabbages which resulted in birds returning to the catching area, decision was made to fire on c. 200 dunlin.

All done by 2245, nets left in situ, returned to village hall to bed.

Saturday 23rd July

Up 0400, back to the previous day's field to reset in daylight. All went well and in position by 0540. Gulls arrived fairly soon after this. Small numbers of dunlin were arriving all the time but tending towards the tall cabbages again. JS was sent to twinkle and this resulted in most birds landing in the catching field but tending toward the tall cabbages. Some gentle vehicle pressure from the edge of the field coupled with a movement of barwits and curlew from the saltmarsh resulted in birds landing in with the decoys but 5 dunlin in safety. The new jiggler worked beautifully and both nets were fired once safety was clear.

All birds ringed and processed and equipment lifted. JK and AK joined the team briefly to pass on recce info from the morning. They found a few thousand knot on the Wainfleet far north islands, 200 oyks on the big long island and lots of godwit and dunlin on the field at Sailor's Home which MS had seen on the previous day. Team returned to base for breakfast and MS and JS braved the Boston traffic on a food and fuel run.

PM Team (minus JS on data and food duty) went to set 2 clap net pairs on the field at Sailors Home. Returned to base for supper before leaving at 1730 to man the nets.

MS in firing hide with DJ and VJ, and SD in the second hide with AD. Large numbers of knot, 5000+ came over field about 1.5 hours before high tide. Birds initially landed well outside of the catching area so GA and DB were dispatched in the Freelander to try and move birds closer to the area. This was unsuccessful due to the restricted routes that they could drive along so DB was dispatched on foot. After a few attempts and some spectacular walking styles the birds eventually moved and landed in the catching area but across MS's nets so firing was not possible. Birds them took off and landed well inland of SD's nets. JS proceeded to twinkle them from there and just as we were gaining birds in the catching area a 4x4 with a trailer came along the edge of the adjacent field and spooked the birds sending them back to the saltmarsh. The catching attempt was aborted and the team left the field after the last oyks had departed.

Sunday 24th July

Sunday morning saw the team up at 0600 and returning to the same field. It was almost a repeat of the previous evening with birds coming over and initially landing behind the nets and DJ twinkling from the seaward side. The birds responded well with about 400 peeling off the flock and landing in the catching area all safe. MS decide to fire resulting in a catch of knot.

All of the birds were extracted and taken to the side of the field for processing. Most of the birds were processed and the last few were released 4 hours later.

Due to the bad weather forecast for the afternoon and the following morning being bad it was decided to re-set the nets on this field to ensure that the set was a good one causing as little mess to the field surface as possible.

PM Sunday pm was a tide off, the rain arrived in force. A small sector of the team went out to try to find a route to the far north Wainfleet island, despite phone calls to JK and AK who were able to look at an aerial photo on-line, no route was found and this was aborted. A nice meal was had back at base, then some of the team went to the pub and the remainder had an early night.

Monday 25th July

The morning saw the team up at 0600 and in position by 0700. The weather was as expected so the decision was justified to re-set on the same field again and plastic decoys were used. Smaller numbers of birds came onto the field (500 oyks and 500 knot). Once again the birds followed their by now normal routine and settled firstly seawards of the nets and then being pushed landward. DJ was then sent out to twinkle from the inland section of the field. After superb twinkling the birds finally settled in the catching area and SD fired all four nets. All of the birds were extracted into boxes and sacks and taken to a nearby building to avoid the weather. Three team members from the Terrington side came over to join in the processing and most of the birds were fully processed.

Team arrived back to the Village Hall for 1400 where breakfast was cooked and then the hall was tidied up with the last person leaving to rejoin the Terrington team at about 1600.