Wednesday 29th

Morning – Team sprang out of bed at 4:45 (you can tell it’s still early in the Week!) and were in position – complete with chairs in the hides – by 5:50 but sadly the birds weren’t, and we gave up at 7:15. SGD and RDF were dispatched to reccee, while RCT, JHJ and JVG picked up the nets and the team reconvened at base for breakfast at 9:30.

Reccees – South of the set 100 Curlew were using disced cabbages on a field that yesterday had 200 Knot very close to the seawall. At Tofthouse 60 Curlew were on a field of medium-sized brassicas, with 300 still on the saltmarsh at the Horseshoe. The Friskney cabbage field from last trip had 100 mixed Curlew and Godwit (and 5 Oystercatcher!) using the bare patches close to the seawall. A cabbage field 3 fields south of the control tower had 100 Curlew, while other fields had 500 Curlew and 1000 Godwit on a ridge in a young cabbage field. The cabbages were felt to be larger than ideal, but a stubble field next door offered another option for setting. Friskney (N) reclaim had 300 Curlew and 500 Barwit on a horrible, unworkable rough plough.

Afternoon – RDF recceed the marsh island where he found an easy route out (no creeks!) and a good set of pools for a lowish-tide mist-net session (24ft) but too heavy vegetation for cannon-netting the redshank.
Team set a clapnet pair of narrow nets on Wrangle (S) cabbage field for the morning, followed by a single net on the Golden Plover field, sited where a helpful flock of Goldies were roosting on arrival. There was considerable concern amongst experienced team members that SGD may be ageing rapidly, as he once again asked for chairs in the hides… After setting, a quick visit to Wainfleet Control Tower arranged access to the marsh and island an hour early (jubilation!) for Thursday – RAF promised to move the Americans (consternation!)  to a different set of targets for out safety… Team members’ general state of hygiene and personal presentation at this point can be guessed by the RAF offering use of their showers three times during the ten minute conversation!

Evening - Team were in position at 17:00 with the first birds landing north and seawards of the nets at about 18:00. Although we reached a maximum of 200 birds, very few were in the catching area, at the extreme north side and 10 yard marker. Dispatching twinklers along the ditches was confounded by pigeons causing a lift of most of the birds to the north, where RDF was sent to try and retrieve them. A second twinkler was sent to collect the remaining 60 birds and walk them back to the nets – initially very effectively but birds were soon lifted by a hare bolting out of the cabbages. We gave up at 20:00 and returned to base for beer and ringing stories where an unnamed licensee was later spotted washing up!

Thursday 30th

Morning – Team were up at 5:00 and in position with decoys and two hides set by 6:15. The first birds arrived over the field at 6:45 – 7:00 but most (300 plus) landing north and seawards of the nets and a few in the catching area. On deciding to try for Curlew rather than wait for the Godwit RDF was dispatched to the next field north to twinkle, lifting many of the birds off the field. One of the few birds in the catching area was observed making a determined assault on a sleeping decoy – fortunately well nailed down! A consolation catch of 12 Curlew was taken, and RCT left to process the catch with JHJ and JVG, while RDF and SGD left to reccee while the tide was high. Nets were picked up and the team back at base eating breakfast at 10:00.

Afternoon – A line of two nets were set on the cabbage field by 14:30 followed by a short break and some trailer maintenance involving a concrete bollard, a jack and a big hammer… We were very glad to gain SKB at this point, and the team left for Wainfleet at 15:00. After picnicking on the seawall – with extra mosquitoes – and gaining four extra team members from the Gibraltar Point ringing course, we left for the island at 16:00. A line of two nets were set low on the seawards side of the island for grey waders coming through the samphire, and the team all in position at 17:30 with SGD and one Gib member in the hide, RCT under Hessian down towards the tide edge, and the rest of the team in base camp under cover as usual. The birding was amazing, with 1000 Ostercatcher collecting off the hide island by 17:45 and slowly moving north; and flocks of 30,000 Knot and several thousand Godwit passing by heading for Gibraltar Point. The flocks behaved as expected until just before tide, with Godwit and some Grey Plover collecting below the nets and moving upslope, although they seemed unwilling to walk thorough the Samphire. At the last moment the water flooded the catching area abruptly and the Knot flock below the hide lifted, taking the Godwit with them and leaving a handful of Dunlin to sit on the nets in safety! Mad twinkling with waving arms from SGD failed to bring a catch, and the nets were quickly lifted with one reset on the kink in the island for a last-ditch attempt at Dunlin. A small consolation catch of Dunlin and Sanderling were twinkled into position and taken as the last of the light failed.
Soggy nets and equipment were tracked down and untangled while RDF and SKB dealt with the catch – RCT encountering a sea monster while following a stuck jiggler out thigh-deep into the Wash. Team were back at base, topped up with beer and in bed by 22:45.

Friday 31st

Morning – Team yawned themselves out of bed at 5:30, set decoys and hide and were in position by 6:30 with SGD and RDF in the hide, and the rest of the team in the truck at the northern landward corner of the field. We gained three members from Gib at 7:00, by which time the first birds were already on the field, but in net three. A flock of 60 in the catching area gave SGD seriously twitchy fingers for a while, but he managed to hold back as a grey wader catch started to develop through 7:30 to 8:00, with 1500 birds including 800 Godwit, 200 Curlew and mixed Dunlin, Grey Plover and Sanderling on the field. Sadly, two clean, shiny cars arriving on the seawall at the pumping station lifted the whole flock, with 2/3 of the Godwit leaving altogether and the remainder landing in net 3 (not set). The truck was dispatched into the neighbouring stubble field to zigzag twinkle the flocks back to the nets, and a catch was taken at 8:30 of predominantly godwit and a small collection of other species.

Afternoon – We were beginning to slow down by this point. A line of three (spaced as 2+1) nets were set for Curlew / Barwit across the bare (flooded out!) patches of the cabbage field where we caught Oyk last trip, with some interesting jiggery-pokery to make a single jiggler work for all three nets. It was decided to allow the exhausted team a break for the evening’s tide, since our options were limited (tide too early for mist netting and too dark for cannon netting) and we had not had sufficient people for many good reccees though the week. A more relaxed team reassembled and yawned at each other at 21:15 and headed for bed full of ideas for potential mist-netting sites on a range of different tide heights.

Reccees – Two potential sites were identified – one set of pools and one tide-edge site on the bay south of Wainfleet for the passing Knot flocks, although this site is expected to catch some gulls as well. Another potential marsh cannon-net site was also found for Grey Plover.

Saturday 1st

Morning – Team up at 6:30, and evidently rested and awake as hide and decoys were set and everyone in position by 7:00. We gained JRB and two members from Gib for the morning. Gulls were lifted from the field landwards of the nets by setting decoys, and the first interesting birds arrived around 8:00 – but were very unsettled by the nets, balking and lifting constantly. Uncharacteristic patience was displayed by SGD, SKB and JRB in the hide (or at least they kept their frustrations off the airwaves) as small flocks of curlew arrived, lifted and shifted around with most going back to the sea where small areas of saltmarsh still remained. With optimism at its nadir and the truck (mobile base camp) a field away talking to a tractor driver, a sudden flock of curlew arrived as if by magic over the seawall. As soon as the birds landed and cleared safety two nets were fired and a splendiferous catch taken to jubilation from the entire team! We understand that JRB showed SGD a clean pair of heels from hide to net; while the truck passengers are still not speaking to RCT for her demonstration of ‘making effective progress’ across set-aside and seawall towards the catch.

Afternoon / evening – JVG headed home with grateful thanks all round for his hard work, and (we suspect) plans for more wader-catching in his immediate future; while JRB went back to his owls. After breakfast a line of two nets were set on a slightly different area of yesterday’s field for some more of the grey waders tomorrow morning. The afternoon was occupied by a short break followed by heading out to the bay south of Wainfleet Island to set mist-nets. A beautiful job was made (SGD’s words!) of setting two lines (the team now being down to five) and all returned to the seawall for fish and chips in the dusk.
Birds could be heard to the north of the nets at high tide, and a HUGE flock of Knot roosting to the south, but sadly neither flock moved across the bay as they had during the reccee. Catch was modest, although RDF gained a juvenile Arctic Tern to great excitement and many photos. SKB and RCT got plastered (with mud) even before leaving the tide edge, where the interesting texture of said mud made it possible to ski over the surface – although doubts were aired over the effect it might have on the complexion... A very grubby (but undoubtedly beautiful) team made it back to bed just after midnight.

Sunday 2nd

Team practically had a lie-in Sunday morning, being up just before 7:00 and in position with decoys set well before tide. Despite the beauty of the net set and the tiredness of the team, flocks failed to materialise on the field – probably due to the large areas of saltmarsh still uncovered by the tide. All returned to base to eat the remains of the larder, pack and tidy up ready for departure. Grateful thanks to all for working so hard, and base was clean and empty by 13:00.

Afternoon / evening – SGD and RCT scraped together their remaining energy and enthusiasm for a final mist-net catch, and kept themselves awake in the afternoon by walking out to Wainfleet Island (noting presence of huge knot flock during am tide) & reccee-ing some of the pools on the salt marsh for future attempts at cannon-netting. One pool complex was identified as a good prospect for Grey Plover, and marked out; while routes were planned for another set of pools.
Mist nets were set at Leverton (N) for the evening, but we failed to think of a letter corresponding to the shape of the set… Rain and wind arrived as we finished setting, and persisted through much of the tide in defiance of the forecast; but in the end the catch was useful, with 44 birds despite remaining at the nets & extracting birds as soon as they were caught. The catch also confirmed that this site catches best very early in the tide – around the time the tape lure was set – and by high tide birds are much less mobile, although the tide this evening was perfect for the site. However, with two people at the end of a hard week it was definitely a triumph of optimism and determination over climate and energy levels!