Wash Wader Ringing Group

Saturday 13th December

PLI did a recce at first light accompanied by JW and J & HC.  Very strong SE wind but at least the predicted rain had not arrived.
Snettisham North; ca. 600 Oystercatchers in a single mass at the usual place on the beach.  No sign of any grey waders.
Heacham South; Three groups of Oystercatchers but none larger than 100 birds.
Snettisham ‘falling tide site’; The mussel bed uncovered just an hour and a half after high tide, much earlier than would have normally been expected on this height of tide.  The strong off-shore wind had both kept the tide height low and caused it to run off quickly.  No birds queuing up to use the site before it came exposed.

Walked along the tide line to find the droppings where the Oystercatchers had been roosting and mark this so it could be found when setting in the dark.  Breakfast in the Tesco cafe before doing the shopping for the weekend in the store.

The weekend was billed as just catching on the Saturday evening and Sunday morning tides so the rest of the team not expected until mid-day.  With a terrible forecast for the rest of Saturday it was quickly decided that the planned mist netting would not be feasible.  Sunday’s weather was predicted to be an improvement so plans were put in place to set on Snettisham North after high tide ready for Sunday morning.

The forecast turned out correct with strong winds and heavy rain / sleet so the afternoon was spent sorting out all the equipment left to dry in the shed after the last visit and packing the trailer for setting.  After an evening meal at 18:00, left to brave the elements and set a line of four nets at Snettisham.  Although raining on arrival this soon stopped and the wind had dropped so setting was not too unpleasant.  Back at base by 23:00.

Sunday 14th December

Up 05:30.  Little wind but some rain in the air.  On site in good time, well before first light.  NAC and JC observing from the hide on the sea wall with everyone else apart from the long-stops at base behind the nets.  Quite some time before the hide could see clearly what was on the beach and even longer before they found the nets.  The problem with finding the nets was because the tide had come higher than expected and had washed out several of the markers.  Also the tide had pushed birds higher up the beach and many were covering the nets. 

Once it was light enough to see what was really going on, there were three flocks on the beach.  Two of these flocks, each of 50-70 Oystercatchers were in front of the nets with a further flock of 150 just beyond.  The birds followed the tide down so clearing the safety areas of both nets.  With the tide falling off rapidly it soon reached the point where the leading edge would hardly go in to the water so both nets with birds in front were fired.  One of the nets fired was one of the new small mesh nets and took just over half the catch.  The birds were extracted from the small mesh net first making an interesting comparison in extraction techniques as the team moved on to the larger mesh net.

With a moderate catch and a good number of people in the team new to wader ringing it was possible to let them do the extraction.  Everyone then got lots of ringing experience.  All birds were fully processed.  Amongst the retraps, two needed re-ringing due to worn rings, one having been put on the bird in March 1978 when it was already an adult bird.  The other had been ringed as a chick at Thornham, North Norfolk, in 1979.

There was also one colour ringed bird which had been marked as part of a study of roof nesting Oystercatchers in Aberdeen.  With most of the Oystercatchers wintering on the Wash breeding on the coast of Norway these two records of birds from breeding areas in Britain are particularly valuable

On return to base a team prepared breakfast whilst the rest dealt with the same problem as last month - lots of wet equipment.  This was festooned round the shed and hopefully will be dry by next visit.