Friday 27th March
Recces were done on the evening tide by SD, NAC, JAC, PLI, JW.
| Snettisham and Heacham Beaches | The grey waders on the mudflat all departed south before the tide reached the shingle beach. 600 Oystercatchers off the Heacham beach split in to two groups with 150 going to the beach near the tump (spread along quite a long stretch) and the rest going initially to the mussel bed. 400 Oystercatchers off the Snettisham beach came ashore in the usual place on the beach and were then joined by the birds from the mussel bed when that flooded (about 2˝ hours before tide), giving a total present on the beach of over 600. |
| Heacham Far North | About an hour before tide this beach had 40 Sanderling and 50 Turnstone, the latter in a compact flock. |
| Terrington Salt Marsh | Not a lot about and certainly not in any catchable position. |
Evening meal at The Wildfowler and then early bed.
Saturday 28th March
Recces on the morning tide were:-| Snettisham and Heacham Beaches | Mudflat already covered by 05:00 (2˝ hours before tide). Compact flock of about 600 Oystercatchers on Snettisham beach. On Heacham, three flocks of Oystercatchers totalling about 250. About half of the Snettisham birds departed south but by 06:00 had been joined by further birds from the north (probably ones from Heacham). |
| Heacham Far North | 15 Oytercatchers and small flock Sanderling, Turnstone and Ringed Plover, scattered and tucked in amongst tide-wrack. Possible new spit towards Hunstanton not located. |
| Nene Mouth | Just 7 Oyk; 2 Redshank, 3 Curlew on the bank plus various duck. |
| Gedney | At wildfowlers point 5, half hour before high tide about 400 grey waders in dispersed flock on marsh which was then just covering. Only other site with birds on was the bombing range, 2km NW, where at least 3000 Knot and other grey waders were on the tide edge. Lots of pairs of Shelduck in fields. |
Weather windy and cold. Rain started just as most recciers went out although PLI, who got up earliest, completed his recce in time and stayed dry. With the forecast saying that the wind would increase during the afternoon before moderating overnight decided not to try to catch on the afternoon tide.
The Group’s AGM started at 10:00 and lasted until about 11:15. The rest of what was a very large team with lots of newcomers arrived around mid-day. After welcoming everyone and having a soup and rolls lunch, groups went out to Snettisham to mark net positions for the morning, to Gedney to investigate catching potential there for future trips, and to Titchwell to look for colour-ringed Black-tailed Godwit but finding a colour ringed Avocet.
Although there was no catching, there were nets to be set ready for the morning but this could not be done until after the evening tide had fallen off. A roast beef followed by apple crumble meal was consumed at 19:00 after which just over half the team went to set the nets whilst the others washed up and got an early night. The wind was still very strong making for an unpleasant set! The wind decreased as setting finished enabling some grot to be put on the nets without it blowing away.
Sunday 29th March
Up 03:50. Wind had decreased greatly and sky was clear. Arrived on site at 05:00 which was also first light. Mudflat not completely covered and several hundred Oystercatchers on the mussel bed. A further 500 Oystercatchers were off Heacham and a few hundred off the Snettisham beach. Also present was a small flock of Knot. As the tide came in a huge flock of 5,000 – 10,000 Knot appeared from the Snettisham direction and joined the flock already present. These and the Snettisham Oystercathers were on the mudflat directly out from the nets. This Knot flock stayed and moved towards the beach until the point where the tide finally covered all the mudflat and at this stage virtually all the Knot took off and departed to the north. After this departure just 75 Oystercatchers were left and these were about two net lengths beyond the catching area. NAC was sent to twinkle these. This initially worked but then all the Oystercatchers and the small flock of Knot with them departed.
The two small mesh nets had been set well down the beach to catch shortly after the mudflats covered so with a rapidly advancing tide it was soon time to pick up the nets. Plan B was then put in to operation with a team going off with a net set to the Heacham Far North site. Here a net was set above the anticipated high tide mark. Once set, the Sanderling and Turnstone remaining on the beach were twinkled. The tide was not advancing as quickly as anticipated so when some went in front of the nets they were too far out to be caught. After further twinkling from both directions and a bit more tide a group of Turnstone were in front of the net and this was fired.
| Species | New | Control / Retrap | Totals |
| Turnstone | 14 | 12 | 26 |
| Ringed Plover | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Totals | 15 | 12 | 27 |
Five of the Turnstone caught were already colour ringed and the opportunity was taken to mark a further 18 as part of this project. Having dealt with the birds back to base for breakfast and sorting out before changing clocks (the official overnight change having been ignored) and departure by early afternoon.