Saturday 6 September
Team members began to arrive on Friday evening to recce various options for cannon-net catching and resighting on Saturday morning. The previous autumn passage week and this week were relatively limited in terms of very high tides which could push birds onto fields for catching (this week was the marginally better one of the two) or beaches in high numbers. Only Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were very high tides.
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The WWRG teams for assembled at the base house for midday on Sunday 10 August. A detailed briefing was given to discuss plans for the first evening’s catch and to introduce first time attendees to the group.
Sunday 10 August
Recces were conducted on the Saturday evening prior to the trip, which included 480 Redshank, 52 Greenshank and 12 Black-tailed Godwit observed at Freiston by Robert P. 300 Sanderling, 30-40 Turnstone, small numbers of juvenile Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover with recently fledged young were observed at Heacham South Beach by Ed and several flocks of the same species were observed by Bee at Heacham North North (NN), including approximately 90 Sanderling. The unsurprisingly dry conditions observed by Richard at Gedney therefore resulted in Heacham NN being identified as the target site for the first evening’s cannon-netting attempt.
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Beyond borders: habitat use of wintering Eurasian Curlew in and around coastal SPAs
We’re pleased to announce that WWRG data will be at the centre of a new PhD opportunity jointly supervised by WWRG members Sam Franks and Katharine Bowgen at the BTO and Christine Beardsworth at Liverpool John Moores University along with Julia Nowack. This PhD will make extensive use of our Curlew ringing and tagging data, along with new fieldwork, to understand winter habitat use of this declining Red Listed species.
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On the evening of 8 November 2025, WWRG caught 20 Black-tailed Godwits while mist netting at Terrington. One of them was a very special, colour-ringed bird that sets the BTO longevity record every time it is seen.
Metal ring EP85107 was added to a juvenile Black-tailed Godwit on 30 August 1996, in a cannon-net catch at Holbeach, Lincolnshire. It was the first godwit to arrive at the processing team and Jenny Gill added a set of white and green colour rings, turning it into W-GW/W. Jenny was just starting a post-doctoral project at the University of East Anglia to investigate how the expanding population of godwits was spreading into new sites, and needed to be able to recognise individuals. Over sixty birds were colour ringed on that day. Subsequently, there were winter sightings from Ireland, France and Portugal but many of these colour-ringed individuals were found on the estuaries of East and South England, which is where Jenny’s field studies were to be based.
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Saturday 24 May
Our final week on the shores of Delaware Bay began slowly with a relaxed morning of resighting on Slaughter Beach before a 10:00 hrs team went to set a net on Point North. How very leisurely! A Skiff team got into position offshore, ready for action. It was Memorial Day, and so there was a crowd of visitors watching from the Nature Centre deck. Ryan and Cathy chatted to them about the Project and explained what was going on as the catch unfolded. Unfortunately, cable connection problems and then too many birds in the catching area caused a bit of a delay. Once the net was tested successfully, Chantal was sent to shuffle down the rock wall, pushing many of the Semipalmated Sandpiper out of the catching area. With a safe number of birds catchable, the net was fired and the Skiff team raced to shore to join the firing team to cover the catch and begin extraction. The total catch was 397 birds, consisting of two Red Knot, 18 Ruddy Turnstone, 152 Short-billed Dowitcher, 141 Semipalmated Sandpiper and 84 Dunlin. After ferrying the birds to Swains Beach, we processed under shade, and with extra help from several Project volunteers we were finished in good time to fit in some more resighting in the Harbor during the afternoon. We have made an incredible effort on flagging Dowitcher this season, just the start to a new project that we needed. In the afternoon, Lys made a great tagine for dinner.
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