Sunday 15 September / Monday 16 September
Carole and Bernard kick-started the trip with some resightings on the Saturday morning tide. The team started to arrive from Sunday afternoon, and by evening, Ryan, Molly, Daphne, Jane, Tim, Myles, Chantal, Jelaine, Cathy, and Lys were all at the OSH. The group went out to resight on Monday morning at Snettisham, Heacham South, Heacham North North, and the rest of the team began to arrive from mid-afternoon. With the opportunity to do more resighting on a rising evening tide, several teams went out, visiting Freiston, Snettisham, Heacham NN, Heacham South, and Terrington. Cathy kindly led the cooking of dinner that evening (thank you, Cathy!).
Tuesday 17 September
With both teams now at the Norfolk base house, the morning consisted of resighting and recces with Rob P at Frieston and Tim, Daphne, Alex, and Jane at Gedney. Ros, Ryan, Molly, and Lys went to Heacham NN to follow up on a possible cannon-netting option from visits on previous tides. As Ryan needed to recce Gedney on Tuesday evening, he gave Ros a run-through of catching at Heacham NN with the intention of her catching there that evening. The rest of the team went resighting at Snettisham and Heacham South. When everyone was back, Flo kindly sorted a ‘Wash’ breakfast, then the team packed the trailer to set two cannon nets at Heacham North North, and after a brief bit of downtime, left with the nets set by 16:45. Thanks to Cathy and Alex, who made and brought out dinner to the seawall.
Once the birds were on the beach, Liam and Bob were tasked with twinkling, gently nudging the mixed flock of Turnstone, Sanderling and Ringed Plover towards the catching area. Unfortunately, the Turnstone (a mix of flagged/unflagged) were not as obliging as usual and flew off rapidly, taking some of the Sanderling with them. A small catch was made; unfortunately, around 15 birds ran out from under the net. A dip in the beach profile and shortened jumps held the back edge of the net up, allowing birds to sneak out under it – something to look out for in future. As there was a second net set, there was a thought to take another catch; however, the net was lifted due to three Oystercatchers roosting in safety, the Turnstone mostly having left, and the failing light. Overall, 16 birds were caught and processed. The smaller catch allowed less experienced group members to practise taking wing and head-bill measurements, which was valuable.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Turnstone | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Ringed Plover | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Sanderling | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Totals | 13 | 3 | 16 |
While everyone else was catching, Ryan had an eventful recce at Gedney. When he arrived, there were approximately 40 Redshank, a couple of Grey Plover, and a Black-tailed Godwit on the far side of the pool, but the military rapidly flushed them. Three F16 jets started practising low-height bombing runs, followed by two Chinooks doing low-flight manoeuvres and machine gun firing practice offshore after picking up a full load of soldiers at the Watch Tower. It was a different air show than the usual wader one expected at Gedney.
We were then joined by an unexpected visitor in the form of Steve, who was expected a day later. Steve had spent two days travelling back from China, where he and other WWRG members had been catching waders as part of a long-running collaboration. The team thought that Steve looked amazingly good for the journey he had just done.
Wednesday 18 September
Both teams spent the morning recceing.
Norfolk: Louise found a lot of Curlew on the fields at Wolferton with ~1,000 Curlew landing on a germinating / stubble field, though they lifted after a Marsh Harrier flew through. Seven hundred returned to the same field, while 300 landed on the next field to the south. Both were fields the group had caught on before. A third group was found on a stubble field just north of the pumping station.
At Terrington, the tide had not fully come in on the outer edge of Saltmarsh. Groups of Curlew were flying up and down near the outer pool but did not land. Daphne and Tim noticed a bare field with ~100 Ringed Plover, but access was unclear.
From the inner wall at Heacham South, the scrub fields of Ken Hill were not suitable, while from the Snettisham side, 200 Curlew were observed flying overhead towards a suitable field. Unfortunately, the presence of two Marsh Harriers prevented them from settling, and they quickly lifted off.
The pool at Gedney was already covered at first light, and the field to the south of where we usually process had 20 Golden Plovers. Boatmere (inland from Gedney was also checked and had 35 Greenshank. This may be an option for mist-netting, although catching there previously has not been very effective.
Lincolnshire: At the Horseshoe, ~100 Curlew, 2,000 Bar-tailed Godwit, 300 Redshank, and 200 Oystercatcher were present.
Barley Mow marsh did not completely flood, and the 700 Curlew present landed on a higher area of marsh rather than on a field.
At Freiston, amongst other small groups of waders, 1,000 Oystercatchers and 150 Redshank were seen.
The trip leaders had a quick discussion whilst still reccing, and it was decided that Lou’s options at Wolferton should be our target for the following day. The team reunited at the Norfolk base for a breakfast cooked by Tim and Flo (thanks!). After the leaders got permission to catch on the site, we split into two groups to set two pairs of cannon nets. Steve and Louise went for a clap net pair on the field above the concrete pad. This field was recently drilled and bare, so the team had to work very neatly. Ros and Ryan set a line of two nets on their field just above the pumping station. The stubble was very high, and the field was undulating, so finding a location where a net could be set and be seen was tricky. Unfortunately, the WWRG strimmer failed, and despite Ryan and Alex’s efforts to keep it running just for this set, it was deemed ‘knackered’ by the Wolfteron repair shop. Steve’s truck was quickly deployed to try to flatten the stubbles on this set while Tim and Molly went to get Tim’s strimmer from his home (thanks, Tim!).
Thursday 19 September
Norfolk: The hide teams were at the fields by 05:30 to give set 1 (Ros and Ryan’s team) a chance to strim the vegetation with Tim’s strimmer before the birds started coming over. The rest of the cars got into position by 06:30. After the Curlew began flying over the sea wall, Steve and Lou started gaining birds, eventually taking a catch of 70 Curlew (time of fire 06:52). Most of both teams went to help ring and process that catch. Ros, Ryan and one carload continued operating their set, but sadly, no Curlew landed in their field, and the nets were removed. Ros and Ryan were happy to get out of their hide in the ditch as they had donated a significant amount of blood to the local mosquitos.
The catch included a fantastic number of retraps, including four headstarted Curlew, including one whose GPS tag had stopped recording. This tag was removed, and the bird was inspected for special methods reporting, with no issues found.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Curlew | 57 | 12 | 69 |
Lincolnshire: The small team who stayed to recce saw similar numbers of waders at the Horseshoe and Barley Mow as the day before. Therefore, it was decided to send both teams to Lincolnshire and attempt to catch the Bar-tailed Godwits the following day. After lunch, the teams headed over to Lincolnshire; on arrival, the cannon-net ‘walls’ needed a little mending, but it took the team only a short time to plug the gaps. Two nets were set, one large mesh for a possible Oystercatcher catch (on the inner wall) and one small mesh for a potential Bar-tailed Godwit catch further out into the water. Both nets were set to fire towards the middle of the pool. Over dinner, the team was briefed on how to deal with the different potential catches.
Friday 20 September
Lincolnshire Catching: The teams were up bright and early to get into position far ahead of the birds coming over. This catch was complex with two basecamps and two different catching / lifting approaches in one set, a small mesh lift of Bar-tailed Godwit onto a stretcher or a large mesh conventional lift without a stretcher. Steve’s car was stationed on the seawall to act as a hide, and Steve controlled the catch. The first base camp was on the island in the Horseshoe under camouflage. This team had most of the experience as they would get to the nets very quickly, get a small mesh lift started and deploy a Hessian stretcher before base camp two arrived. The second base camp was stationed at the cars on the other side of the seawall. Curlew, Oystercatchers, Bar-tailed Godwit, Redshank and Knot slowly built up in both catch areas. With the Oystercatchers predominately on the inland net. After a disturbance by a Marsh Harrier caused a complete lift-off, smaller numbers of birds returned with, unfortunately, some going too close to the nets. Eventually, through jiggling, Steve managed to move them away from the net and fired, catching 290 birds in the small mesh net (outer net). The birds were lifted onto the stretcher and carried back onto the island, a technique some of the team had not used before.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 118 | 12 | 130 |
| Redshank | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| Oystercatcher | 105 | 6 | 111 |
| Knot | 45 | 0 | 45 |
| Total | 271 | 19 | 290 |
Lincolnshire recces: On the same morning tide, the recce at Barley Mow found around 90 Curlew leaving the marsh and landing on a field. Unfortunately, after further investigation, it was concluded the field was unsuitable to catch on.
Norfolk recces: From Heacham dam, a flock of 40 ish Sanderling, ~20 Dunlin and ~80 Ringed Plover were observed moving between the northern part of Snettisham beach and Heacham beach. Due to quickly losing the beach due to the tide and wave action, the flocks roosted on the dam.
Liam and Cathy observed Curlew roosting at the Terrington field found on a previous recce, though they kept lifting due to disturbance.
The two teams split in the afternoon, and the Norfolk team returned to the Norfolk base house. That night, the Lincs team returned to the Horseshoe to mist net Redshank with two lines of three and five set across the lagoon. Despite it being a bit windier than expected, 45 birds were caught in total, including 28 Redshank. As this was a small catch, it was a good training opportunity for the newer team members, and everyone was given a chance to do some extracting.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Oystercatcher | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Turnstone | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Knot | 9 | 0 | 9 |
| Dunlin | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Redshank | 27 | 0 | 27 |
| Total | 44 | 1 | 45 |
One team at Norfolk went to set mist nets on the White Barn pools at Terrington, while another set a line of two cannon nets on the Terrington field where Cathy and Liam had seen Curlew.
Dinner was led by Liam and Chantal and eaten at the White Barn, before the team went out to mist-net. The team had a relatively quiet night, which allowed new team members to lead the catching and training on extraction.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Turnstone | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Knot | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Dunlin | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Redshank | 36 | 0 | 36 |
| Total | 52 | 0 | 52 |
Saturday 21 September
Norfolk AM: The team were up early and in position by 07:30 to catch the Curlew on the Terrington field. Curlew could be heard flying over the marsh out of sight as soon as the team were in position. Eventually, an hour or so before the tide, Curlew started arriving in the field but sadly not in the catching area. The flock were regularly lifting due to disturbance – a Peregrine attacking the decoys twice, a family, then waterfowlers walking along the seawall behind the set, and a Marsh Harrier flying past. Despite the team’s best efforts, including removing some bird scarers that morning, there was no catch of more than one Curlew, so eventually, Richard and Ryan called it off. Breakfast was organised by Chantal and Jane (thanks!).
Lincolnshire: There was no cannon net option, so most of the team had a lie-in after the previous busy day, with the remaining team going to Freiston, where they resighted ~20 Redshank. It was decided to run two mist-netting teams in Lincolnshire on Saturday evening, with the Norfolk team running one site and the Lincolnshire team the other. The Lincolnshire team set mist-nets around three pools on the marsh at Freiston, aiming to catch Redshank for our colour-mark study. The people wearing chest waders did an excellent job checking the nets once the tide came in too high for anyone else to go without getting very wet. The rest of the team could take turns ringing, scribing, weighing, and measuring heads and bills, an opportunity thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Turnstone | 10 | 0 | 10 |
| Knot | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Dunlin | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Redshank | 28 | 0 | 28 |
| Total | 49 | 0 | 49 |
Norfolk PM: The team drove around and quickly dropped their sleeping kit at Friskney Village Hall before heading to set mist nets at Friskney. Jane and Daphne arrived later with fish and chips and, after eating, the team went to the salt marsh. One round dominated the session, with a large flock of Curlew and Godwits coming over during the second round, and most birds were caught at this point.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Curlew | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 24 | 2 | 26 |
| Knot | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| Oystercatcher | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Grey Plover | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Redshank | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| Turnstone | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Dunlin | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| Total | 48 | 51 | 51 |
Sunday 22 September
Resighting was carried out successfully at Freiston, and the Horseshoe was recced. A team checked if the higher marsh platform at Barley Mow, was accessible where the Curlew were flocking on previous tides, as this had last been inspected and deemed unsuitable around five years previously. There is now a sizeable deep channel at the beginning of the marsh, which is not passable at the end of a tide series.
Again, the team stayed together as the tide made for a potentially very large catch on the Terrington Outer Pool. Three lines of six, five, and four were set across the expected wind direction. Once tapes were put out, a steady flow of birds came into the nets. Unfortunately, early in the session, a storm not predicted beforehand appeared on the horizon. This threatened higher winds and heavy rain. Richard did a fantastic job monitoring the coming weather and keeping the other leaders updated on the situation in case a rapid call to close needed to be made. The storm skirted above the Norfolk part of The Wash, so netting continued until high tide. As usual, long-legged birds were taken off the marsh to be processed and released. Once the nets were taken down and the whole team were back, a colour-ringing team got started on the Knot, and a second processing team was set up. The weather had resulted in a smaller but still very worthwhile catch.
Catch totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Grey Plover | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Curlew | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 12 | 0 | 12 |
| Turnstone | 8 | 0 | 8 |
| Knot | 11 | 1 | 12 |
| Dunlin | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Redshank | 121 | 2 | 123 |
| Total | 166 | 3 | 169 |
Monday 23 September
Monday morning was wet and rainy, so any damp kit from the previous catching days was hung in the garage to dry. Flo and Liam cooked a fantastic pancake lunch before the team started to depart.
Colour-mark Resighting Totals for the trip
| Species | WWRG | Non-WWRG | ||
| Sightings | Individuals | Sightings | Individuals | |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 55 | 49 | ||
| Curlew | 47 | 38 | ||
| Turnstone | 59 | 24 | ||
| Knot | 14 | 14 | 33 | 31 |
| Oystercatcher | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Redshank | 69 | 37 | 1 | 1 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 11 | 10 | ||
| Total | 245 | 163 | 47 | 43 |
Big thanks to everyone for putting in considerable effort to get such a good number of resightings this trip (292 resightings of 206 birds), alongside all the catching and changing sides.
Trip Ringing totals
| Species | New | Retrap | Total |
| Bar-tailed Godwit | 152 | 14 | 166 |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 14 | 0 | 14 |
| Curlew | 64 | 12 | 76 |
| Dunlin | 17 | 1 | 18 |
| Grey Plover | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| Knot | 77 | 1 | 78 |
| Oystercatcher | 108 | 6 | 114 |
| Redshank | 221 | 4 | 225 |
| Ringed Plover | 8 | 2 | 10 |
| Sanderling | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Turnstone | 34 | 0 | 34 |
| Total | 700 | 41 | 741 |
Thanks to Claudia Gooch and Chantal MacLeod-Nolan for writing this report. Cover image by Sara Miller.