Tag: cannon netting

Fieldwork January 2025

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On Friday morning, Cathy and Lys recced along the east shore between Snettisham and Heacham NN. Very little was seen on the rising tide, which came up the beach to the ledge in the sand. Over the high tide, a handful of Turnstone were in their usual place on Heacham NN with a few ringed birds amongst them. On the falling tide, around 100 Oystercatchers were seen south of the dam at Snettisham, although they were spread out. Overall, no good cannon-netting options were found for Saturday morning. This, alongside the lack of suitable weather for mist netting, made Friday evening a fairly relaxed event.

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Fieldwork October 2024

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Friday 4 October

On the morning tide, recces were carried out at Gedney and on the east side around Heacham. At Gedney, Bar-tailed Godwit came onto the pools as the tide came up, however they were not concentrated in a particular area of the pool and so this wasn’t a great option for cannon-netting. However, a couple of hundred Sanderling were found on Heacham South beach, roosting over the high tide, where the profile of the beach is such that a flat area was present – this seemed to be where the birds were choosing to roost. This seemed like the better option, and so it was decided for nets to be set there that evening after the tide for a catch on Saturday morning.

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Fieldwork September 2024

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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!).

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Fieldwork August 2024

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Sunday 18 August

Ryan was the first at the Norfolk base, arriving the day before from Carlisle, and he spent the whole of Sunday doing various jobs including hedge trimming, mowing and sorting out catching kit. Thank you Ryan for all your hard work! Lys, Cathy and Lizzie arrived later on Sunday and also helped sort out the house for the start of the week. Hilary went resighting and joined in with the gardening.

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A group of people sitting on chairs on a beach, processing shorebirds.

Delaware 2024: 26 May – 1 June

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Sunday 26 May

On the first day of week three in Delaware, Rob Rob, Chantal, Katharine and Kirsty left for Philadelphia to begin their journey home to the UK. They made the most of their last morning however, squeezing in one more resighting visit to Mispillion Harbor!

On their way to Osprey via Cedar Beach with Flo, a new volunteer got stuck in the deep mud. Showing their quick thinking and fantastic team strength, the Brits rallied together to undertake a quick and effective two-pronged rescue with help coming by boat and car/foot. Well done all!

Not many flags were spotted in Mispillion, it would seem many shorebirds were already migrating northwards. There is also the thought that more are heading to feed in New Jersey, where there are areas for roosting closer to the feeding sites. The evening harbour survey was cancelled due to an approaching storm, but this did not stop Ryan and Guy from cooking up an epic meal on the BBQ.

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