Tag: Lincolnshire

Record-breaking Oystercatchers caught on The Wash

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The core of our research work on The Wash is monitoring the birds that rely on its mudflats and surrounding habitats. We started catching and ringing waders 70 years ago, when we were simply trying to work out their migration routes and breeding grounds. Now we still aim to catch our study species regularly and continue to learn about migration, but we also check the ‘health’ of the population: are they putting on enough weight for the winter or have they completed their moult on time? How do they move around The Wash? Our regular catches help us to answer these questions, as well as allowing us to keep track of the survival rates of a range of species.

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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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The ringing team sitting or standing listening to the lead ringer explaining the process.

Fieldwork August 2023

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Decoy making weekend 29–30 July

Before The Wash week began, a dedicated team got together at Nigel and Jacquie’s house to make up a batch of decoy birds to aid us with future catches. The end product is a life-like model which we can place in the catching area, during cannon-netting, to attract birds. Nigel was an excellent teacher and we all learnt so much, not only about how to make a decoy, but about the fascinating anatomy of the birds. Those on the weekend were Ryan, Molly, Kirsty, Nigel, Jacquie, Katharine, Flo, Lucy, James, David, Sam and Skye.

We also had good fun helping Jacquie and Nigel with their CES at Hinderclay Fen and caught the first Sedge Warbler and Kingfisher for the year!

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An Osytercatcher taking off from a beach. Photo by Cathy Ryden.

Fieldwork November 2022

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Friday 25 November

Recces:

Lucy Y. and Mark went out to recce in the morning. Around 07:00 at the Heacham Dam, Snettisham North, Lucy saw no birds, but by 07:15, groups of 30–200 Sanderling began to gather; Lucy also looked at Heacham South where 1,500–2,000 Oystercatchers were already present at 07:00, and stayed until 10:00, settled even with dog walkers going past the flocks on the beach. There were also a few hundred Oystercatchers roosting on the concrete slope of the Heacham Dam. Mark saw 10 Sanderling and six Turnstone at Heacham North, and 10 Oystercatchers at Heacham North North.

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