Tag: Norfolk

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 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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A flock of Knot, swirling over water.

Fieldwork November 2024

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Friday 1 November

By early Friday afternoon the trip members started to assemble at the base house, joining Cathy and Hilary who had opened up the house. Unfortunately, due to illness the team was smaller than planned. Molly, Cathy and Flo treated the trip members to an excellent meal of veggie chilli and jacket potatoes (in spite of having to cope with the challenge of a lack of chilli powder).

Following the meal, Molly and Ryan gave a briefing. They explained that while Hilary, Cathy and Rob did see birds, the number catchable was only just into double figures, so they were not sufficient to offer any cannon-netting options on Saturday morning. Therefore, the focus on the Saturday morning would be resighting, with some of the trip leaders also carrying out recces to see what the best options for mist-netting on the Saturday afternoon would be and if there was any possibility of cannon-netting on the Sunday 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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