Fieldwork January 2019

Friday 25 January

Recces were done on Friday morning but there was poor visibility and although the birds had come up on the rising tide they had left before high water. So a further series of recces was planned for Saturday morning along with the resighting.

During the briefing, as there were a number of participants new to the group, Guy explained the background to our resighting activity. This enables us to get additional information, for instance survival data, on an annual basis and find out which fields and beaches Curlew are using. Reference was also made to driving with care, especially around Sandringham! More of that later…

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Fieldwork November 2018

Friday 23 November

Prior to the weekend, the plan had changed allowing for a relaxing Friday evening, which is when the majority of the team arrived and had a delicious dinner and dessert, thanks to the cooks. Mist netting had been determined not to be possible due to the time of tide (too early) and the fullness of the moon (too bright).

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Fieldwork Christmas 2018

The trip didn’t start well with the first possible catch called off before we even got to the Wash. Nigel had a bad back and wasn’t even sure that he would be able to make it to the Wash at all, but definitely couldn’t go cannon netting on the Saturday, so the Friday recce was called off.

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Fieldwork October 2018

Friday 26 October

A Friday morning recce of Snettisham Beach was carried out by Cathy who arrived earlier on Thursday. Approximately 1,000 each of Knot and Oystercatcher were seen roosting on the beach at high tide.

The rest of the team arrived Friday afternoon to discuss plans for the weekend. The weather forecast, with moderate to strong onshore winds, was unsuitable for cannon netting on Saturday so no nets were set.

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October 2018 resighting trip

Friday 12th October

The team met at the base house on Friday evening for a meal and to discuss plans for the weekend. Cathy had been at the base since Tuesday and had undertaken several trips to the coast to determine available opportunities for re-sighting and had already obtained some resightings. Cathy had recced the favourite fields around Heacham but had not found any Curlew, possibly as it is too early in the winter for the Curlew to use the fields as yet.

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