Swale Wader Group

 

Most unusually we made two catches at Harty on the same set of tides.

On Thursday a team of 5 made a catch of 72 birds on an 11pm tide. There was a light easterly blowing, the sky had partial cloud cover, and there was a slight mist.  On Saturday a team of 9 made a catch of 108 on a tide at 20 minutes past midnight in slightly improved conditions in that the was no wind, total cloud cover, which actually makes conditions slightly lighter, and good visibility. This evening was exceptionally mild with 13°C showing on the vehicle temperature gauges, not only were the conditions good to make a good catch of waders but were also very pleasant for the ringers.

The following birds were trapped on the 20th:

  • Shelduck (5 including an adult male)
  • Teal (1 male)
  • Lapwing (2 adults)
  • Knot (1)
  • Dunlin (42)
  • Bar-tailed Godwit (3 and a retrap)
  • Curlew (2)
  • Redshank (15)

The following birds were trapped on the 22nd/23rd:

  • Shelduck (2)
  • Grey Plover (2 adults)
  • Lapwing (1)
  • Dunlin (64 plus 2 retraps and a control)
  • Bar-tailed Godwit (2)
  • Curlew (1)
  • Redshank (32 and a retrap)

The retrapped Bar-tailed Godwit was ringed in December 2011, the retrapped Redshank was from earlier this year, and the two Dunlin on the 23rd were from the catch of the 20th.

The Dunlin control was ringed on the island of Schiermonnikoog in the Dutch Wadden Sea as an adult on 9th October 2013.

In all, two very rewarding and pleasant evenings ringing.

Ringing Sessions