A team of nine ringers made a catch at Harty on the night of the 21/22nd August 2017. On a warm, very calm and dark night with no moon a total of 44 birds were handled.
The catch was made up of:
- Mallard - 1 adult male
- Grey Plover - 3 (2 aged 5 and a 6 in good plumage), all in wing moult
- Ringed Plover - 1 juvenile
- Curlew - 3 (all adults in moult)
- Whimbrel - 3 (all adults)
- Black-tailed Godwit - 1 juvenile, which was colour ringed
- Bar-tailed Godwit - 8, all aged 5 and in moult
- Dunlin - 7 (mainly juveniles)
- Redshank - 16 (mainly juveniles) plus a retrap from November 2010.
One of the Redshank was replacing its heavily barred tertials although the primaries were not yet in moult. We have caught birds with this heavy barring on the tertials before. Not sure where they come from, but they are distinctly different from the majority of adult Redshank that we catch, which are generally local birds.