We were pleased to have Gareth Fulton of the Elmley Conservation Trust (ECT) and author Charlie Pye-Smith as visitors to our ringing session at Harty on 10th November. We work closely with ECT who own or manage many of our ringing sites on Sheppey and we help in monitoring bird numbers. Fortunately conditions were favourable with cloud dimming the moon and little wind.
We caught 90 birds comprising:
- 44 Dunlin, including 3 retraps and a Finnish control
- 9 Redshank, including 2 retraps
- 25 Knot
- 9 Bar-tailed Godwit
- 1 Curlew
- 1 Ruff
- 1 Starling
The Redshank retraps were from this year and one of the Dunlin was 8 years old.
This is becoming an exceptional year for catching Knot on the Swale with more than fifty caught this winter already. The WeBS counts do not suggest there are exceptional numbers on the Swale this winter, just more are using the Harty roost than in other years.
