Long periods of rain over the winter has made the field at Harty waterlogged and difficult to drive on. After some 50 yards of sliding about we abandoned the cars and carried the gear to the ringing site. With a relatively small team of six we decided to put nets up on only one site – the western pool. The high tide was at about 01.20am on the Sunday morning. With nets up by 11.15 and the sound lures on we began catching straight away and had finished 20 minutes before high tide.
The catch of 71 comprised:
- 57 Dunlin, plus 4 retraps, including a Polish colour-ringed bird and a Dutch bird ringed above the “knee”
- 1 Redshank, plus 1 retrap
- 4 Knot
- 1 Turnstone
- 2 Bar-tailed Godwit
- 1 Shelduck
The night was dark with complete cloud and a light wind and thankfully mild. Both cars were rescued without mishap after a thoroughly enjoyable night.
Polish-ringed Dunlin 
Turnstone