Showing posts with label Ringing WWRG. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ringing WWRG. Show all posts
Sunday, 16 November 2008
Wash Wader Ringing Group November weekend
My 3rd trip to the wash (all this year) brought my first experience of a no catch session on Saturday morning. Undeterred, we went mist netting for waders.
Above: A view of the outgoing tide on Snettisham Beach
Above (right wing) & below (left wing): Both wings of an Oystercatcher with an abnormal moult pattern. Both wings began moult as normal but at some stage must have stopped and started again out of sequence. The brown feather is old, black feathers are new. In addition, the moult is at different stages on each wing (normally birds do the same on each wing). This bird was clearly not in a good condition & was only therefore replacing feathers when it had the energy to do so. There were odd feathers on other parts of the bird that had not moulted either. This oystercatcher also only had 2 toes (instead of 3) on each foot - could this mean that it has had trouble feeding and this is why it is in a bad condition?
Above: This Knot has travelled all the way from Norway to the wash. How do I know? It had a Norwegian ring on its leg!
Above: A view of the outgoing tide on Snettisham Beach
Above (right wing) & below (left wing): Both wings of an Oystercatcher with an abnormal moult pattern. Both wings began moult as normal but at some stage must have stopped and started again out of sequence. The brown feather is old, black feathers are new. In addition, the moult is at different stages on each wing (normally birds do the same on each wing). This bird was clearly not in a good condition & was only therefore replacing feathers when it had the energy to do so. There were odd feathers on other parts of the bird that had not moulted either. This oystercatcher also only had 2 toes (instead of 3) on each foot - could this mean that it has had trouble feeding and this is why it is in a bad condition?
Above: This Knot has travelled all the way from Norway to the wash. How do I know? It had a Norwegian ring on its leg!
Sunday, 19 October 2008
A weekend visit to the Wash Wader Ringing Group was productive. This was only my second ever visit.
Saturday morning brought a catch of c.150 Oystercather and c.15 Bar-Tailed Godwits. For my first time, I ringed 15 Oystercatcher and 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit.
Above: Bar-Tailed Godwit
Above: An Oystercatcher in the 'ringing position.'
Above: An oystercatcher in a plastic tube (this is safe and does not hurt the bird), it is now ready for weighing.
A night time Mist netting session brought 190 + birds. Night time mist netting and catching waders this way was a new experience for me. I sucessfully extracted a couple of Dunlin, a Bar-Tailed Godwit and a few Redshank. I part extracted 4 more including a Turnstone).
Above: My first time ringing a Black - Tailed Godwit.
More photographs to follow as I ringed a Grey Plover for the first time. Knot, Dunlin and Redshank were the other species I ringed. Dunlin was the only species caught on Sunday morning tide - I didn't ring any this time as I was getting some experience of processing wading birds (taking measurements of bill & head and bill length + weighing).
An early night tonight as I am very tired!
Saturday morning brought a catch of c.150 Oystercather and c.15 Bar-Tailed Godwits. For my first time, I ringed 15 Oystercatcher and 2 Bar-Tailed Godwit.
Above: Bar-Tailed Godwit
Above: An Oystercatcher in the 'ringing position.'
Above: An oystercatcher in a plastic tube (this is safe and does not hurt the bird), it is now ready for weighing.
A night time Mist netting session brought 190 + birds. Night time mist netting and catching waders this way was a new experience for me. I sucessfully extracted a couple of Dunlin, a Bar-Tailed Godwit and a few Redshank. I part extracted 4 more including a Turnstone).
Above: My first time ringing a Black - Tailed Godwit.
More photographs to follow as I ringed a Grey Plover for the first time. Knot, Dunlin and Redshank were the other species I ringed. Dunlin was the only species caught on Sunday morning tide - I didn't ring any this time as I was getting some experience of processing wading birds (taking measurements of bill & head and bill length + weighing).
An early night tonight as I am very tired!
Sunday, 10 August 2008
Wash Wader Ringing Group Mini Wash Week 3
Wash Wading continued (again).
Above: The keeping area
Above: A knot being released (they hung around for about 20 seconds before flying off).
Above: The back of a summer plumage Dunlin (there are two distinct races & you can tell from the feathers at the bottom of their back which race they are from - I forget which is which!).
Above: The tide retreated rapidly and in the distance you can see two things (a ship wreck) and on the tide line, a mass of feeding wading birds (1000's).
Above: The WWRG.
Above: The keeping area
Above: A knot being released (they hung around for about 20 seconds before flying off).
Above: The back of a summer plumage Dunlin (there are two distinct races & you can tell from the feathers at the bottom of their back which race they are from - I forget which is which!).
Above: The tide retreated rapidly and in the distance you can see two things (a ship wreck) and on the tide line, a mass of feeding wading birds (1000's).
Above: The WWRG.
Wash Wader Ringing Group Mini Wash Week 2
Wash Wader Ringing continued.
Again, for the same reasons, we had to hide under a tarpaulin for nearly 2 hours. I was more comfortable this time because I led on my back. Unfortunately, I missed the birding spectacle unfolding in front of me because I wasn't allowed to look (doing so would have scared the birds off). At one point there were 5000 Knot on the island + Dunlin + Oystercatcher.
Above: Knot (top) and Dunlin (below) fly past while we are ringing their friends!
Above: A Knot in summer plumage
Above: A Knot in winter plumage
Above: Dunlin in the keeping area.
Above: Me with a Dunlin in the hand.
I plan on going again (depending on available transport!). It was a very enjoyable weekend & there are many species of Wader I want to catch up with! See my 3rd WWRG post for a few more photographs.
Again, for the same reasons, we had to hide under a tarpaulin for nearly 2 hours. I was more comfortable this time because I led on my back. Unfortunately, I missed the birding spectacle unfolding in front of me because I wasn't allowed to look (doing so would have scared the birds off). At one point there were 5000 Knot on the island + Dunlin + Oystercatcher.
Above: Knot (top) and Dunlin (below) fly past while we are ringing their friends!
Above: A Knot in summer plumage
Above: A Knot in winter plumage
Above: Dunlin in the keeping area.
Above: Me with a Dunlin in the hand.
I plan on going again (depending on available transport!). It was a very enjoyable weekend & there are many species of Wader I want to catch up with! See my 3rd WWRG post for a few more photographs.
Wash Wader Ringing Group Mini Wash Week 1
The Wash Wader Ringing Group is known around the world in the 'ringing world.' For more information about it please visit http://www.wwrg.org.uk/
At the beginning of August & on the high tides, they have the traditional mini-wash week (Saturday to Tuesday catching). I only had transport for Saturday to Sunday morning catches before picking my Dad up at the airport on Sunday evening so I took in 3 tides.
It was a highly interesting experience from beginning to end. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the photographs of the first catch of Sanderling from the camera before I copied them. I did manage to keep a short film of a cannon net firing) and if I can work out how to, I will put it on the blog somewhere. The Sanderling catch (we were up at 3.15am) on the Saturday morning and film of us ringing the birds will be on BBC1's The One Show on 5th September.
The second catch was on Friskney marsh on the Lincolnshire coast. What I wasn't expecting was to have to hide under tarpaulin for 2 hours waiting for the birds to come in & for optimal catching conditions before the tide came in too far!! As you will see from the photo's below, there is no cover near where we were catching the birds.
It is absolutely necessary for us to be near the cannon nets when they fire because we are catching in/near water with a rising tide. This is so we can sprint to the nets once they are fired and make sure that the birds are safe. We also needed to make sure we were far enough away & hidden from view of the birds so that they don't fly away. This was achieved by hiding under a tarpaulin.
Above: Getting ready to hide under the tarpaulin. We were under there for nearly 2 hours! It was very uncomfortable lying on my front & therefore I was slow & stiff on the sprint to the nets. I learnt not to lay on my front! We caught 11 Redshank on this occasion.
Above: Friskney Marshes - we caught 11 Redshank out in the middle of the marsh.
Once the birds were caught, a very swift retreat was in order as the tide was still rising!
Above: A Redshank with a ring on its leg.
Above: A happy grin!
On the Sunday morning (up at 4am), again on the Lincolnshire coast, we had a catch of c.80 Dunlin & c.80 Knot (see next post) & 1 Curlew Sandpiper. Had the wind direction & tide been absolutely optimal, we could have caught 2 or 3 times as many birds).
This was near Gibraltar Point & right on the edge of the salt marshes. For a while, at high tide, we were totally isolated on a small island! We would not have been there had the expected tide been higher - we knew before hand the height of the tide & knew we would be safe.
Above: I briefly handled this Curlew Sandpiper still in summer plumage.
At the beginning of August & on the high tides, they have the traditional mini-wash week (Saturday to Tuesday catching). I only had transport for Saturday to Sunday morning catches before picking my Dad up at the airport on Sunday evening so I took in 3 tides.
It was a highly interesting experience from beginning to end. Unfortunately, I accidentally deleted the photographs of the first catch of Sanderling from the camera before I copied them. I did manage to keep a short film of a cannon net firing) and if I can work out how to, I will put it on the blog somewhere. The Sanderling catch (we were up at 3.15am) on the Saturday morning and film of us ringing the birds will be on BBC1's The One Show on 5th September.
The second catch was on Friskney marsh on the Lincolnshire coast. What I wasn't expecting was to have to hide under tarpaulin for 2 hours waiting for the birds to come in & for optimal catching conditions before the tide came in too far!! As you will see from the photo's below, there is no cover near where we were catching the birds.
It is absolutely necessary for us to be near the cannon nets when they fire because we are catching in/near water with a rising tide. This is so we can sprint to the nets once they are fired and make sure that the birds are safe. We also needed to make sure we were far enough away & hidden from view of the birds so that they don't fly away. This was achieved by hiding under a tarpaulin.
Above: Getting ready to hide under the tarpaulin. We were under there for nearly 2 hours! It was very uncomfortable lying on my front & therefore I was slow & stiff on the sprint to the nets. I learnt not to lay on my front! We caught 11 Redshank on this occasion.
Above: Friskney Marshes - we caught 11 Redshank out in the middle of the marsh.
Once the birds were caught, a very swift retreat was in order as the tide was still rising!
Above: A Redshank with a ring on its leg.
Above: A happy grin!
On the Sunday morning (up at 4am), again on the Lincolnshire coast, we had a catch of c.80 Dunlin & c.80 Knot (see next post) & 1 Curlew Sandpiper. Had the wind direction & tide been absolutely optimal, we could have caught 2 or 3 times as many birds).
This was near Gibraltar Point & right on the edge of the salt marshes. For a while, at high tide, we were totally isolated on a small island! We would not have been there had the expected tide been higher - we knew before hand the height of the tide & knew we would be safe.
Above: I briefly handled this Curlew Sandpiper still in summer plumage.
Sunday, 22 June 2008
New Gull Species Part 3
Above: This would be my first Lesser Black Backed Gull too.
Above: Another LBB Gull.
Above: The herd of LBB & Hering Gull juveniles.
Above: This would be my first Hering Gull. If it looks identical to the photo of the LBB Gull at the top of this post, that's because it is very difficult to tell them apart. You would have to look at the primary feathers on the wing to be able to tell the difference & that would be how I know this is a Hering Gull.
Above: The middle of the doughnut!
New Gull Species Part 2
Above: This is what the gulls do when you invade their breeding area!
Above: Gulls in the air (because of the strong winds, the gulls did not waste much energy flapping about - the wind helps them hover (well as near as).
Above: The surprise of the day. An Eider duck more commonly found much (much, much, much) further north than Norfolk at this time of year. Maybe I will get to ring one sometime in the future (too good to resist taking a photo though).
Above: Part of the colony (adults and juveniles) before the round up begins.
Above: What can this be? A ring? It even has an inscription on it! Fancy that. I think I recognise my hand too! Must have been the first Lesser Black Backed Gull I ever ringed then.
2 New Gull Species Part 1
Today (22/06/08) has been a long day. Thankfully it didn't start early (as most of my bird ringing does). A respectable 9.30am pick up time. A few hours later I was at a lovely place in Norfolk near Kings Lynn where The River Nene & The Great Ouse come out into the washes. A quick lunch, a short & amusing drive with locked gates (& no keys), humongous pot holes in the tracks and bemused walkers wondering how 4 cars could be found in a place cars aren't supposed to be! The view was good.
Above: You can just about make out the destination point in the middle of the horizon.
Above: Using the zoom, this is the destination point. It is in the shape of a Doughnut to collect water for piping elsewhere and is supposed to be a Ted Heath initiative. No surprise it didn't work out! It is now home to a huge colony of Lesser Black Back & Hering Gulls. Gulls are too big & boisterous for other birds to call this place home tweet home!
Above: The mud we had to walk through to get there!
Above: A gathering before we invade the island!
Above: You can just about make out the destination point in the middle of the horizon.
Above: Using the zoom, this is the destination point. It is in the shape of a Doughnut to collect water for piping elsewhere and is supposed to be a Ted Heath initiative. No surprise it didn't work out! It is now home to a huge colony of Lesser Black Back & Hering Gulls. Gulls are too big & boisterous for other birds to call this place home tweet home!
Above: The mud we had to walk through to get there!
Above: A gathering before we invade the island!
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