While I can imagine those who travel a fair distance to attend these sessions were a bit disappointed, I was quite happy as my mum was visiting to deliver some puppies to their new owners. I made the most of puppy cuddles and having the opportunity to take some photos of the monsters!
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| Archie, Sally and Heather, all eager to get out and play! |
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| Wish, showing her support for the Reds! |
Sunday we planned on catching Sanderling at Kinmel Bay, but I had arranged to arrive a bit later to help mum load up the remaining puppies for the return trip to Scotland. Driving along the A55, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and I felt very optimistic about the day. I was also pleased to have gotten out of setting the nets, as cannons are VERY heavy! She dropped me off at about 10.30 and I walked along the busy esplanade and found Rachel and Noko on lookout. The team had set the nets where we had had a successful catch last year, but the birds were no-where to be seen. Having sent a few people further along the coast, Chris had found the flock about 5 miles west of where the nets were set, so we walked back to help the team lift the nets, reload the truck and drive frantically along the coast. Thankfully, a group of students from Aberystwyth had come up again, so we had plenty of people to carry the equipment down to the beach. High tide was at 11.30 and it was already 11.15 by the time we started setting the nets on the new location. My optimism was nil, and most of the team felt the same. The birds were there, but how were we going to set the net with them all sitting on the beach???
With a few people on lookout to see where the birds went, Steve led the way for myself, Chris and Hamza to set the net (being the more experienced SCAN members). The flock lifted but didn't go very far - they flew around for a few minutes then settled slightly further along the beach. Perfect! Sometimes, the fewer people there are, the quicker the work gets done, as the net was set in record time (no more than 15 minutes!)
We retreated back to the esplanade and I was allocated the task of Long-stopping - basically doing some PR for what we were doing and asking passers by not to go down onto the beach. Everyone I spoke to seemed interested in what we were doing and it was good to see people of all ages watching the proceedings.
I didn't have a radio, so was keeping a close eye on what Steve was doing on the beach to gently push the flock towards the net. They would take off in small flocks, fly around over the waves then land amongst those who had not shifted. From my position, I could see it was a nice mixed flock of Sanderling, Dunlin, Turnstone and Ringed Plover. When the whole flock took off, the sound of hundreds of wings beating was like raindrops on a lake, and as the flock twisted across the waves, it was like someone throwing glitter as the sun shone on the pale undersides. Not sure if a camera would have captured the effect, but it was slightly breathtaking!
Anyway, after watching the birds for a few minutes, I turned my attention to a slightly older gentleman who was walking towards us. Knowing that the catch was imminent, I thought it a good idea just to warn him of a loud bang. I was half way through explaining what we were doing when Phil called over, signing 2 minutes, no, 1 minute, start walking. Before I could turn to the gentleman and say what was happening, BANG, and I took off. Fastest 30m or so I've ever run, I think, until I hit the pebbles! Managed to half jog to the net, by which time the rest of the team were there and lifting the birds clear of the surf.
I managed to extract a good few birds, despite Sanderlings being a bit small for the net and managing to seemingly get through the net and tangled in a second layer. After watching Ian extract one that had done this, I got another two out. It was nice having the group from Aber Uni to do the keeping cages and running, meaning I could concentrate fully on extracting.
Once all the birds were out of the net, Steve started putting people into ringing and processing teams. I decided that because I had already ringed all of the species we'd caught, I'd try my hand at doing some of the biometrics, and was allocated the task of weighing (and releasing) all the birds. I've done a bit of this with passerines, but it's slightly more difficult with a breeze and jumpy birds! In the end we had 2 Ringed Plover (a nice pair which were released together), 10 Turnstone, 10 Dunlin and 62 Sanderling.
After packing up the kit we enjoyed a late lunch at the cars and discussed everyone's plans for the summer. It seems most people are planning on attending at least one of the Puffin Island trips, so hopefully I'll make it over for them too. We then headed back to the stores to put all the kit away. Rachel mentioned that they were going to try mist netting for waders at Llanfairfechan that evening, which I was keen to do.
I went home for a few hours then after dinner Steve picked me up. We would be setting the nets, with Rachel and Dave arriving later. I was slightly nervous of this, as I haven't done very much net setting, especially in the dark. We set off towards some flooded fields that Steve thought might be productive, deciding to set the nets on the reserve later. We set a line of three nets across one end of the flooded field, which was just about ok for welly depth. Steve did most of the work, with me just holding the poles and bringing the pegs and ropes to him from dry land. Unfortunately, just as we were finishing setting the first lot of nets, the wind picked up from a gentle breeze to gusting. We moved on to set the second lot, but after setting the first of three, Steve called Rachel for an update on the weather. She checked and said that it was going to be the same til after high tide. Catching in a slight breeze is ok but with the wind gusting as it was we risked birds being injured, which is obviously not what we want, so we decided to call it off.
Hoping the weather starts to improve soon so we can get out a bit more with the mist nets. I'm predicting lots of knot practice required over the next few months for me!
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