After a long summer slog of CES, Tree Sparrows and Reed Warblers we felt that we had become a bit parochial and that we needed to get away from Wiltshire and create some havoc in another county. I had a trip to Spurn in August and though we didn’t catch much I really fancied going back to see thrushes arriving in off the sea and to try to catch a Twite as I have always wanted to see one in the hand to ensure that I don’t miss one in a Linnet flock in Wiltshire.
I was joined by Paul A, Simon and Jack and this is the first time that we had ringed together out of county. A sharp getaway on Thursday evening meant that we got to Spurn at a reasonable hour, enough time to discuss every catching method under the sun and to have a couple of Guinnesses before bedtime. Friday dawned very windy and we could only drive the heligoland traps in the morning so we met the locals and went for a walk in the driving rain to suss out options.
In the summer I was struck by the filth in the kitchen and the way that the other guests did no cleaning or washing up but sadly the other users of the observatory this time were even worse, they would have been better off staying in a pigsty. By Friday evening the weather had turned beautiful with a stunning sunset so we set a few wader nets, played Redshank and Dunlin tapes and sat back to gaze at the stars. We didn’t catch many but the lads enjoyed the experience of ringing several new species in Ringed Plover, Knot, Dunlin and Redshank. Best of all was a Dunlin that had previously been ringed in Norway and the other satisfying thing was that we caught our own birds whereas if we had joined a wader ringing group we would have just been following them.
Saturday was a beautiful day but if anything, too beautiful and many birds that flew in off the sea just flew over, however we did manage a few Blackbirds and Redwing. Jack appeared from one net round with a Twite which was a new bird for me to ring, and that doesn’t happen often in the UK. We all had a good look at the Twite and we are confident that we won’t miss one if it appears amongst Linnets. A Little Auk was brought in by an angler but sadly it had a broken leg so we couldn’t ring it even though it flew away strongly on release.
On Sunday the wind had dropped even further and though it looked good, the birds once again flew high over. Another Little Auk was brought in but sadly it died. At mid morning we got a call informing us that a flock of Snow Buntings had been seen so we closed nets and sped off into the dunes fully equipped with nets and spring traps. A long walk later and we had found one Snow Bunting which evaded the cunningly set two shelf mist net so we decided that it had to be spring traps only. We spent ages watching the bird and putting out spring traps and at one point it went towards the trap baited with a maggot but pulled away so I disguised a trap by covering it with seaweed along a line of debris and pop in it went, what a way to finish the trip.
Our own-cooked fried breakfasts, pub dinners and seeing birds that we don’t normally see like Pink Footed Geese, Brent Geese and a wide variety of waders really made for a great weekend. This account really doesn’t show the extent to which we added extra nets, deployed spring traps and generally covered the area and despite not catching many birds we had a great time and we all experienced new birds and new methods and we all agreed that we need to do some more road trips in the future, so watch out rest of the UK here we come...MP, PA, SW, JN
Redwing 7, Blackbird 15, Twite 1, Snow Bunting 1, Dunlin 6, Redshank 2, Knot 2, Ringed Plover 1, Wren 1, Robin 3, Dunnock 1, Greenfinch 1, Meadow Pipit 1