Another early morning, alarms set for 5:15 am to get to the site for 6:15 am, the reason? Cannon-netting - a pursuit reserved for those who tend to dream of pipes. Not many people could get their kicks from standing on the top of a bank in the freezing cold, or sat in the back of a car for hours on hours, waiting for the green light and then the bang.....followed by frantic running and when the adrenaline finally wears off, you're back to being freezing cold once again!
Not the case today though! My Dad and Ron Jackson had been baiting the site on the sea wall at Banks for a few days and with a good run of weather, then net was set the night before. In addition to the net set, Dave Fletcher was also able to make a couple of tidy catches of Twite, an added bonus for those that set. Unfortunately I had to work, but it made up for all the times that me, often with my brother Thomas, had helped set and then not been able to make the catch due to work commitments.
Back to this morning...slightly damp over night but an early test of the circuit showed no breaks, so we were all set. It was a cool morning with a steady south westerly wind, with a threat of light rain later in the morning, so we were on a deadline!
The Wigeon didn't seem interested at first, spread out over the channels, but the Shelduck, although unusually flighty were the most consistent until the resident Mute Swans got in on the act. A Greater Black-backed Gull flushed everything except the few Wigeon out of the area just as we were about to make a catch, but the birds returned shortly after. Once the Mute's moved out the area, we were left with about sixty Shelduck, one Mute Swan and fifteen-or-so Wigeon in the area. The decision was made to take the catch.
At the age of 24, I was the youngest of the small team and I was reassured that I wasn't overtaken by anyone else on the way to the net! Some of the Shelduck, a Mallard and a few of the Wigeon on the fringe managed to escape, but we caught most of what we fired on and the Swan didn't seem to let too much out of the net!
Once we had extracted all the birds, we lumped the net, cannons and the rest of the gear (some in Ron's shiney Land Rover) back to the cattle sheds. After a swift cup of tea, we processed the Wigeon, not as many as we had liked, but there is always next time! The Wigeon were displaying really decent weights, indicating they've had a decent winter.
Next came the Shelduck, the majority were adults, but we noticed we had caught a higher percentage of females than normal. Amongst the Shelduck were two retraps and three controls. One of the retraps was originally ringed by Kenny McNiff on 29/01/07 and had lost weight in the meantime, prompting rumours that all 'birds' that come into contact with Kenny are affected by weight-loss. As I said, rumours!
The other retrap was ringed by Richard De Feu on the same day, however I can come up with no Richard-related anecdotes.
So after a decent catch of 7 Wigeon, 46 Shelduck and a Mute Swan, I had to shoot into work. Don't tell my boss, I wasn't strictly honest, I wasn't sure how to ask for the morning off to catch ducks...so I lied. Sue me!
Photo's:
Adult Male Shelduck
Contrary to popular belief, my Dad does actually ring a bird every now and then!
Four old men hanging around the boot of a car....must be Cannon Netters!Totals:
Shelduck: 41 (5)
Wigeon: 7
Mute Swan: (1)
48 Ringed. 3 Retraps. 3 Controls.
Shelduck: 41 (5)
Wigeon: 7
Mute Swan: (1)
48 Ringed. 3 Retraps. 3 Controls.
