Oycs

This morning I headed north to Heysham with Craig and Peter for a day with Morecambe Bay Wader Group cannon netting Oystercatchers. On our arrival everything was set up and ready and it was a matter of waiting for the incoming tide to cover the bay and push the Oystercatchers on to a grassed area next to the helipad where the nets were set.

At around 12.30 p.m. the two nets were fired and everyone sprung into life racing down to the nets to cover them in hessian sheets to keep the birds calm. Then the extracting, ringing and processing began. We ringed 533 Oystercatchers and controlled/retrapped 36! Amongst the retraps/controls was a bird with an Icelandic ring on; nice!

Oyc being ringed

'Icelandic' Oystercatcher