10/12/18 - Cannon netting

With the increase in wintering waterfowl over the last week or so (following a rather dry autumn), we’ve finally been able to get our cannon nets back out, and have ringed a sample of our wintering visitors. Although the river levels have been up and down, giving us a few issues, we’ve managed a handful of successful catches in-between, and have ringed over 300 Teal and 10 Wigeon in the last week. Ringing these birds allows us to track known individuals throughout their annual journeys – identifying where and when they use other sites, and helps us to learn more about how they may be changing their migrations and sites in relation to climate change. Cannon netting is also a great opportunity to help train the next generation of researchers, and so this week we have been delighted to be joined by George Day from the University of York, where he is currently studying for a PhD. George has joined us in previous years for duck catches, and has since taken some of that learning back to his group in Filey, and has started to catch and ring ducks over there – helping to increase the numbers and distribution of ringed ducks in the UK.

One of the most stunning of all the duck species to regularly visit the valley is the aptly named Pintail - easily distinguished by its long and pointed tail feathers. Males have a bluish-grey bill, a chestnut-coloured head and a rather long and graceful white neck and grey body, whilst the females are mottled brown with smaller, pointed tails, but the same slender and elongated appearance. Around 30,000 winter in the UK from further north and east in Europe, largely feeding on plant material during the winter, when up to 700+ can be found throughout the flooded Ings.

We had the unique opportunity to study these stunning birds up close and personal last week, when we caught and ringed a small number amongst the usual sample of Teal and Wigeon. Just this week we also received news from the BTO and WWT, of a Pintail that we ringed in the valley in January 2017 – found at Baie d'Authie, Fort-Mahon-Plage, Somme, in France, about 440Km south of the valley. We previously caught one here in March having been ringed further south a couple of months earlier in Cambridgeshire – suggesting our peak in March may involve birds starting to return north on the first leg of their migration back to the breeding grounds. Up to 150 birds are present between Bank Island and Wheldrake at the moment but do let us know of any counts you make when visiting the reserve, thank you.