4th June 2009
Two members of the UK team arrived by ferry with the equipment to meet the Guernsey team and to assess the site, possibly taking a catch if feasible on the first day. On arrival at the tip the induction was undertaken and we took a brief look at the tip and area that had been prepared. The area was quite tight but the small net that we had brought was a very good option. We decided to set with the option of taking a catch later in the morning or early afternoon. A leisurely set was undertaken with the Guernsey team being trained on how to set ready for the next couple of days. Once set a load of waste was brought in on the lunchtime truck and placed in front of the net. Birds on the tip appeared very tame and forays to the tip face resulted in birds very close to anyone approaching. A small caterpillar bulldozer came and spread the rubbish and large numbers of birds were very quickly down, too many in fact! It was evident that we would be able to take a catch but needed to select the right moment with not too many birds. Allowing a number of birds to feed and move off gave us that opportunity and we took a catch of 113 birds. Given the warm conditions birds were processed quickly and efficiently and temporary shade was rigged up to keep the birds cool which worked well. As it had been a long day and we had one successful catch in the bag we decided to pack up. Later in the evening the remaining four team members were collected from the airport.
5th June 2009
Catch 1
An early start on the tip saw us set for a first attempt at 06:45. A brief roll over of the rubbish produced lots of birds. Being early, with cooler weather and a new shade system set up for gulls I was happy to attempt on a larger number of birds. As soon as safety presented an opportunity a catch was taken at about 06:55.
Catch 2
Birds from the first catch were processed by the team whilst cannons were reloaded by myself. The large catch was finished off and we cleaned, furled and reset the net around 9:30. Birds had already been back down to feed on the spread rubbish and the two firings in the last two days had not seemed to put birds off at all. With the wind swinging round a bit safety was a little more difficult this time but eventually a safe opportunity arose and a second catch was taken. Whilst a reasonable catch the percentage of Herring Gulls was still large and it was disappointing how few Lesser Black-backed Gulls were caught in these first two catches given our success on the first day.
Catch 3
By the time the remainder of the birds had been processed and the net set for a third time it was getting a little warm and we decided to attempt a smaller catch and try and increase the number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. We waited for some time until we thought there was a good proportion of Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the catching area. Unfortunately many of them were on the edge of the catching area and with the wind now travelling along the net, instead of behind, most beat the net out. This was rather disappointing but the third catch consisted of a respectable 38 birds.
6th June 2009
Catch 1
Another early start we were on the tip at 06:30 and set very quickly (with the net being left in place overnight essentially all that was needed was setting the cannons and wiring up. The idea was again to try and increase the percentage of Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the catch. However the wind had swung right round overnight and we were firing into the wind. We decided as everything was set to attempt a catch (in hindsight we should have done what we did for catch 2). Birds came down onto the rubbish and a light roll over with the compactor produced enough birds to attempt a catch once it was safe a catch was taken but again firing into the wind the net held up and most of the Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the catching area beat the net out.
Catch 2
It was evident we needed to fire in the opposite direction so whilst a team started to process birds a small team re-positioned the net on the other side of the rubbish. This gave us the advantage of firing with the wind behind the net. We decided to attempt to take a catch when there were about 25-30 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the catching area. We also discussed scraping the rubbish off as it was evident that although good numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls come in to start they soon get knocked off by the larger Herring Gulls. It was not possible to take an early catch as there was not enough safety so we lost many of the early arriving Lesser Black-backed Gulls. When we thought we had about 25 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the catching area and a safe window was available we fired.
Catch 3
Now I was starting to get a bit annoyed! The Lesser Black-backed Gulls were very much on the edge of the rubbish and not in the middle of the catching area. This allowed a good percentage to beat the net out and leave us with mainly Herring Gulls. We took the brave step of clearing ALL the rubbish in the catching area and seeing if we could tempt a good number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls onto the freshly scraped mud which is how they were prefering to feed elsewhere on the tip. We got the compactor driver to push all the rubbish up to the tip face at the far end of the net and leave cleared earth only in the catching area. We waited in anticipation and to our amazement lots of Lesser Black-backed Gulls came down onto the mud and most of the Herring Gulls went onto the rubbish on the tip face. There was a difficult wait with safety at the far end of the net hampered by squabbling Herring Gulls who kept spilling into the danger zone or dropping food on the net. Eventually a safe window presented itself and I was able to fire. We knew straight away it was a better catch and on the last fire we had determined how to increase the percentage of Lesser Black-backed Gulls on this tip.
Summary
Over the three days we took seven catches with a grand total of 744 birds caught. The Guernsey team were absolutely delighted with this result and the trip was declared a success.
Thanks to Paul Veron for organising the trip and undertaking all the hard work to gain access to the tip and arrange a great team to work with. Thanks must also go to the tip operators at Chouet who were fantastically helpful and without their co-operation these types of operation are just not possible.
Paul Roper Return to home page)