TRIP - Pitsea - 24/03/2012: Unbelievable! What a way to end a superb season. 375 birds is a good total in any normal day. A fair wait for the first catch but a nice selection of birds with a good number of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a Common Gull. However the best was yet to come with a second set to wait for something interesting, perhaps a Mediterranean or Caspian Gull. But after a short while a shout of Iceland soon turned into a Kumlien's. Tantalisingly it landed on the edge of the catching area and a full lift saw it go back over to the main tip. I had dismissed it and was concentrating on the Meds when it decided to land back smack in the middle of the catching area. With no safety issues a window very quickly meant a fire and the capture of our first Iceland Gull of the Kumlien's race. 24-Mar-2012
TRIP - Pitsea - 10/03/2012: An interesting day. A single catch to enable the team to get back for the AGM. A few small problems with birds just not settling in the catching area and a constant roll through of birds meant it was difficult to fire. Three attempts with the firing box meant it was clear there was a problem, so a quick removal of the seat in the truck meant we took the catch using the Land Rover battery! However, once we had it sorted it was effective and 419 birds in the single catch was really good. A good lift and really fast ringing operation thanks to Andy's roundabout! Big thanks again to the compactor drivers for their hard work in getting birds into the catching area.10-Mar-2012
TRIP - Pitsea - 25/02/2012: At the start of the day there were not many birds on the tip and with little waste coming in early we were worried that there would not be many birds caught. However, with two good loads of wastse put in front of the net thing got much better and in the end two catches were able to be taken with over 700 birds, 696 Gulls and 42 Starlings. A great team effort and excellent support from the tip team again led to a fantastic day.25-Feb-2012
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