Sightings

Main sighting: Goosander

Male Goosander in the main pond with 35 Mallard

Main sighting: Glossy Ibis

Roadside viewing saw the 2 Glossy Ibis feeding in the far left corner. Also noted were 2 pairs of Tufted Ducks and 3 pairs of Gadwall.

Main sighting: Barnacle Geese

Very quiet on the lagoons today, water level is way too high still for waders (only seen a pair of Black-tailed Godwits briefly). Of note was a male Peregrine passing in front of hide 1 which spooked 5 Common Snipe. Snipe platform – 78 Shoveler, 182 Teal, 121 Wigeon (225 more from the seawall), 1 Gadwall, 3 fem and 2 male Tufted Ducks, 11 Greylags and Ravens. Seawall – no sign of the Black Redstart (Dan Webb reported a fem from Goldcliff Pill which may be the bird which has been loitering around the buildings by the seawall)? 39 Avocet, 71 Oystercatchers, 52 Curlew and 1 Gt Black-backed Gull. Hide 3 – the four Barnacle Geese were in with the Canada’s.

Main sighting: Goosander

(Heavy rain and bad visibility made it quite difficult to view and accurately record numbers. )
5 to 7 mostly male goosanders, several coot and moorhens, usual group of Canada geese, family of mute swans, countless mallards

Main sighting: Barn Owl

Barn owl at dawn quartering the meadows 07.30 am .flock of 50 plus and 100plus redwing feeding on old fallen fruit .Stayed with us all day whilst working on power lines .Goshawk in the open chasing woodpigeon and later this afternoon a female sprawk stalking the fieldfare .Others include raven (a regular pair rolling and mixed finch flock of linnet siskin and chaffinch .

Main sighting: Various plus a merlin

Quick visit late afternoon ..redwing and fieldfare in small numbers in hawth. 4 stonechat fem Sprawk sat on snipe platform ..seawall 100plus dunlin pretending to be starlings .320 Canada Geese coming in over the seawall .small skien of 5 barnacle geese also coming g in at low tide Females Merlin low over the meadow behind seawall hide .Tufted duck Shelduck Shoveler and teal in number and 4 snipe put up from sedge approaching seawall .Bosprey buzzards thingy is now frequenting the meadows opposite Whitstone .others include the Carrion Crows trying to mate on their new nest by the seawall 14 curlew at low tide and a really grumpy bunch of mallard fighting .and a partridge in a pear tree .p.s wear ya wellies its bogging …

Main sighting: Disturbance at Goldcliff Lagoons

There will be some disturbance at Goldcliff Lagoons on Thursday afternoon when we do our monthly monitoring of water levels and salinities. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Main sighting: Possible Bean Goose

This morning a dark grey goose feeding alone on the salt marsh towards the mouth of the Usk, viewed from the seawall. Tricky telescope view because of distance and buffeting wind. Had the build & shape of a Bean Goose, little contrast between the body plumage and the head/neck, distinct white edging to coverts/tertials (even at that distance). No breast banding or white on head. Mostly dark bill, so could not discern the lighter coloured patches. Flew briefly when disturbed by a gull, showing uniform underwing colouration. Discerning leg colour was the big problem – just looked dark greyish (?mud splashed) in the conditions, including the thick marsh grass hiding them most of the time. That feature apart, I felt able to rule out any other grey goose species with the exception of a possible hybrid. I’d be interested to know if anyone else picks it up.
Also 3 Barnacle Geese, Peregrine and female type Marsh Harrier

Main sighting: Avocet

A flock of at least 45 Avocets on the foreshore, Barnacle Goose 5 Canada Goose 225 lots of Teal, Shoveler and Wigeon Gadwall 5 Mallard 20 Curlew 30 Redshank 1 Peregrine 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker 2 Stonechat 4 Common Gull 2

Main sighting: Brent Goose

Juv Dark Bellied Brent Goose amongst Canada Geese near seawall

Main sighting: Winter thrushes

200 fieldfares approx, 50 redwings, 4 buzzards, 4 grey herons, a raven, a long tail tit.

Main sighting: Snipe

11-Snipe this morning.6 on south side of island and 5 on east side of peninsular.Also 1m-Kingfisher.I normally only post sightings from here on the Glamorgan web site as to my knowledge Hendre Lake is in Glamorgan.