Sightings

Main sighting: Commo Swift

Single swift over the village.

Main sighting: Swift

On a wet and misty day. Swift 4 first of the year for us. Whitethroat Lesser White Throat Reed Warbler Sedge Warbler Chiffchaff Cetti’s Warbler and Goldcrest singing. Swallow 100+ House Martin 10 Sand Martin 6.

Main sighting: Pied Flycatcher

One Wood Warbler seen and three others heard halfway from Blaenavon to Cwmavon. At Cwmavon, a Pied Flycatcher heard and briefly seen in flight.

Main sighting: Chicks

Mid-morning visit – en-route to hides, 1 buzzard, gt tits, pheasants, blue tits, robin, crows, woodpigeons, 3 swallows only, 2 chiffchaffs, 1 blackcap, magpies, lesser (1) and common whitethroats (3) singing. Hide one – 4 teal, 5 lapwing (one pair with 2 chicks and a second pair with 5 chicks), 11 redshanks, 8 dunlin, 17 avocet, mallards (pair with chicks), meadow pipit, 4 gadwall, 2 shoveler, Canada geese (pair with goslings). Hide two – cettis, 2 herons, 1 lt egret, 2 reed warblers, male cuckoo passed over the hide from the far side, headed off towards the seawall tea room direction, herring gulls. Snipe platform – tufted 3 male and 1 female, 3 lt grebes, 7 mute swans, 6 coot, greylags and long tailed tits. Seawall – 1 siskin overhead, shelduck, 1 curlew only and skylarks. Hide three – the 2 barnacle geese were present on the edge of the island preening, 7 more gadwall, goldfinches, 5 oystercatchers, reed bunting, 5 more shoveler, cormorant, 1 ringed plover. Back at hide one – 4 more ringed plovers, the barnacle geese relocated to lagoon 1, kestrel, starling and collard doves. Other: lots of orange tips on the wing, 1 small white, and 1 possible holly blue butterfly.

Main sighting: Cuckoo

Goldcrest, stonechat, 2 drumming gsw and a male cuckoo heard, song thrush, willow warbler, chiffchaff, m and f linnet.

Main sighting: Redpoll

Single redpoll, 2 cuckoo, Kestrel,numerous linnets, willow warblers, meadow pipits, wrens

Main sighting: Wood Warbler

Two Wood Warblers singing rather half-heartedly in the woods along the old railway (cycle path) between Blaenavon and Cwmavon. Two male Cuckoos calling. A few House Martins and Swallows but no Swifts yet.

Main sighting: Hobby

Single Hobby flying over Fox Hunters car around 6pm.

Main sighting: Cuckoo

Male Cuckoo calling on and off. Seen perched in a tree, ignored by a nearby Magpie and Woodpigeon. A female appeared, called briefly, and the pair flew off together with an escort of three Meadow Pipits.

Main sighting: Ring Ouzel

One Ouzel standing at the top of the quarry rock face, flushed by a passing Peregrine, flew over the top and not relocated. Pair of Kestrels. Only seven Wheatears.

Main sighting: Warblers

Late morning visit saw starlings, jackdaws, blue tits, greenfinch, reed warbler, woodpigeons, blackbirds, crows, pheasants, Canada geese, gt spotted woodpecker, buzzard, song thrush, great tits, 3 male common whitethroats, 1 chiffchaff, 2 blackcaps, skylark, rooks, pair stonechats, reed bunting, swallows and chaffinch. From the hide / pool 2 singing sedge warblers, numerous lt egrets and grey herons, cettis calling, mallards, robin, coot, 2 male lt grebes, 1 mute swan, moorhens and dunnock.

Main sighting: Barnacle geese / sandpipers / gt white egret

Dawn to mid-morning visit. Excellent variety with 60 species noted. En-route to hides – pheasants, wrens, blue tits, robin, 2 blackcaps, 2 chiffchaffs, moorhen, 2 cettis, 1 lesser whitethroat calling and 2 singing common whitethroats. Hide one – most of the activity seen with the almost black spotted redshank, 6 teal only (no wigeon), 2 cormorants, Canada geese, 11 shelduck, 21 avocet, 8 redshanks, 5 shoveler, crows, 5 whimbrel on the island, 2 coot, 5 gadwall, 2 oystercatchers, mallards, greylags, 2 lapwing, raven, blackbirds, 1 dunlin, 4 common sandpipers feeding together, skylarks, magpies, meadow pipits, herring gulls and jackdaws. Hide two – 2 herons, reed buntings, pair linnets, 2 swallows, 2 singing reed warblers, 3 lt egrets dropped in with 1 gt white egret. Snipe platform – 2 males and 1 female lt grebes, pair tufteds, dunnock, 9 mute swans and 10 more gadwall. Seawall – pair of barnacle geese on the saltings with the other geese, 11 black-tailed godwits (one with a leg flag reading E83), rook, 3 curlew, pied wagtails, goldfinch, 5 more swallows, ls black-backed gulls, 29 more dunlin with 12 ringed plovers mixed in and 1 house martin. Nothing new from hide 3. Back at hide one – 1 willow warbler singing, 35 swallows and 11 sand martins aerial feeding, kestrel, 2 more common sandpipers making the total 6, male sparrowhawk.