Sightings

Main sighting: Spoonbill

Spoonbill flying over reserve (didn’t see it wading) from Snipe screen 11am;
Around 48 species across Goldcliff and Nash including spotted redshank, ? 1000 dunlin; snipe; linnet, blackcap (M), greenfinch 3; GS woodpecker 3 – but still dipped the dartford and the black redstarts!

Main sighting: Common gulls

180 common gulls

Main sighting: Green woodpecker

Today on a walk with my dogs in Gaer Fort, Newport, I spotted a large bright green bird with a red cap. I was un sure what it was at first and thought it could be a ring necked parakeet now common in the UK. However it was too large and was solitary. It flew off from the ground as I got closer, into a tree. When it flew it would repeat a couple flaps of the wings and then dip with its wings tucked in. After some research at home I found out it was a green woodpecker, which my mum said are now less common here.

Main sighting: Swallow

This am: Swallow X 3 from sea wall also black redstart.

Main sighting: Dartford Warbler

Mid-morning visit – Collard dove, chaffinch, redwings, woodpigeons, buzzard (light-phase bird), pheasant, crows, moorhens, starlings, goldfinches, fieldfares, mute swan, goldcrest, song thrush, dunnock, great tit. Hide 1 – good count of 350 lapwings, 66 wigeon, 6 shelduck, wren, 3 snipe, 6 black-tailed godwits, 14 redshanks (spotted redshank mixed in), female kestrel, 25 teal, 10 shoveler, Canada geese. Hide 2 – herring gulls, black headed gulls, ravens, cormorant, 14 greylag geese, 1 little egret. Seawall – 11 curlew only, oystercatchers and a small flock of dunlin. Hide 3 – the Dartford warbler had been seen earlier from the Marsh platform, no luck for me there, but I located it opposite hide 3 where it was frequenting the reeds and vegetation with a pair of stonechats, female reed bunting, cettis warbler and a robin. Meadow pipits and 3 gadwall also seen.

Main sighting: Brambling

A lovely male Brambling with the Chaffinches this morning. Except for last winter, only a very occasional visitor.

Main sighting: Tufted Duck

There was a young male Tufted Duck diving just below the Monnow Bridge in Monmouth today at 11.00, amongst the usual Mallards

Main sighting: Redwing

The GOS walk at Llandegfedd Reservoir this am led by Gavin Vella identified the following species: Redwing, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Goldcrest, Tree Creeper, Nuthatch, Long-tailed Tit, Robin, Wren, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Meadow Pipit, Raven, Carrion Crow, Buzzard, Peregrine Falcon, Wood Pigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black-back, Great Black-backed Gull, Common Gull, Cormorant, Goosander, Mallard, Wigeon,
Teal, Canada Goose, Great Crested Grebe, Pied wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Siskin, Goldfinch,
Bullfinch, Grey Heron.

Main sighting: Waders

Woodpigeons, blue tits, great tits, blackbirds, wrens, 2 herons, 15 widgeon on the pool, long tailed tits, starlings and chaffinches. Sea wall / saltings – another 156 widgeon, Canada geese, song thrush, mallards, fem sparrowhawk perched up, skylarks, meadow pipits, kestrel, 31 curlew, 12 redshank, 10 knot, 15 grey plovers, 300+ dunlin, buzzard, cormorant, shoveler, teal, adult gt black-backed gull, herring gulls, fem marsh harrier and a robin.

Main sighting: Raptors

Very quiet despite a very high tide, lagoons too full for waders. Chaffinches, crows, moorhens, magpie. Hide 1 – widgeon 22, curlew 11, redshanks 9, fieldfares, black-tailed godwits 9, fem marsh harrier, cettis, single shelduck, mallards, wren, good count of 264 lapwing (several separate groups merging), teal 2, starlings and redwings. Hide 2 – 9 knot, 5 snipe, male peregrine passing through, Canada geese, pied wagtails, meadow pipits, 5 skylarks, male kestrel and distant dunlin flying.

Main sighting: Marsh Tit

An afternoon walk along the track on the right side of the Gaer. Jay, 2 wrens, a marsh tit on a branch of a beech tree, blue tit on a conifer tree, 3-4 chaffinches on the ground eating beech masts, 2 buzzards, 2 robins, blackbird, meadow pipit, 2 ravens and a red kite flying north towards the mountains.

Main sighting: Common Gull

Common Gull (4); among many Black Headed Gulls; Widgeon; Teal; Gadwall; Shoveler; Mute Swan; Heron; Dabchick; Mallard; Buzzard (2); Redwing; Mistle Thrush.