Sightings

Main sighting: Amendment

From yesterday’s sightings, forgot to add 16 black-tailed godwits on the third lagoon and a female juvenile sparrowhawk on the fence post from the redshank platform.

Main sighting: Mediterranean gull

1 med gull in among up to 200 black headed gulls; also 2 common sandpipers; 3 oystercatchers; 7 shelduck ducklings getting bigger; 2 little egrets; lots of reed warblers (some seen most heard, also whitethroat, chiff chaffs and will warbler

Main sighting: Short-eared Owl

0600 – 1215. Pheasant, chiffchaff 3, lesser whitethroat calling briefly, green woodpecker calling, cettis, common whitethroat and pied wagtail family group. Hide one – single curlew, 8 lapwing, 3 oystercatchers and 1 grey heron. Redshank platform – roost count of 105 adults and 5 juvs. Hide two – 9 gadwall flying past, 37 sand martins with several other similar sized groups throughout the morning aerial feeding, skylarks, 1 common sandpiper, 1 little ringed plover, fem marsh harrier quartering, linnets and a strange looking ringed plover type wader (pics submitted for checking). Seawall – 7 ravens, 5 house amrtins and 3 swallows mixed in with sand martins, 1 little egret, 29 roosting curlew, 17 oystercatchers, 98 shelduck and 2 great black-backed gulls following a boat. Hide three – great views of a short-eared owl that passed the hide and landed along several posts on the fence line followed by quartering along the grass bank between the far left corner and down towards hide 1. Also from here, male marsh harrier, 13 dunlin, 12 ringed plovers, 2 knot in partial breeding plumage, 12 teal, 4 mute swans, kestrel and 75 more redshanks. Other: pyramidal orchid still flowering well, lots of meadow browns with ringlet, red admiral and a painted lady also on the wing and a pair of emperor dragonflies mating by the sea wall embankment.

Main sighting: Short-Eared Owl

Short-Eared Owl, greenshank, common sandpiper.

Main sighting: Common Tern

1-Common Tern amongst 151+ Black Headed Gulls which included 4-juveniles,1-Common Sandpiper,and from sea wall hide;2-Knot in BP,1-Bar’wit,10-Black’wits in BP,On the tidal mud 1-Grey Plover in BP.1-Lesser Whitethroat near first hide.10h30-12h30

Main sighting: Common Tern

1st ptm: Common Sandpiper, Common Tern

Main sighting: Ring-necked Parakeet

Literally a minute ago 19.38 flying south from Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School …Single bird …Minutes prior to that I saw a Steve Doolan like a racing snake walking past my house …I’ve heard these birds are in Newport but it’s the first one I’ve seen outside of Clifton ..Parakeet that is not Steve .

Main sighting: Redstart

From the bench kingfisher, redstart on brambles opposite side of river, cormorant.

Main sighting: Various

Little Egret juv and adults 48in all along with 3 Grey Heron in a small pool under M48 bridge .Also a slightly bemused little owl on the motorway parapet .

Main sighting: Grey Plover

1-Grey Plover today,also 4-juvenile Black Headed Gulls amongst a flock of 160+BHGs

Main sighting: Curlew

Swallows, pheasant, skylarks, cettis calling, reed warbler singing, linnets, reed bunting family group and from the seawall 1 common whitethroat singing, 108 shelduck, 31 curlew, 27 lapwing, 1 heron and 1 little egret. Other: stoat running along the path, small tortoiseshell butterfly, large skipper and in the reen a mix of four-spotted and broad-bodied chasers and an emperor dragonfly egg laying with an azure damselfly landing on her back.

Main sighting: Juveniles

(No sign of spoonbill, garganey or wood sandpipers). Dawn – md-morning visit: Pheasants, chiffchaff 2, common whitethroat 1 male singing by hide 1, cettis calling, 6 skylarks, moorhen with 2 chicks and pied wagtail family group. Redshank Platform – 85 redshanks (46 more from hide 3), common buzzard, little egret 3 (1 juv), oystercatcher 5, lapwing 18, black-tailed godwit 2 (1 in breeding plumage), lesser whitethroat calling, dunlin 6, sanderling showing well, green woodpecker calling and 3 grey herons. Snipe Platform – juv little grebe present again, 2 pairs tufted ducks, reed warbler singing, gadwall 8, sand martins 42 with 2 swifts mixed in, 5 swallows elsewhere. Seawall – oystercatcher 21 and 45 curlew on the saltings. Mix of pied wagtails and meadow pipits along the sea wall and a pyramidal orchid half way down on the left towards hide 3. Hide three – teal 15, ringed plover 2, shelduck 23, mute swan 3, male marsh harrier, reed bunting bringing food to the nest and 3 little ringed plovers (adults). Hide one – black-headed gulls 92 with a single juvenile in front of the hide and 13 more ringed plovers. Other: good numbers of meadow browns, 1 small tortoiseshell.