Sightings

Main sighting: Cuckoo show

En-route to hides – wrens, blackcap,, pheasant, cuckoo calling, magpies, woodpigeons, robin, crows, collard dove, herring gulls, sparrows, jackdaws, Canada geese, mallards, chiffchaff, blackbird, whitethroat, kestrel, moorhen and goldfinch. Hide one – skylarks, 10 avocet, 5 grey herons, 8 redshanks (chicks seen), 2 lapwing, ls black-backed gull, 30 black-tailed goswits (mostly non-breeding birds), coot, greylags, 3 oystercatchers, 3 gadwall, 1 ringed plover and 3 shelduck. Hide two – cettis, pied wagtail (ad and juvenile), 3 shoveler, 3 lt egrets, starlings and ls whitethroat calling. Snipe platform – 3 male and 2 female tufted ducks, pair lt grebes, 6 swans, gt tit, 6 cormorants flying in, 2 swifts, reed warbler, reed bunting, stonechats, swallow and a male peregrine quite high. Hide three – spoonbill (which flew onto the saltings), sedge warbler singing in front of the hide, 3 more ringed plovers, 10 more avocet, 6 more redshanks, pair teal and pair wigeon still present (no sign of the pintail pair) and meadow pipits. Seawall – 4 curlew and 13 distant turnstones. Back close to hide 2, male cuckoo chasing a female and joined by a second male (possibly the same 3 as last Saturday)? Other: green-veined white butterfly.

Main sighting: Spotted Flycatcher

2-Spotted Flycatchers.Singing Garden Warbler,Blackcap and Redstart.Good numbers of Sand Martins nesting in the river bank.Also many Swifts both flying high and over the river 100+ possibly.11h00-13h30.

Main sighting: WOODCOCK & NIGHTJAR

10pm – Temperature only 10C. No flying insects apparent.
Close flypast from woodcock. Many distant contact calls and croaks heard.
Nightjar – heard short bursts twice. Saw a short distant flight

Main sighting: Spotted Flycatcher

Probable first bird back in the village in castle grounds. None seen there two days earlier; later than usual arrival as with other migrants. Seem to be finding more Lesser Whitethroats than usual in N Monmouthshire and S Herefordshire this year.

Main sighting: Cuckoo & Lesser Redpoll

On the lakes were coot, Canada geese, mallards with young and a heron. Around the two lakes were robin’s, chaffinch’s, 4 goldfinch’s, song thrush, magpie’s, chiffchaff’s and willow warblers. I heard a cuckoo and whilst sat on a bench between the two lakes I saw one cross from one side of the valley to the other. Opposite the lakes there is a bird breeding area and along the lower path amongst the broom, gorse and willow tree’s was a male bullfinch feeding on a flower and a lesser redpoll was perched in a scot’s pine tree.

Main sighting: House Martins

Several pairs breeding under the eaves of the taller houses.

Main sighting: Yellow Wagtail

Single male bird seen near field edge directly to the east of Ysgyryd Fach

Main sighting: red kite

red kite spotted high and heading west at midday

Main sighting: Wood Warbler

Update – three singing males plus two other silent birds (probably females) seen with one of the males so numbers at least as good as last year. Heard a Nightjar chur for 2 seconds on Beacon Hill – first time I’ve heard this in daytime. Also Redstart singing on edge of the heath there plus species previously reported.

Main sighting: Cuckoo's

En-route to hides: chiffchaffs, magpie, crows, chaffinch, pheasant, blackbirds, wrens, whitethroat, moorhen, cettis, goldfinches, lesser whitethroat, collard dove, buzzard with small bird in its talons and 6 cormorants in a skein. Hide one – skylarks, Canada geese and greylags (with young), 3 oystercatchers, coot, 6 redshanks, 13 gadwall, 12 avocet, gt tit, 2 shoveler, 4 lapwing, 3 lt egrets, mallards (pair with 7 young), jackdaws, meadow pipits, 2 ringed plovers, 3 swallows, 2 herons, 4 shelduck, ls black-backed gull, 18 black-tailed godwits, stonechat and 2 gt white egrets. Hide two – reed warbler and a female cuckoo chased by2 male cuckoos. Snipe platform – 14 swans, 4 pairs lt grebes, 2 more singing reed warblers, reed bunting, 2 black headed gulls, 5 males and 2 female tufted ducks. Hide three – pair ringed plovers on the island with 2 chicks, pair pintail, pair wigeon, pair of teal, 2 swifts and fem marsh harrier. Seawall – 7 dunlin only.

Main sighting: Yellow Wagtail

Yellow wagtail/gold crest/many skylarks/possible wood warblers/
Willow warbler/Tawney Owl.

Main sighting: Red kite

Red kite circling above my house at 10am. Celtic Horizon estate near Tredegar Park.