Sightings

Main sighting: Partial roundup

Rain stopped play so only hide 1 visited – en-route collard dove, wren, starlings, herring gulls, crows, chaffinches, pheasant, song thrush, woodpigeons, blue tits, magpies, moorhens and redwings. Hide one – 10 black-tailed godwits, 108 wigeon, 95 teal, 25 shoveler, 2 gadwall, blackbird, 5 mute swans and 1 lapwing.

Main sighting: Woodcock

Woodcock flushed from the undergrowth along side path in the Tumble valley near the lower foot bridge. This is my 4th sighting of a woodcock in the area this winter.

Main sighting: short eared owl

1330hrs Flushed a SEO from Magor pill area and it flew NE towards the private area of foreshore, viewed at distance before disappearing into the spartina.
Bit disturbed at seeing 3 guys with shotguns walking along the shoreline but as this is private land difficult to object.

Main sighting: Weekly roundup

Fairly quiet today despite a high tide. En-route to hides – Chiffchaff contact call, crows, robin, woodpigeons, chaffinch, herring gulls, starlings, magpie, song thrush in song, blue tits, great tit and the light-morph buzzard on a distant telegraph pole. Hide one: Wren, 3 curlew, 138 lapwing, 1 heron, 52 shoveler, 168 teal, 162 wigeon, male kestrel hunting and water rail calling. Hide two – blackbird, 1st year male marsh harrier, moorhen, mallards, 1 redshank only, 8 gadwall and 2 distant gt black-backed gulls following the seawall. En-route to platform – pair of stonechats, 7 fieldfares, 11 redwings, female kestrel perched up and a female reed bunting. Snipe platform – tufted numbers up with 8 males and 5 females feeding. Seawall – high tide so not much saltings and mud exposed – another 69 curlew seen, shelduck, black headed gulls and house sparrows only. Hide three – 3 cormorants, Canada and greylags, meadow pipits and 2 skylarks.

Main sighting: Chiffchaff

Wintering chiffchafff feeding amongst the willows. Also seen, female marsh harrier, cettis calling, pheasant, 2 gadwall mallards, pair of bullfinches and 5 skylarks overhead.

Main sighting: Snipe

7-Snipe were seen from the hide,standing on fallen reeds looking right from the hide.Haven’t seen Snipe here before.Apart from the Snipe it was very quiet bird wise.

Main sighting: waders

A windy midday walk along the foreshore gave singles of grey heron, little egret, grey plover, a flock of 300 starlings, 400 woodpigeons, flock of 50 fieldfares/redwings, several pairs of curlew, a few wigeon, mallard, shelduck, at Magor pill @ 30 redshank with a few dunlin mixed in and a couple of mistle thrushes in the field next to the sewage works.

Main sighting: unknown - believed unusually large raptor

very large bird about twice size of buzzard, broad wings with very slow wing beats. appeared to be raptor and not heron type bird. Lots of buzzards and a few goshawks in area above Fox Wood but this was much bigger. flying north to south.

Main sighting: 2 black swans

2 swans swimming together.

Main sighting: Weekly roundup

Quiter bird wise due to the lagoons being frozen over. En-route to hides – crows, woodpigeons, pheasants, starlings, chaffinch, gt spotted woodpecker, herring gulls, blue tits, magpies, fieldfares, blackbirds, cettis, redwings, robin and gt tit. Hide one – Canada geese, pair stonechats, 127 lapwing, 2 snipe overhead and female kestrel. Hide two – buzzard only. Snipe platform – one unfrozen bit of water in the middle held 24 mute swans, 8 shoveler, 10 coot and 1 gadwall huddled together. Female peregrine passed through just over the reeds, water rail squealing, goldcrest, meadow pipit, house sparrows and 3 wrens. Seawall – most of the activity on the mudflats with 16 grey plovers, 55 curlew, 54 avocet, mallards, 38 dunlin, 25 oystercatchers, 55 wigeon only, 31 teal only, black headed gulls, 1 redshank only, ls black-backed gulls and a male peregrine perched on the washed up tree in the saltings. Hide three – 1st year male marsh harrier only other species. Song thrush and moorhens en-route back to car park.

Main sighting: Marsh tit & Red Kite

The waxwings, curlew and redshank were at the teifi marshes nature reserve, pembrokeshire.

Main sighting: Marsh tit & Red Kite

Recently returned from a bird expedition where I watched 8 turnstones (7th) at Aberaeron ( north beach ), 12 turnstones (9th) below the pier plus the starlings at Aberystwyth. A majestic rare male hen harrier (10th) late afternoon/early evening on dowrog moor and 3 waxwings, a curlew and a redshank, both sites in pembrokeshire. In tree’s below the skirrid were 6 chaffinches. On the hill there were 2 wren’s, 10 blackbirds, 2 fieldfare’s, mistle thrush, red kite and a buzzard. On a bird feeder at the Steppes a marsh tit was feeding and a male sparrowhawk flew across fields next to Ty Newydd house.