Sightings

Main sighting: Hirundines

If you are wondering whete your spring migrants are , as in the noteable lack of Swallows and Martins etc there were over 200 on the town waters this evening .

Main sighting: Pochard

4 chiffchaffs, 2 pheasants, 2 blackcaps, pair of common whitethroats and cettis. Hide one – 10 redshanks, 1 lt ringed plover, 5 ravens, 1 fly-over whimbrel, 3 lapwing, 3 herons. Redshank platform – 3 greenshanks feeding together, 9 gadwall, 1 ringed plover, lesser whitethroat calling, 17 shelduck, 2 lt egrets, 2 fly-past stock doves, 29 teal, reed warbler singing, single black-tailed godwit, 2 buzzards, pair of linnets and 2 swallows. Snipe platform – 12 mute swans and a male little grebe. Seawall – wheatear around the manure pile area, 6 more swallows, 4 whimbrel feeding with 3 bar-tailed godwits all together just over the seawall itself. Hide three – 2 avocet, a further 40 black-tailed godwits, 12 shoveler, a very pale female type mallard, 26 more shelduck, kestrel, male common pochard, 1 cormorant, 1 fly over curlew, reed bunting and a pair of oystercatchers. Back at hide 1 at 16.30hrs, 101 dunlin present prior to high tide.

Main sighting: Goosanders

6f 4m goosanders, 1 greylag, 2 grey wagtails, numerous sand Martins, 2 kingfishers, 4 buzzards, 2 stock doves, 4 little egrets, a common sandpiper

Main sighting: Yellow Wagtail

Yellow Wagtail seen from hide 2 across on far bank mud flats Flew across to left corner of island and then back again.

Other sightings include Whitethroat Chiffchaff. Redshank. Ringed Plover
Kestrel. Marsh Harrier. Wren. Skylark
Linnet

Main sighting: Whimbrel

An evening visit 17:45-19:45 A Whimbrel on the foreshore was our first for the year. Common Sandpiper 1 Black-tailed Godwit 8 Wheatear 1 Whitethroat Lesser Whitethroat Chiffchaff Reed and Cetti’s Warblers Swallow 3

Main sighting: Curlews

Really lucky (and thrilled) to see one of our Curlew pairs mating this morning. Flocks of c.30 Sand Martins at two sites, a few Swallows and House Martins, a single Yellow Wagtail, and a probable Goosander nest tree. Please keep sending any Curlew sightings to Curlew@gwentbirds.org.uk – every record helps.

Main sighting: Red Kite

Circling alone, overhead very casually,.

Main sighting: Sand Martin

Single Sand Martin at territory.

Main sighting: Wood Warbler

Wood Warbler singing on the old railway line (cycle path) between Blaenavon and Cwmavon. Also Redstart, two Blackcaps, two Chiffchaffs and eight Willow Warblers.

Main sighting: Hen Harrier (male)

Whilst driving to Goldcliff lagoons myself and 2 friends observed a male hen harrier slowly heading north across the road just before the Farmers Arms at 9.30am.

On the lagoons we also recorded 2 oystercatchers, a curlew, a few avocet over the sea wall, a little egret, 3 house martins, a sedge warbler, a raven and a male sparrowhawk plus many of the records of Neville Davies and the 2 knot by Allan Dowson.

Main sighting: Ring necked parakeet

On peanut feeder in the garden in the Garden Festival site.

Main sighting: Arctic tern

6 singing chiffchaffs, 1 blackcap, 1 cettis, 1 lesser whitethroat behind lapwing platform singing, 1 reed warbler and 1 common whitethroat. Hide 1 – 2 lt egrets, 49 shelduck, 3 pairs lapwing, 11 ringed plovers, 37 dunlin and a bar-tailed godwit which dropped in briefly. 2 swallows en-route to redshank platform and 72 sand martins in total, in small groups throughout mid-morning to early afternoon, 1 balck-tailed godwit, skylark, male kestrel, linnets, 9 redshank, 3 gadwall, 5 shoveler, 15 teal, 2 herons and drumming gt spotted woodpecker. Snipe platform – 2 pairs tufteds and 11 black headed gulls overhead. Hide 3 – 8 more gadwall and 16 more shelduck, cormorant, reed bunting and green woodpecker. An hour sea watching sat down the other side of the sea wall produced only 1 arctic tern (good numbers reported earlier today from the Severn side).