Sightings

Main sighting: Hobby

WeBs count: Hobby flew over Becs chasing Swallows. Good numbers of ducks including 5 Pintail Teal 61 Gadwall 4 Wigeon 51 Shoveler 53
Whitethroat 1 Chiffchaff 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 Kingfisher 2 Snipe 4 Ruff 3 Greenshank 1 Dunlin 62

Main sighting: Swift

Forgot to add to Saturday’s Goldcliff list, single common swift over the reserve at 11.50hrs.

Main sighting: Barnacle geese

4 barnacle geese in western bay. Also green and gs woodpeckers, jay, 2 ravens, 2 great crested grebes, kestrel. 3 buzzards, heron. At Llandenny, a red kite. At Usk Bridge, 7 goosanders, 4 grey wagtails, a little egret and a reed bunting.

Main sighting: Red Kite

Dawn – mid-day: Cettis calling by redshank platform. Hide 2 – little egrets 4, teal 48, ringed plover 1, heron 3, black-tailed godwits 6, skylarks, linnets, pair of greenshank, 8 snipe, 76 lapwing, 9 ruff feeding together at one point, sedge warbler along the reeds ahead with 2 yellow wagtails close by, 41 dunlin, pair of kestrels, white wagtail (male), 2 wheatear, single whinchat (juv female) and 5 knot – all the waders took flight when a juv female marsh harrier came across low but resettled eventually. 7 stock doves in flight together (and 1 feeding near to hide 1) and steady stream of swallows passing trough in small groups. Common whitethroat and 8 chiffchaffs in the hedge row behind the hide. Snipe platform – pair of tufted ducks, 15 shoveler, 31 wigeon, 8 gadwall and a pair of lt grebes. Seawall – high tide but an excellent count of 373 sheldcuk on the water and the saltings with 106 curlew and a gt black-backed gull. Hide 3 – single bar-tailed godwit and whimbrel, 56 oystercatchers, 3 sand martins and another 5 wheatears. A red kite was circling near the entrance on the way out. Other: southern hawkers, 2 male common darters, 1 meadow brown, 1 speckled wood and several small whites.

Main sighting: 1 Wood Sandpiper

Highlights between 11 and 13.45 were, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and 2 Little Stints among a flock of about 100 Dunlin and 20 Ringed Plover, 3 Ruff, 1 Wood Sandpiper and 3 Wheatear and 2 Whinchat, on wire , close to the second hide

Main sighting: SEO and Waders

Very similar to what was seen last night: Short-eared Owl 1 Becs crammed with birds Black-headed Gull 350 Curlew 300 Whimbrel 1 Black-tailed Godwit Oystercatcher 80 100 Bar-tailed Godwit 1 Ruff 6 Little Stint 2 Little Ringed Plover 2 Redshank 1 Snipe 1 Greenshank 3 Avocet 1 Lapwing 30. A flock of circa 50 Yellow Wagtails came in to roost, Wheatear 3 Stonechat 1

Main sighting: Barn Owl and lots of waders

High Tide Visit from 6pm.
Marsh Harrier, Kestrel and 3 Ruff and Yellow Wagtails on Monks Lagoon.
Priors Lagoon was full of the usual ducks and geese ( notably some Wigeon).
Seawall and bales of hay Wheatars and Meadow Pipits. Swallows overhead and Sand Martins.
Becs Lagoons was full of birds. 200 + Black Headed Gulls, 30+ Oystercatchers, 1 x Wood Sandpiper ( I have video record), 150+ Curlews ( unable to see any coloured rings) . 100+ Black Tailed Godwits. 7 x Ruff, 2 c Greenshank, 30 + Dunlins ( unable to id anything else in with them as they landed on the other side of the Island.) 50+ Lapwings 1 x Little Egret, Wheatears on the bales of hay.
After sunset in near darkness Barn Owl seen ( may be fighting initially with another owl possibly a Shorty) behind Redshank Platform. Later the Barn Owl was relocated in the field near the Snipe Platform on the reserve quartering between the bales of hay and landed on a post briefly . ( record video and pic).

Main sighting: Garden warbler

Recorded Garden Warbler singing in hedgerow thicket bordering meadows this evening, Total of four birds flitting through canopy. Kingfisher flying down river opposite banks with sand martin activity earlier in the year.

Main sighting: Sparrowhawk

Sparrowhawk and buzzard over village, 3pm

Main sighting: Mediterranean Gull

Common Gull 1 Mediterranean Gull 1 ad (NB) Knot 15 Redshank 50 Ringed Plover4 Black-tailed Godwit 1 Dunlin 40 Curlew 3 Pintail 10 Wigeon 12 Teal 30 Mallard 50 Wheatear 2 Mistle Thrush 12 Chiffchaff 2 Swallow 40 Others: Migrant Hawker 2 Common Darter 4

Main sighting: Mediterranean Gull

An evening visit very busy there. High tide, An adult Mediterranean Gull (WP) hawking insects with BHG’s. Wheatear 1 Whitethroat 1.
Migrant Hawker 10 Common Darter 1 Large White 1 Common Blue 3

Main sighting: White Wagtail

0600-noon. Hide one – redshanks, roost of 43 curlew (no ringed birds) and 2 herons. Hide two – 3 snipe, 126 black-tailed godwits which flew off at 0713 climbing high and migrating, 10 teal, 71 lapwing, 2 ringed plovers, 15 shoveler, 8 chiffchaffs in the hedge behind the hide and a female redstart there later, 3 little egrets, 5 common buzzards (4 circling together, 5th one by the Point), ravens, 1 wheatear (3 more on seawall and a further 7 on the hay bales from seawall), 2 oystercatchers, 3 ruff, black headed gulls and large movement of sand martins in flocks of 105, 86, 60 then smaller groups at least 400+ counted through the morning, cettis calling, 2 cormorants, 15 mute swans, 8 stock doves, a pair of kestrels, 2 dunlin only and a white wagtail feeding on the mud opposite the hide. Snipe platform – pintail, 2 little grebes, 2 tufted ducks, 57 more teal, wigeon now at 31, gadwall 11 and a female sparrowhawk (seen 3 times during the morning at one point trying to catch a yellow wagtail on the hay bale). Seawall – 1 gt black-backed gull, at least 73 yellow wagtails counted most of them on the hay bales along with 2 whinchats, 44 more dunlin on the saltings, greenshank and 1 bar-tailed godwit on the 3rd lagoon. A red kite was circling opposite hide 1 on the way back out. Other: 1 common blue, 1 painted lady, speckled woods, small whites, 1 green-veined white, 1 migrant hawker, 5 common darters.