Sightings

Main sighting: Amendment

Apologies, my sightings were for Saturday 1st not Sunday 2nd August.

Main sighting: Waders

Dawn visit at high tide. All three lagoons this morning had good numbers of birds, especially waders.
Priors is going from strength to strength.
Todays list –
Black-Tailed Godwits ( total 300+) main flock on Priors and seems to be growing every week. Avocets, Dunlins, Redshank, Ruff ( not the one with the dodgy leg), Curlew, Lapwings, Common Sandpiper, Black-Headed Gulls, Gerring Gull, Lesser-Black Backed Gulls, Little Egrets, Grey Heron, Carrion Crows, Yellow Wagtails and Pied Wagtails. Loads of Geese and some Mallards.
“Flossy” the Glossy ibis put in an appearnce on Priors early on before dissapperaing into the reed bed.

Main sighting: Great White Egret

GWE still at upper lake. Lovely to point it out to a young birder, who then got a close range fly-past 🙂

Main sighting: Raptors

Sparrowhawk, red kite and buzzard all seen in / above Blaen Bran; also stonechat (lots on moors), wheatear, willow warbler, grey wagtail

Main sighting: Redstart

2 Redstart, 1 juvelnile Stonechat, 2 Common Sandpiper

Main sighting: Ruff

Low-tide: Ruff 1 (injured right leg) Avocet 1 Green Sandpiper 1 Common Sandpiper 2 Little Ringed Plover 2 Ringed Plover 4 Dunlin 300 Knot 10 (one BP) Black-tailed Godwit 60 Redshank 40
Oystercatcher 50 Snipe 1 Curlew 20 Little Egret 12 Glossy Ibis 1 Mallard 55 Shoveler 4 Shelduck 6 Grey Heron 1 Stock Dove 1 Sand Martin 20 Raven 1 Pied Wagtail 2 Linnet 2
Black-headed Gull 150

Main sighting: Pied Flycatcher

Female/juvenile Pied Flycatcher in scrub by Hafod Road along with two juvenile Redstarts.

Main sighting: Chats

At least one family each of whinchat and stonechat. Also two dark green fritillaries

Main sighting: Hobby

Hobby over fields between Coedkernew and Marshfield, also Sedge Warbler.
Good morning at Goldcliff also – 200 dunlin, redshank, godwit, knot, avocet, little egret, grey heron, canada and greylag geese, ringed plover, pied wagtail, shelduck, black headed gulls++ and the glossy ibis showed well

Main sighting: Hobby

Chiffchaff 2, blackcap 1. Hide 1 – swallow 11, curlew 6, cormorant 2. Snipe platform – shelduck 7, ringed plover 25, grey heron 2, redshank 90, black-tailed godwit 296 with 20 knot mixed in, yellow wagtail 2, reed bunting 1, sedge warbler 1, glossy ibis (showed 4 times during the visit), little egret 6, greylag geese (pair with rings and one chick -Z4d and Z4C), ravens, lapwing 9, sand martin 7, skylark alarm calling and a stoat emerged from the soft rushes with a small bird possibly a lark or pipit and ran off down the bank towards the hedge, teal 8, shoveler 6, fem marsh and 2 common snipe. Marsh platform – lt ringed plover 1, Seawall – 46 curlew on the mudflats with 220 shelduck beyond and another 84 on the sea, 2 gt black-backed gulls. Hide 3 – 2 yellow wagtails on the fence, 20 oystercatchers, 26 teal and a single wigeon. Redshank platform – black-headed gull roost comprised 545 adults and 5 juvs, 2 1cy med gulls also, 12 turnstone, common buzzard, 2 common and 1 green sandpipers, 1 sanderling, 35 more ringed plovers, female sparrowhawk and a hobby over. 10 avocet seen one with colour rings (green over white (left leg) green over yellow marked Z (right leg) – sighting submitted to the wader society.

Main sighting: Wheatear

Sorry for late posting, just going over my notes, but a male wheatear was showing well on the mountain towards Mynydd Llangattock where there was a family group of stonechats, 1 redstart, 5 willow warblers and 2 spotted flycatchers.

Main sighting: Green Sandpiper

One Green Sandpiper upstream of the railway bridge. Three Common Sandpipers and a Little Egret. Flock of 55 Lesser Black-backed Gulls in a ploughed field.