Sightings
Mike and Jackie Pointon
Machen river Rhymney
Sun 13th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Goosander
Goosander 3 redheads Grey Wagtail 2 Chiffchaff 1.
Blair Jones and Paul Joy
Goldcliff Lagoons
Sat 12th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Great White Egrets and waders
Arrived before dawn. Great White Egrets x 3 on Monks Lagoon near the sluice. ( Record pics on Twitter).
Priors Lagoon. – The wader flock was concentrated near the Marsh Platform. Glossy Ibis x 1, Black Tailed Godwits x 250+, Greenshank 1, Knots x 100c. Redshank x 30, Lapwings x 40, Dunlin x 8. Snipe x 8 ( more also seen around the reed edges. Peregrine x 1 attacked wader flock. Short time after a Black Tailed Godwit was observed trying to stand and failed and later seems to have died.
Vismig observed – lots of Meadow Pipits passing through, Swallows and House Martines. Yellow Wagatils and Wheatars. Chiff Chaffs calling from hedgerows
Foreshore – Oystercatches x 20, Curlews x 20, Shelduck x 100.
Becs – Sparrowhawk and Meadow Pipits and Little Egret.
Ducks seem to be growing in number – Shovelers , Teal and Mallards.
Dragonflies – Common Darters, Southern Hawkers.
Butterflies, Small and Large Whites and Small Copper.
Iain Crawford
Tregate to Skenfrith
Fri 11th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Kestrel
Female kestrel, 40+ ravens, 5 buzzards, goldcrest,, wren, 4 jays, 3 green woodpeckers
Keith Roylance
Goldcliff
Wed 9th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Black-tailed Godwits
Significant numbers of waders. Sightings were: Mute Swan, Canada Geese, 2 Teal, Mallard, 120 Shoveler, 2 Little Egret, Grey Heron, Sparrowhawk, Moorhen, 34 Ringed Plover, 99 Lapwing, 40 Knot, 1 Little Stint, 50 Dunlin, 11 Snipe, 200 Black-tailed Godwit, 6 Curlew, 50 Redshank, 2 Greenshank, Black-headed Gulls, Woodpigeon, 1 House Martin, Carrion Crow, 2 Raven, 1 Greenfinch.
David R oberts
Two Locks
Wed 9th Sep 2020
Main sighting: KIngfisher
KIngfisher perching on branches then flying along the canal at Two Locks around 6.00 this evening.
Blair Jones
Goldcliff Lagoons
Sun 6th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Waders and Passage
Visited just after dawn.
Lots of movement going on in the skies above the lagoons.
Passage birds- Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins particualrly over Becs and sea wall. Flocks of Siskins flying throgh Westwards.
Priors Lagoon – The Black Tailed Godwits 25o+ joined by nice flock of Knots 170c., Dunlin and Redshank. Greenshank also showed.
Monks Lagoon – Dunlin and Ringed Plover flock on the mud viewable from Hide 1. There were Curlew Sandpipers x 2 ( pics on my blog) and I saw 1 Little Stint but reliably told their was a second. Kestrel was todays protagonist causing some panicked wader flocks.
Lapwings showing well on Priors Lagoon mainly 30+ birds.
Numbers of ducks seem to be increasing. Shovelers and Teal. Paul Joy saw 4 Wigeon on Becs.
Wheatear and Yellow Wagtails reported on the Sea Wall and Meadow Pipits were seen flying through the reserve.
Adrian & Charlotte Edwards
Peterstone Gout
Sun 6th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Curlew Sandpiper, Golden Plover, Weasel
Curlew sandpiper with numerous redshank; common sandpiper; 2 golden plover with c100 each of Ringed Plover and Dunlin; similar numbers of oystercatchers and curlew; plenty of swallows still; female pintails have arrived to join shelduck and mallards++. Little egrets, grey heron, black headed gulls, linnets, stonechat, goldfinches; and then great view of weasel scuttling back and fore across path 10m in front. red admiral also.
Neville Davies
Goldcliff Lagoons
Sat 5th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Knot
Green woodpecker, chiffchaff 2 (contact calls) and stock dove 1. Hide 1: single pintail flying past, 48 ringed plovers with 58 dunlin, 1 little stint and 1 sanderling mixed in. Redshank platform – 2 greenshank flying towards the power station, single avocet, 1 grey heron, 3 little egrets, grey wagtail overhead, 15 lapwing and 2 knot. Marsh platform – glossy ibis flying up quite high and heading towards Uskmouth, 3rd greenshank dropped in, 106 knot mixed in with 256 black-tailed godwits (ringed bird still present),6 dunlin, 5 house martins and a kingfisher flying along the hedge in the field. Hide 3 – 13 siskins in a group overhead, 6 curlew, 3 skylarks, 2 yellow wagtails and a pair of stonechats on the fence. Seawall – masses of shelduck with curlew and oystercathers and 4 sand martins over. 3 common buzzards (including the light-morph bird) over hide 1. Other: Migrant and Southern Hawkers around the bramble bushes by hide 1.
Ruth Brown
Abergavenny
Fri 4th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Swallows
A steady stream of Swallows over the garden: a regular occurence every Autumn, when hirundines stop to feed round the huge Sycamore beyond my garden.
Mark Davies
Abergavenny
Fri 4th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Swift
2 Swifts still over the garden this morning with 12-15 House Martins
Allan Dowson
Peterstone
Fri 4th Sep 2020
Main sighting: Goldfinch
A large flock of Goldfinches,mostly juveniles,probably over 100 birds.Also a Peregrine flew over spooking all the shorebirds.10h30
Chris Forster Brown
Chippy fields Monmouth
Wed 2nd Sep 2020
Main sighting: Hobby
Hobby frantically chasing hirundines over Chippy Fields, Monmouth at lunchtime today. Much swooping and diving, not sure if successful.