Sightings

Main sighting: Passage Waders

2-4pm. Main sightings 8 Curlew Sandpiper and 3 ruff and juv little stint back of Priors.

A surprisingly stout bird with wings visible behind tail. For much of the time did not show obvious tramlines. Saw it fly and wings not unusually long. Don’t know if this was the same bird as yesterday but myself and another birder saw it in excellent light and could go to full magnification on our telescopes whilst maintaining clear image.

Main sighting: Barn owl

0601hrs, barn owl flying over the road and over the Lysaught building.

Main sighting: Great White Egret

0600 – 12noon visit, 57 species. Snipe platform – 3 kestrels, 3 chiffchaffs (contact calls), cettis, 9 lapwing, 12 little egrets, 215 black-tailed godwits, 2 ruff, gadwall, shoveler, teal, 5 mute swans, 2 house martins, 9 redshanks, gt white egret over at 0602 heading towards seawall tea rooms direction, 1 lt stint, female sparrowhawk, 6 wigeon, steady passage of sand martins (at least 145 birds), 2 yellow wagtails, green woodpecker calling, 18 swallows, 3 snipe, 2 curlew, 176 black headed gulls, reed warbler, 4 bar-tailed godwits in lovely plumage, 3 pintail came in and left straight away heading over the seawall and green sandpiper seen twice in flight. Hide three – female garganey, pair stonechats, female peregrine and a turnstone. Seawall – 54 ringed plover with 46 dunlin, 3 oystercatchers, 3 curlew, 1 grey plover and 128 shelduck. Back at Snipe platform – 12 knot, 1 ringed plover, curlew sandpipers now at 4 birds (3 feeding together) and 1 on its own, 2 avocet and a stock dove over. Hide one – 5 whinchat and 4 stonechats along the fence to the right of the hide.

Main sighting: Clouded yellow butterfly

Clouded yellow, painted lady and small copper between Peterstone and St Brides. Common sandpipers 3, turnstones 33, dunlin & ringed plover (flock of 200 combined), oystercatchers 25, curlew 2, redshanks, F pintails, teal, mallard, shelduck; M kestrel; F sparrowhawk; many herons; BHGs; whitethroat; wheatears on the wall.

Main sighting: Baird'sandpiper

Further to the posting by Chris Foster Brown. We saw the bird late evening. At fiest the sunlight was too bright to see much detail however even them the very long primary projection was evident. Later we had better views although at a distance of 250 metres. We agree with Chris that it looks good for Baird’s. Black legs, dark upper breast, gleaming white underparts even white scalloping to upper sides. Beak dark medium small. Head marking difficult at this range.

Main sighting: Migration

Large flock of house martins headed south over house in Llanyrafon this evening . Up to 400 mixed House Martin and Swallow just north of Usk this afternoon but being predated by a nearby hobby family and a juv peregrine falcon on a regular basis ..Hobby have done fairly well across 5 of my licensed sites and also a kingfisher with regularity on the Afon Llwyd due to clear water and low levels at Llanyrafon .

Main sighting: Black Kite

Adult Black Kite circled over Goldcliff Point area at 13.20, seen from the sea wall. Showed well in good light. Last seen circling over my head as I tried to log in to BirdGuides (which seems to have crashed!) So I didn’t see which direction (or if) it departed unfortunately. Couldn’t relocate it after a couple of hours trying.

Main sighting: Curlew Sandpiper

3-Curlew Sandpipers in the company of 2-Ruff and 1-Little Stint.Also,150+Black’wits,2-Avocets and 9-Knot.11h45-13h30

Main sighting: Whinchat

2-Whinchats,also 1-Common Whitethroat,1-Lesser Whitethroat in the same area.1m-Marsh Harrier and a Clouded Yellow,female butterfly,first of the year for me.10h00-11h30.

Main sighting: Unusual little stint

Couple of hours at Goldcliff before high tide today. Single greenshank, single green sandpiper, single avocet (juvenile) and two ruff from marsh screen. Also, what was almost certainly a little stint at the back of the lagoon here, associated with a ringed plover. This looked surprisingly elongated, and from the front, the primaries projected a long way behind the bird, to such an extent that they crossed over. It’s a long shot but it looked rather like Baird’s sandpiper. Probably not and too distant to get decent views. Also around were one yellow wagtail, at least 4 whinchat from furthest hide and single wheatear from there. Good numbers of black-tailed godwit and a smattering of knot. Two pintail from furthest hide. Sparrowhawk perched on hedge. I’d be interested to know what others make of the ‘stint’.

Main sighting: unusual stint

I haven’t seen this bird and it might be a Bairds. I have however been in the hides/platforms at Goldcliff and on three separate occasions over a number of years and seen excellent birders look at “long winged” Little Stints and call them as Bairds. It took a little while to persuade them they were Little Stints, Little Stints can look very sleek and long-winged, particularly in hot weather. I suspect it is a form of temperature control???

Main sighting: Wigeon

Two Wigeon on Dunlop Semtex Pond – first of autumn – along with a notable 130 Coot, single Little and Great Crested Grebes plus eight House Martins. Yesterday a female Wood Duck on Machine Pond – not seen today – probably one from the flock at the Festival Park lakes.