Sightings

Main sighting: Great white egret

Great white egret and 1 Mediterranean Gull just feeding just other side of second Severn crossing. Then flew off east. Also wall butterfly on top of marshal sudbrook my first here

Main sighting: Night jar

1930 hrs hunting insects over golf course

Main sighting: Sparrowhawk

Female sparrowhawk over my garden 5.30pm

Main sighting: Little Egret

Four Little Egrets at a site where I’d previously only ever seen one (with the possibility of two once); Yellow and Pied Wagtail young; Sand Martin colony still active.

Main sighting: 3 kestrels

3 kestrels quartering the seawall midday 23/7; successful fledging presumably. Redshanks starting to gather in numbers again; hundreds of BHGs; shelducks and mallards; 20 oystercatchers; 3 curlews; 1 little egret.

Main sighting: Great white egret

0615-1000hrs, 46 species seen, of note were 4 chiffchaffs, 1 cettis, 1 willow warbler in sub-song, 1 reed warbler (contact call), pheasant and skylark. Redshank platform – 5 swallows, 15 swifts, 55 lapwing, 5 ringed plover, 2 little egrets, green woodpecker yaffling, 3 cormorants over. Snipe platform – 1 heron, 10 mute swans, 65 mallards. Seawall – good movement of sand martins (excess of 200 birds) aerial feeding, 7 more swift, 5 curlew, 1 whimbrel, 1 black-tailed godwit on the mud, 5 yellow wagtails, 42 greylags coming in. Marsh platform – 3 more black-tailed godwits feeding, 2 teal, 14 gadwall, 1 common snipe, 5 little ringed plovers (3 juvs and 2 adults), kestrel hovering, great white egret flew in but soon went back over the Pill area, linnets and a little grebe, Lapwing platform – 4 more yellow wagtails amongst the cow herd, starling, and at 0930 a female sparrowhawk flew past low with what looked to possibly be a ringed plover in her talons. Other: meadow browns, gatekeepers (good numbers now), 1 painted lady, Essex skipper, ruddy darter, female four-spot chaser and 1 speckled wood.

Main sighting: Shelduck

29-well grown juvenile Shelducks,1-Common Gull (adult),500+Blacked Headed Gulls including 11 juveniles.15h00-15h30

Main sighting: Goosander

Single female/eclipse male on the river

Main sighting: Whinchat

1-juv.Whinchat along with 4-juv.Stonechats.Large flock of Black Headed Gulls 200+,contained 29 juveniles,7-Little Egrets,3 distant-Kestrels all juveniles?,1f-Marsh Harrier and large numbers of Sand Martins over Priors lagoon.10h30-12h00

Main sighting: Stonechats

25 or more stonechats, mostly juveniles. 1 juvenile whinchat, 2 mipits, 2 stock doves, a jay, 7 juvenile redstarts, 5 willow warblers, a raven, a buzzard, 3 gsw, 2 green wpecker, 2 nuthatch, 4 song thrush, 2 skylarks, 60 rooks and 2 linnets.

Main sighting: Avocet Hide closed

We have closed the Avocet Hide (the largest hide next to the sea-wall) as the flooring is rotten. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Main sighting: Water levels

With the unprecedented heat forecast, it is unlikely that we will be able to keep water in all three lagoons at Goldcliff. We will concentrate efforts on Priors Lagoon as it is the deepest