Sightings

Main sighting: Sanderling

Sanderling 6 Knot 1 Greenshank 2 Redshank 1 Turnstone 1 Ruff 2 Ringed Plover 60 Dunlin 80 Oystercatcher 8 Black-tailed Godwit 2 Teal 4 juvs + 7 adults Tufted Duck female with 4 young Gadwall 2 + 2 young Little Grebe 1 Whinchat 2 Linnet 30 and a passage of House and Sand Martins and Swallows, Buzzard 2 and a distant Red Kite.

Main sighting: Tree Pipit / Migration

0600-12.10 Green woodpecker calling, chiffchaffs 4 (contact calls), little egret 2, female kestrel hunting, skylarks and reed buntings. Redshank platform – 18 lapwing, 3 redshanks, 18 teal, 11 shoveler, 3 grey herons, black headed gulls, 3 marsh harriers hunting separately (2 juvs and ad female), 3 stock doves and 4 more seen elsewhere. Hide two – buzzard, cettis calling. Snipe platform – 9 mute swans, 3 little grebes, female tufted with the 4 chicks now double in size, 6 gadwall and willow warbler contact call along the hedge leading to the seawall. Seawall – juvenile whinchat on the fence, meadow pipits and 1 ad and 1 juv yellow wagtails, 4 house martins, 19 sand martins, 36 swallows, 20 swifts, 2 gt black-backed gulls, 2 whimbrel, 109 shelduck, tree pipit over calling, 38 oystercatchers, 36 curlew and a large flock of 260+ linnets. Juvenile ruff on the mud flats relocated to the third lagoon. Hide three – excellent mix and volume of waders including 1 knot, 1 snipe, the first juvenile turnstone of the season with an adult also, 2 little ringed plovers, (the ruff from earlier), grey plover in immaculate plumage, 1 little stint, spotted redshank (now starting to come out of breeding plumage), 96 dunlin, 38 ringed plovers and 3 redshanks. Other: good mix of butterflies with 1 small copper, 1 comma, 3 green-veined whites, 6 common blues, numerous gatekeepers and meadow browns, 1 speckled wood, 1 painted lady, 1 small tortoiseshell, small whites and a male common darter.

Main sighting: Little Egret

At 11.30 am there was a Little Egret on the island bar that appears below Monnow Bridge at low water. It was standing on a large stone and preening. Also the usual mallard, Mute Swan and Moorhen – and the family of Mandarin Ducks that have been around for a week – a female a 4 fledged young.

Main sighting: Little Stint

Little Stint, Hobby, Knot – hide 3

Main sighting: Redstart

Redstart 1 ( Lesser Whitethroat 1 Little Stint 1 (ad) Grey Plover 1 (BP) Whimbrel 2 Curlew 60 Black-tailed Godwit 140 Dunlin and Ringed Plover Shelduck 160 Garganey 2 (Monks)
Other: Emerald Damselfly 10 Blue-tailed damselfly 2 Common Darter 2 Meadow Brown ++ Gate Keeper + Large white 2 and a Ruby Tiger Moth

Main sighting: Swift

Two swifts as we were having Breakfast. Any advance on two?

Main sighting: Swift

Single Swift as I had my breakfast

Main sighting: swifts

Passage of @ 20 swifts at 0700hrs following the Huntspill river east

Main sighting: Swift

A single Swift over Parc Nant-y-Waun. Tufted ducklings on Dunlop Semtex Pond but now only two cygnets. House Martins and Swallows hawking.

Main sighting: Hobby

Hobby swooping over near Keeper’s Pond. Otherwise very quiet

Main sighting: willow warbler

At least 40-50 willow warblers, a couple of them singing, flying around the rowans and birches along the eastern slopes of the Blorenge. A juvenile redstart in the felled area below, and a raven over. Many young stonechats and meadow pipits. Butterflies included a faded dark green fritillary and a small heath. No raptors seen.

Main sighting: Lapwing

After the failure of two Curlew nests on my patch beside the Usk I was relieved and delighted to see fledged young of LRP and Lapwing; sadly at least 2 chicks seem to have been predated.