Sightings

Main sighting: Sand Martins

1 Little Owl sunning itself, 1 Kingfisher, 1 Dipper, Sand Martins still feeding young in both sites, Chiffchaff etc. Also Comma and Red Admiral + Meadow Browns.

Main sighting: Mandarin Duck

At 2.45 pm, looking over the Monnow from Priory Street, I saw a party of 5 young Mandarin Ducks gently making their way upstream, investigating the banks and sometimes the undergrowth there.

Main sighting: Yellow Wagtails

Dawn visit: Hide one – blackcap, crows, woodpigeons, blackbirds, chiffchaff, mallards, 17 greylags, Canada geese, 2 herons, 5 lt egrets, 13 lapwing, 6 redshanks, 1 black-tailed godwit (5 more from hide 3 and 4 feeding on the foreshore), green woodpecker, 8 gadwall, meadow pipits, reed buntings, 9 yellow wagtails and family group stonechats. Hide two – linnets, goldfinches, raven, whitethroat, skylarl, starlings, sparrows and pied wagtails. Snipe platform – little owl pellet, 9 swans, coot, tufted family, moorhen, reed warbler family group, 3 lt grebes, cettis, herring, black-headed and lesser black-backed gulls, 1 snipe. Marsh platform – 2 gt white egrets, pheasant (with juvenile), 1 curlew and 162 sand martins aerial feeding. Hide three – gt spotted woodpecker, 2nd chiffchaff, 4 cormorants, 2 common sandpipers, spotted redshank, blue tit family group, 9 dunlin and magpies. Back at hide one a female marsh harrier was eating a caught magpie in the short grass.

Main sighting: Short Eared Owl

1-Short Eared Owl flying along the reen alongside the coastal path.19h55.

Main sighting: Lesser Black Backed Gull [Ringed]

Adult LBB Gull with Red ring on lower left leg. Unable to read any numbers

Main sighting: Spoonbills and juvenile Whinchats

Dawn – mid morning visit: Hide one – blackcap in full song, 1 chiffchaff, family group of whitethroats, blackbirds, crows, herring gulls, Canada geese, 32 greylags, mallards, 3 stock doves, family group of stonechats, sparrows along the fence line right of the hide had 3 juvenile whinchats mixed in and 2 juv yellow wagtails feeding amongst the cows. Hide two – 78 lapwing, 21 redshanks, 18 dunlin, spotted redshank, fem marsh harrier, pied wagtails, meadow pipits, 11 black-tailed godwits only, moorhens, black headed gulls (including juvs), 5 swallows, 5 ringed plovers, woodpigeons and green sandpiper. Snipe platform – 4 great white egrets, coot, 3 little grebes, female tufted with 7 young, 5 little egrets, reed warblers, 2 herons, linnets, water rail calling, 82 sand martins, 2nd family group of whitethroats. Hide three – pair of spoonbills dropped in 0615hrs, 16 teal, oystercatchers, reed buntings and 9 swans.

Main sighting: FLEDGED Curlew chick

Absolutely thrilled to find our first fledged Curlew chick this morning. Only one but every. single. one. matters.

Main sighting: Green finch

Green woodpecker great spotted woodpecker s tonechat winners bullfinch

Main sighting: Pectoral Sandpiper

A fine adult Pectoral Sandpiper which has been here since Saturday when it was seen for the first time close to the Spotted Redshank. Currently on the side of the island closes to the Curlew hide or the partially dismantled Redshank platform.

Main sighting: Mandarin Duck

17 birds – none in male breeding plumage and seemed to include well grown juveniles, all on the same stretch of river (though arguably a Gloucestershire record). Kingfisher heard up the river (from the Boat Inn), a number of Blackcaps still singing but only one Garden Warbler doing so. Pied Wagtail feeding juvenile and 2 Grey Wagtails on river bank plus 1 Bullfinch and 1 Marsh Tit near the pub. 2 lots of Mute Swan cygnets.

Main sighting: Curlew returns

Dawn – 0900 visit. Hide one – wren, crows, greylags, mallards, blackcap, skylarks, pheasant, moorhen and a pair of stonechats. Hide two – common whitethroat family group, 35 curlew (flew off over seawall at 0502), 5 oystercatchers, 11 shelduck, 33 redshanks, woodpigeons, Canada geese, herring gulls, ls black-backed gulls, 61 lapwing, 6 lt egrets, reed warbler, 4 gt white egrets, 309 black-tailed godwits, 19 sand martins, 18 dunlin, 1 swift, blackbirds, chiffchaff, gt tits, starling, 3 ringed plovers, juv pied wagtail and a spotted redshank. Snipe platform – coot, 3 lt grebes, sedge and reed warblers (1 each), linnets and goldfinches. Seawall – gt black-backed gull. Hide three – water rail calling, 7 teal, pair tufteds, 1 cormorant, 2 ravens, 2 lt ringed plovers, magpies, fem marsh harrier and yellow wagtail. Other: Many gatekeepers, meadow browns, 1 green-veined white, 1 peacock, large whites.

Main sighting: Goldcrest

Family recently fledged (nested in tall conifers) edge of town.