Sightings

Main sighting: Barnacle geese / sandpipers / gt white egret

Dawn to mid-morning visit. Excellent variety with 60 species noted. En-route to hides – pheasants, wrens, blue tits, robin, 2 blackcaps, 2 chiffchaffs, moorhen, 2 cettis, 1 lesser whitethroat calling and 2 singing common whitethroats. Hide one – most of the activity seen with the almost black spotted redshank, 6 teal only (no wigeon), 2 cormorants, Canada geese, 11 shelduck, 21 avocet, 8 redshanks, 5 shoveler, crows, 5 whimbrel on the island, 2 coot, 5 gadwall, 2 oystercatchers, mallards, greylags, 2 lapwing, raven, blackbirds, 1 dunlin, 4 common sandpipers feeding together, skylarks, magpies, meadow pipits, herring gulls and jackdaws. Hide two – 2 herons, reed buntings, pair linnets, 2 swallows, 2 singing reed warblers, 3 lt egrets dropped in with 1 gt white egret. Snipe platform – 2 males and 1 female lt grebes, pair tufteds, dunnock, 9 mute swans and 10 more gadwall. Seawall – pair of barnacle geese on the saltings with the other geese, 11 black-tailed godwits (one with a leg flag reading E83), rook, 3 curlew, pied wagtails, goldfinch, 5 more swallows, ls black-backed gulls, 29 more dunlin with 12 ringed plovers mixed in and 1 house martin. Nothing new from hide 3. Back at hide one – 1 willow warbler singing, 35 swallows and 11 sand martins aerial feeding, kestrel, 2 more common sandpipers making the total 6, male sparrowhawk.

Main sighting: Curlew

ANOTHER colour-ringed, GPS-tagged Curlew in Gwent! This time in the northeast. Please check all Curlews for colour rings and If you see one please note the colour combination (and number if visible) and email your sighting ASAP to Curlew@gwentbirds.org.uk giving the grid ref, habitat etc. These reports are a huge help and will be followed up. Don’t forget to submit sightings of non-colour-ringed birds too.

Main sighting: Ring Ouzel

Ring Ouzel female 1 Redstart 1 +1 singing Wheatear 8 Cuckoo 1 Linnet 12 Peregrine 1 Kestrel 2

Main sighting: Yellowhammer

One male yellowhammer observed with nest material.

Other notable species aside from whinchat (already mentioned) include redstart -11, tree pipit -12 stonechat -4 pied flycatcher -3 willow warbler -18 cuckoo -2 linnet -10 (mostly in clusters) green woodpecker -3, skylark -6 singing
Mostly singing males along a 4 mile circular route.

Main sighting: Whichat

Male bird perched on larch along St David’s Vale walk.

Main sighting: Redstart

Early BBS visit to a square with varied habitats giving a creditable tally of 37 species. Singing Redstarts included one on the top of the church spire! Two male Pied Flycatchers back on traditional territories. Cuckoo called briefly.

Main sighting: Cuckoo

South end of valley.

Main sighting: House Martins

At least 3 House Martins back over house today.

Main sighting: GOS members

A pleasure to welcome ten fellow GOS members to Garn Lakes and Waunavon Bog on a sunny spring morning. A decent tally of 42 species in all. Highlights included a party of three Red Kites and a Buzzard over together, a pair of Ravens with the male performing back-flips, an obliging pair of Wheatears and a Lesser Redpoll.

Main sighting: Redstart

Breeding Bird Survey early visit. Six Redstarts singing but only one Tree Pipit. No Cuckoo, yet (fingers crossed). Swallows back at a traditional nest site. Encouraging numbers of House Sparrows around the farms.

Main sighting: Short-eared Owl

A SEO and a Lesser Whitethroat were at Saltmarsh Lane this afternoon. At Goldcliff Point there were 25 Whimbrel, frequently giving their version of the bubbling song, also 3 Curlew.

Main sighting: Curlew

It’s World Curlew Day tomorrow (21st April)! Why not celebrate by birding pastures or moorland where you might see one? And if you’re lucky send your sighting to Curlew@gwentbirds.org.uk . Every single report counts.