Recent sightings from 10 to 16 August 2020
This week had a bit of everything in many aspects. In regard to the weather we had it all from near unbearable heat to some heavy rain. All week long you could see swallows with some house and sand martins gathering in bigger numbers and starlings started to get together in smaller flocks as well. There were some parties of long-tailed tits visiting us with the one or the other goldcrest mixed in. Lesser whitethroat and willow warbler were both around and there were also several sightings of linnets, bullfinches and stonechats. It was quite a good week for spotting some of our reedbed specialists. Whilst reed warbler and reed bunting kept quite a low profile, there were some nice sightings of sedge warblers and even of the otherwise rather elusive Cetti’s warbler. One individual was seen jumping around on one of the paths on several occasions.
Photo credit: Cetti’s warbler by Stefan Zitzmann
Bearded reedlings were seen or heard on four days between Monday and Friday. The colourful kingfisher was spotted flying over the lagoons on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. On the lagoons themselves were the usual suspects such as little grebes and mute swans with cygnets but there were also some teals, gadwalls and a shoveler seen at the middle of the week. A sparrowhawk was spotted twice at the beginning of the week and on Wednesday a red kite was flying over. Other predators seen this week were buzzard, kestrel and a marsh harrier on Sunday. The salt marshes and mudflats saw raising numbers of curlew and shelduck and there were sometimes a small number of black-tailed godwits as well.
Photo credit: Sedge warbler by Jeremy White
Especially during the hot conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday there were loads of dragonflies on the wing, mainly common and ruddy darters as well as southern hawkers and emperors. Bees and bumblebees kept buzzing all over the reserve. Patchwork leaf-cutter bees, common, brown-banded and shrill carder bees were seen as well as grey-banded mining bees, white-/buff-tailed bumblebees and red-tailed bumblebees.
Photo credit: Common darter by Rhiannon Munro
Once again there was a nice selection of butterflies including small, large and green-veined white, meadow brown, gatekeeper, red admiral, comma, small tortoiseshell, common and holy blue, ringlet, small copper, speckled wood, painted lady and peacock. We had the moth trap out in the night from Thursday to Friday and got rewarded with some real beauties such as the Jersey tiger, Canary-shouldered and dusky thorn as well as the dark spectacle to name but a few. The impressive red underwing was flying around as did oak eggar moths which seemed to enjoy the hot temperatures.
Photo credit: Canary-shouldered thorn by Rhiannon Munro
At Goldcliff lagoons a whinchat was recorded on Saturday with yellow wagtail and wheatear being regular sightings throughout the week. The glossy ibis was around during the weekend and there was once again a good selection of wading birds. Highlights included greenshank, little stint, little ringed plover, common and wood sandpiper, ruff and knot.
Right now the visitor centre with toilets, shop and café as well as the playground are still closed, but most of the paths are open as usual with the car park open every day from 9am till 5pm. Please follow the social distancing guidelines when visiting the reserve. For the latest news on opening of RSPB reserves and their facilities, click here and follow our twitter account for further updates.
Bearded reedling, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti’s warbler, Chiffchaff, Collared dove, Common sandpiper, Common whitethroat, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Glossy ibis, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Green woodpecker, Greenshank, Grey heron, Herring gull, House martin, House sparrow, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser whitethroat, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Little ringed plover, Little stint, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Meadow pipit, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, Raven, Red kite, Redshank, Reed bunting, Reed warbler, Ringed plover, Robin, Ruff, Sand martin, Sedge warbler, Shelduck, Shoveler, Sparrowhawk, Spotted redshank, Starling, Stock dove, Stonechat, Swallow, Teal, Wheatear, Whinchat, Willow warbler, Wood sandpiper, Woodpigeon, Wren and Yellow wagtail.
Please note that we take our recent sightings list from the visitor sightings board that anyone can contribute to. This is great as everyone can get involved, but obviously can lead to potential errors too as they aren’t always verified! We try to keep this list as accurate as possible but if you see something unusual feel free to comment here!