Recent sightings from 17 to 23 September 2018
It has been a rather wet and windy week at the wetlands with storms Ali and Bronagh “visiting” Wales. The blustery conditions also made birdwatching quite tricky, but there were some really nice sightings. A hobby was still seen hanging around at Goldcliff and there were still a few swallows around as well before heading off south. The mudflats held a good number of Curlew and there was a significant number of Shelduck as well with at least 350 shelducks present on Wednesday. The Kingfisher went on fishing unfazed of the weather conditions on stormy Thursday as did the Little egret who spent most of the afternoon on the scrape right in front of the café. On Friday a Marsh harrier fought the elements near the sea wall. The bird feeders around the visitor centre are getting more crowded again with Goldfinches, Greenfinches and mixed flocks of Blue tits, Great tits and Long-tailed tits helping themselves. The highlight of the week was without a doubt the sighting of 3 Grey phalaropes at Goldcliff lagoons on Friday. Sometimes stormy weather can be the best for birdwatching, especially if it comes to blowing in rarities.
Bearded reedling, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great tit, Green sandpiper, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Grey phalarope, Grey wagtail, Hobby, House sparrow, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Little stint, Long-tailed tit, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Meadow pipit, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Raven, Reed bunting, Robin, Sedge warbler, Shelduck, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Water rail, Wigeon, Wood pigeon and Wren.
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!
Photo credit: Hobby by David Tipling (rspb-images.com)