Recent sightings from 16 to 22 December 2019
Once again, the mudflats were the busiest part of the reserve with numbers of wading birds and wildfowl on the up. Especially at high tide, a lot of birds could be seen from the coast path. At least 70 wigeon and around 50 teal and shoveler joined more than 100 shelduck on the water’s edge. Large flock of several thousand dunlins could be spotted performing their aerial display whilst around 150 curlew, 120 black-tailed godwit, 50 redshank and up to 300 lapwing could be seen on a daily basis. There were also some snipe present on Wednesday and the same day a small flock of 10 bar-tailed godwits joined the other waders. Another bar-tailed godwit was spotted on Saturday. Golden plovers in amongst the lapwings on Friday and grey plovers on Saturday were further noteworthy sightings in regard to wading birds. On the saltmarshes stonechats and linnets were regulars and the peregrine could be seen hunting successfully. The starlings are still around in decent numbers but have become – as usual for this time of the year – more unpredictable. On some days, numbers seemed to be down and not much was to see whilst on other days, like on Friday, we were treated to a great murmuration of around 20.000 starlings. The calls of bullfinches filled the air around the visitor centre, jays added a touch of colour and once again you could often spot the green woodpecker when walking towards the visitor centre from the car park early in the morning. An attractive male teal was around on the scrape in front of the café and a kestrel could regularly be seen hunting for mice and voles behind the scrape. A young buzzard helped itself to a blackbird from the bird table in the nature garden and we got some close-up views of a sparrowhawk right next to the visitor centre as well. Marsh harriers were once again very active and on most days two could be spotted. On Friday morning, a merlin was seen flying off the path at the first viewing screens and heading towards the coast. A bittern was spotted flying over the reedbeds on Monday, Tuesday and Saturday. There were once again several sightings of an otter which was very actively fishing in the rain on Thursday and two otters on Sunday were a nice end to the week. A showery Saturday brought not only a goldcrest in the woodlands but also a rock pipit along the coast and a female hen harrier flying over the saltmarsh and the reedbeds. At Goldcliff lagoons the resident peregrine was present most times and two barnacle geese were in amongst the Canada geese and greylag geese. The glossy ibis was reported on Wednesday. So, this pre-Christmas week did already deliver plenty of presents, let’s see what the Christmas week will bring! Merry Christmas to everyone!
Why not start the new year with our New Year’s Day Twitch and Tick Guided Walk? Apart from being out in the nature it will also give you the chance to get your year list started. On 26th January we will give you some tips for how to get into birdwatching during our Birdwatching for Beginners Guided Walk. If you are into writing, then don’t miss the event Creative Writing on 1st February with award-winning author Lucy Christopher who will show you how writing in the wild and using setting can be an inspiring starting point for fiction. One day later we will celebrate the World Wetlands Day with a guided walk to explore the reedbeds and the coastline. Details of all our events can be found on our website: https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/newport-wetlands/
Barnacle goose, Bar-tailed godwit, Bittern, Blackbird, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Glossy ibis, Goldcrest ,Golden plover, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Grey plover, Greylag goose, Hen harrier, Herring gull, House sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser black-backed gull, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Meadow pipit, Merlin, Mistle thrush, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, Raven, Redshank, Redwing, Reed bunting, Robin, Rock pipit, Shelduck, Shoveler, Siskin, Snipe, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Tufted duck, Water rail, Wigeon, Woodpigeon 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: Wigeons and curlews by Jeremy White