Recent sightings from 04 to 11 August 2019
There were still plenty of painted lady butterflies around the reserve to the delight of our visitors. Up to 100 were seen struggling with the conditions on a windy Friday. Common and ruddy darter as well as southern and migrant hawker were seen in good numbers on the sunny days. More than a hundred curlew were present on the mudflats throughout the week and there were some redshank, dunlin and oystercatcher in amongst them. At the beginning of the week, a shelduck was seen swimming on the Severn Estuary with six big ducklings and towards the end of the week the shelduck number rose to well over 250, a truly spectacular sight! Little egrets were frequent sightings on the mudflats as were green woodpeckers around the visitor centre. Peregrines were spotted on several occasions. Amongst the passerines a goldcrest was recorded on Tuesday, a willow warbler on Wednesday and a bullfinch on Thursday. Thursday also brought a rare appearance of a red kite flying over the visitor centre in the morning and a bearded tit was heard for the first time in a month. Stoat and weasel were both spotted on the reserve as well. On Friday we had the return of a “good old friend” with the first sighting of the little owl for four months. At Goldcliff lagoons were once again loads of waders including dunlin and black-tailed godwit in big flocks, green and wood sandpiper, knot, ruff and greenshank. Common sandpiper, sanderling and avocet could be added to the list on Wednesday. Other highlights from Goldcliff for the week were yellow wagtail and a merlin on Monday. A great white egret made its appearance alongside a spoonbill on Wednesday and the glossy ibis – another “good old friend” – was spotted on Thursday. Let’s see which good old friends we will come across next week…
This week our event for the summer holidays is all about dinosaurs and mud. Kids can not only go on a dino dig but also get their hands dirty at making a mud hut or at making a dinosaur out of clay. They can also create their own cave man drawing. In the coming weeks Mr Birds Restaurant and Wild Woods will be on the programme. Events run from Mondays to Thursdays and on Fridays there will be special events for toddlers. Don’t forget to book your last-minute space on the Big Wild Sleepout which will take place on 17th August. Details of all our events can be found on our website: https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/newport-wetlands/
Avocet, Bearded reedling, Black swan, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common sandpiper, Common whitethroat, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great black-backed gull, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Great white egret, Green sandpiper, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey heron, Herring gull, House martin, House sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser whitethroat, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Little owl, Little ringed plover, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Merlin, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, Raven, Red kite, Redshank, Reed bunting, Reed warbler, Ringed plover, Robin, Ruff, Sanderling, Sedge warbler, Shelduck, Skylark, Snipe, Spoonbill, Starling, Swallow, Whimbrel, Willow warbler, Wood sandpiper, Woodpigeon and 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!
Photo credit: Red kite by Jeremy White