Recent sightings from 06 to 12 January 2020
Star attraction this week remained the black-necked grebe at Goldcliff lagoons which was first recorded Sunday a week ago and has since been seen on a daily basis. Goldeneye, the glossy ibis and the peregrine were other regulars at Goldcliff, where on Wednesday a pintail made a rare appearance as well. At the RSPB Newport Wetlands reserve once again the waders took centre stage. The tide times weren’t ideal this week, but there was still loads to be seen. Curlew, black-tailed godwit, dunlin, redshank and lapwing were around in good numbers and grey plovers could be identified during the weekend as well. Shelducks were grazing the mudflats and along the shoreline there were plenty of wigeon and shoveler. Flocks of linnets could be spotted along the coast as well and there were still some stonechats posing nicely on the salt marshes or in the reedbeds. Goldcrest, bullfinch and a siskin were other nice sightings amongst the songbirds and the starlings still showed some nice murmurations with around 5.000 birds over the reedbeds. A pair of marsh harriers could often be seen patrolling over the reeds in the mornings. Usually hidden out of sight, a snipe could be spotted from the café window flying into the vegetation at the far side of the scrape. On Wednesday a woodcock was seen flying past close to the visitor centre, adding to quite a few sightings we had throughout this winter. The bittern remained rather active throughout this week and could be spotted on most days and could be heard booming on Thursday as well. After so far only one sighting in the new year, the otter was recorded on Thursday, Friday and Sunday to the delight of visitors and staff alike. So, all in all another really busy week at Newport Wetlands once again!
Our popular Birdwatching for Beginners Guided Walk will take place on 26th January and is a great opportunity to learn about how to get the most pleasure out of birdwatching. It will also come in handy for the Big Garden Birdwatch during the weekend 25th till 27th January. The award-winning author Lucy Christopher will lead the Creative Writing event on 1st February and one day later we will celebrate the World Wetlands Day with a guided walk to point out what is so special about this unique ecosystem. On 15th February our Wetland and Estuary Waders Guided Walk will give you the chance to get up close with a variety of wading birds and ducks. Details of all our events can be found on our website: https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/reserves-a-z/newport-wetlands/
Bittern, Blackbird, Black-headed gull, Black-necked grebe, 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, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Grey plover, Greylag goose, 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, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pintail, Pochard, Raven, Redshank, Redwing, Reed bunting, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Siskin, Snipe, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Tufted duck, Water rail, Wigeon, Woodcock, 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: Pintail by Ray Kennedy (www.rspb-images.com)