Christmas came and went in the blink of an eye this year and for the team at Newport, the new year brings only excitement for longer, brighter days. The past 3 weeks have seen some pretty heavy rain, unfavourable to many, but we take our hats off to those of you that braved the stormy skies and gale force winds and came down to immerse yourselves in the wildlife and walk off all the Christmas indulgence I expect. The reserve has definitely thrived from the downpours with the lagoons resuming their usual water levels and perhaps a little more after such a dry summer and autumn.
Images by Ieuan Evans
The rainy days brings little activity on the wildlife front, but our trusty mallards will always provide some light entertainment outside the café. We are hoping for another successful brood of ducklings later this year! The starlings are still here and going strong, slightly less numbers than in December and their location is a little ambiguous. A peregrine falcon was spotted chasing a group of starlings… sadly for the peregrine it came away empty taloned! As a result of the extreme cold patch we endured in December, our ponds and lagoons froze for quite some time stopping the wildfowl from perusing the waters. It wasn’t all doom and gloom as many visitors got some stunning sightings and photographs of our otter family. I personally had the sighting of a lifetime, seeing the dog otter hop across the ice. AMAZING!
An amazing sighting and shot of our otter family taken by Will Strange in December.
A lone dog otter braving the frozen lagoon! Image by Kirsty Lindsay
A competition between the water rail and cetti’s warbler has begun, it’s a close race and throw the group of 10 long-tailed tits into the mix you can barely hear yourself think! Headed to the coast and the crashing of the waves at high tide brought up curlew feeding in the grassland, oystercatchers probing the mud and beautiful displays from lapwing, dunlin, and black-tailed godwits. Tufted duck, wigeon, shelduck and gadwall have all be spotted off the coast path and on the lagoons by the bird hide. The brief interlude over new year saw some long-awaited blue skies and sunshine which brought in the visitors in thousands. A time for the wildlife to enjoy the winter sunshine as stonechats and reed buntings flourished in the reedbeds and the higher temperatures allowed swimming to resume! The hope of seeing otter just got a lot harder again.
Image credit: Ieuan Evans
Image credit: Jeremy White
The female kingfisher has battled the heavy rain and made up for the lack of fishing on dry days, giving the visitors in the café a moment to remember as she dives into the water and elevates herself back onto her perch with a prize in fish form. Great spotted woodpeckers are cleaning up after the feisty goldfinches at the welcome hut and the sparrowhawk is auditioning for his own action movie as he works on his hunting techniques. Distant ‘laughing’ of the green woodpecker is often heard early in the morning and the pheasants are still piling on the pounds. The bittern has often been seen from the bird hide, along with sightings of marsh harrier flying over the lagoons.
Female kingfisher not quite grasping the idea of visitors wanted to see the birds through the camera, not perched on top! Image credit: Jeremy White
Image credit: Kirsty Lindsay
Bearded reedling, bittern, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Brambling, Bullfinch, buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, chiffchaff, Collared dove, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fieldfare, gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great spotted woodpecker, Great Tit, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Grey plover, Greylag goose, Herring gull, House sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, kestrel, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Little grebe, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, meadow pipit, Mistle thrush, Moorhen, Mute swan, oystercatcher, Peregrine Falcon, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, pintail, Raven, Redwing, Reed bunting, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted duck, Water rail, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Bank vole, otter, Rabbit, Weasel.
Big Garden Birdwatch 2023
This year, we need more of you than ever to give up an hour of your time over the weekend of the 28th/29th to help play a vital role in aiding us to understand how UK birds are doing. We will provide everything you need all we need you to do is head into your garden or local greenspace and watch birds! It’s so simple!
The fun doesn’t stop there, why not join us at the reserve and celebrate BGBW 2023 with guided walks and bird box building. Whether you are a beginner and want to learn the tips and tricks to birdwatching or how to identify them by their calls we are here to help. Head to our website for more information on these events.