After a slow start to the month with a large group of starlings only making a slight attempt at murmurating, our patience paid off with some spectacular views of swirls and twirls in the last ten days. Although our Soup and Starling events have come to an end for another year, the starlings are still here in full force. They have challenged the team a little with the location of their murmuration and now they’ve decided the reedbed isn’t quite adequate and moved further north where viewing is a little trickier. It is always a wonderful time of year when the starlings move in, and we love telling visitors all about them. Make sure you get down and see a murmuration before they leave! During starling season, Marsh harrier and sparrowhawk are often seen trying their luck with a starling or 3. The master of murmurations keep them on their toes as they often come away empty handed.
After the success of two pups in January this year we thought it would be a little while before we had any otter excitement again but fear not… 4 otters (female with 3 young) have been spotted playing around in the lagoons. Most sightings from the bird hide but they have been seen on the power station end of the reserve too. A male has also been spotted fishing on his own.
Image credit: Ieuan Evans
The booming may have paused but that doesn’t mean the bitterns aren’t around. Almost daily sightings of bittern, 1 sometimes 2 from the bird hide have been reported from visitors and members of the Newport team. After having their best year yet with six fledglings, we are very excited for what is to come next spring.
Bearded reedlings have been seen and even photographed on the odd occasion, 7 were seen by the warden last week! A Sparrowhawk has spotted the feeders are back by the welcome kiosk and is often seen darting between the trees, silencing all the small birds for a minute. Visitors to the café are often treated to a young female kingfisher showing off her fishing skills. Our handy team are in the process of putting a kingfisher pole, so she doesn’t have to perfect the art of reed balancing much longer! Although she’s very good at it. Work on the scrape and southern reeded in the RSPB discovery zone has seen some mass reed cutting recently to open the water ways and encourage more wildlife. The reserve has also had the reedbeds trimmed ready for new growth in the spring.
Image credit: Robert Potter
Majority of visitors come to the Wetlands not knowing what a water rail is or knowing what it sounds like. After a short walk from the car park to the visitor centre it is safe to say they are well and truly aware of the freakish noise that come from this small wading bird. At times, 3-4 different birds can be heard screeching at each other from the reedbeds, 41 have been counted on reserve this winter. 3 have been spotted this week on the feeder bank opposite the welcome hut. Visitors and staff have been very lucky with excellent views. Other water birds seen recently are little egret, black-tailed godwit, wigeon, pochard, gadwall, shelduck and curlew. Stonechat, linnet, lesser redpoll, goldcrest and green and great spotted woodpeckers have all be heard and seen around Perry Lane.
Image credit: Kirsty Lindsay
Common toad, Bearded reedling, Bittern, blackbird, Blackcap, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's Warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal tit, Collared dove, Coot, 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, moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, Pochard, Raven, Red kite, Redshank, Redwing, Reed bunting, robin, Rock pipit, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock dove, stonechat, Teal, Treecreeper, Water rail, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, wren, Red admiral butterfly, Grey squirrel, Otter, Rabbit, Stoat, Weasel.