Recent sightings from 24 to 30 September 2018
With the weather being kind to us with plenty of sunshine around this week, the butterflies and the dragonflies were once more very active: Speckled wood, Red admiral, Comma, Hawkers and Darters. At the beginning of the week the Water rail entertained us right in front of the visitor centre with its unmistakable calls in the morning and the passerine migration was picking up. There were still some swallows around earlier and there was a good number of Meadow pipits and Stonechats as well. Teal, Wigeon and Gadwall numbers were up towards the end of the week with also lots of Shelduck and Curlew to be seen on the mudflats and salt marshes. Highlights were, a Grey phalarope which was still present at Goldcliff on Wednesday and two Great white egrets which were flying over the reserve on Saturday. Kingfisher and Snipe could also be seen, sometimes even in close proximity as the photo below proves.
Bearded reedling, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Buzzard, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chiffchaff, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great white egret, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Grey phalarope, House sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Meadow pipit, Merlin, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied wagtail, Raven, Red kite, Reed bunting, Ringed plover, Robin, Shelduck, Shoveler, Snipe, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Swallow, Teal, Water rail, Wigeon, Wood pigeon 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: Kingfisher and Snipe by Jeremy White