Recent sightings from 17 to 23 December 2018

After a very exciting week last week, things have been a bit quieter this week, partly also due to the inclement weather conditions with a fair share of rain and strong winds. There was still a good number of waders around on the mudflats with Dunlin, Lapwing and Curlew being the most numerous and some Oystercatchers, Redshanks and Black-tailed godwits in between. A regular sight this week was once again the Snipe which could be seen at the far side of the scrape from the café window on most days with the company from some Stonechats. On Thursday, we even managed to get five Snipe into one picture in the telescope. Unfortunately, the Little owl could at first only be spotted on Monday this week, however, it made a return to its usual spot on Sunday. Let’s hope it has indeed “travelled home for Christmas” and will be around more often next week as a present to all the visitors to the Newport Wetlands. Monday brought another sighting of the Bittern. On Wednesday, three Pintail were flying past on the coast and there was also a rare sighting of a Goshawk. It was sitting in a tree on the fields and allowed great views into its piercing eyes, before flying off towards the woodlands. Marsh harriers and Green woodpeckers were a regular sight this week and the air was often filled with the calls of Bullfinches. The Starling spectacle seems to be over for this year. There are still small groups around, but there aren’t any big gatherings happening any longer. They certainly have, however, delighted us and birdwatchers from near and far with some great murmurations in the last few weeks!

Bittern, Blackbird, Black-headed gull, Black-tailed godwit, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, Collared dove, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goshawk, Great spotted woodpecker, Great tit, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Herring gull, House sparrow, Jay, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser black-backed gull, Linnet, Little egret, Little grebe, Little owl, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Mistle thrush, Moorhen, Mute swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pintail, Redwing, Reed bunting, Redshank, Robin, Shelduck, Siskin, Snipe, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Tufted duck, 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: Stonechat by Jeremy White