Any hints of what to see where in the Wetlands will be most welcome!

Hi there.

You've picked an excellent time to visit the reserve. I've not been down there myself for about a month, so others can pin point what is actually where, but in general terms if you start by walking straight ahead from the top of the hill of the reserve proper, the first blinds you come to may give you bearded tits, the lagoons quite often have Little and Great Crested Grebes as well as the usual diving and dabbling ducks. The Grey Heron hangs around this area quite a lot, as well as a few White Egrets, although they tend to be down the hide end of the lagoon.

Head towards the lighthouse and the "bouncy bridge" is an even better place for spotting Beardies, as well as Sedge and Reed Warblers.

Anything can turn up on the coastal path, so keep your eyes peeled.

Towards the hide end the mudflats can yield Redshanks and Curlews as well as Shelducks, and other estuary birds. The Marsh Harrier can be sometimes seen down this end of the reserve. I have seen Peregrine and Hen Harrier along there. You can get Ravens out there occasionally too.

Towards the Power station end you get more scrubby dwelling birds, such as long tailed tits, blue tits, whitethroats of both species. The cuckoo has been frequenting this area of late.

Make sure you walk along the top path that looks down into the bowl where the visitor centre is. You are tree top height so you can get excellent views of whitethroats if they are around. When you walk down the big open expanse where the electricity pylons are near the copse, look down into the "broken" trees below. Little Owls are regular there, they are hidden in the broken section of the big tree.

Make sure you ask the RSPB peeps on the desk and door whats been seen, they are all mad keen birdwatchers down there, and will point your anything of interest that has been seen in the past 24hrs.

Hope you have a lovely visit. I am going to be there on either Wednesday or Thursday next week .. we may bump into each other! ;o)

Ant

I think Ant has said it all about the main reserve - I can only recommend that any keen birder would also want to visit the salt-water lagoons 10 minutes drive away in Goldcliff. Here you will see Avocet, Redshank, Greenshank, Black-Tailed Godwits and other waders in season. Last week I saw a pair of Curlew-Sandpipers. A pectoral Sandpiper, Little Stint and Spoonbill were down there last week and in the past there have been Glossy Ibis, Dartford Warbler, Great White Egret - in fact you never know what might drop in - it's like opening a Christmas present every time you open the shutters. They are all a fair distance from the hide -bins/scope recommended!

Newport is certainly building up its Transatlantic visitors! A couple of weeks ago I was down there and got talking to a guy from Vancouver called John Gordon, He was actually from Newport but has been over there since the early eighties. He was a retired professional photographer and very keen birder. We had a walk around the reserve and also visited Goldcliff. He blogs under the title 'thecanadianwarbler' and this is a link to his Flickr page https://www.flickr.com/photos/johngordonsphotography/ - the North American birds are absolutely fabulous and here is his blog featuring his trip to the UK

thecanadianwarbler.blogspot.co.uk - recommended!

Many thanks, Ant and John!  That should keep us occupied on the day or days we'll be at the Wetlands.  Thinking at the moment of possibly going Sunday for a first viewing.  Goldcliff sounds tempting as well.

John, I saw John Gordon's photos when you posted about him before.  Yes, lots of gorgeous birds in North America, but there are many here as well!

Thanks Ann - I think that post was on a different forum but as it was related to the topic of visitors from over the pond you jogged my memory to repost it. I'm afraid I won't be around next week as I'll be in Italy, otherwise I would have almost certainly bumped into you, especially on a Wednesday when I'm normally down there for 7:30. One other thing I would add is that as you walk down the coastal path to the right of the lighthouse you'll come to point where the path leading to the bottom set of screens is on your right. Looking towards the Bristol Channel from here you'll see an area of open scrubby vegetation - chiefly bramble. If you watch the row of brambles about 50 feet away for a while you'll see certain birds ringing the changes of perching on the higher shoots - these are Whitethroat, Linnet, Cetti's and Dunnock. I saw a Whitethroat and a Cetti's on the same bramble. moving further down towards the powerstation I found I was looking down on a Sedge Warbler and then a little further on a Reed Warbler. This is better for viewing them as you're looking down on to the reeds. Good birding!