Spring has sprung… the bittern is booming! Britain’s loudest bird is a member of the Heron family and we are lucky to have resident Bitterns that breed here. Having bred for the first time in South Wales in 2020, they have been successful every year since with 6 fledged in 2022. They have been spotted most from the hide; situated on the Eastern side of the reserve, but the famous booming can be heard from anywhere. Their…

After a very wet few weeks, this month’s recent sightings blog brings some light relief in the form of dry weather and signs of spring. The maintenance team at Newport have been working hard to get the habitats ready for the breeding season. Reeds have been cut, ditches cleared, and willows coppiced ready for the growth to start all over again in the Spring.

Our handy gang hard at work ... or hardly working! 

With…

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…

As we see in the new year and excitement builds for the year ahead we can't help but take a moment to reflect on the past year and the new faces welcomed to the team at Newport. Grab a cuppa and read all about the world of a volunteer at Newport Wetlands. 

Image: Simon Bedford

"Since I was little, I have always felt a connection to nature. I have my parents to thank for the endless camping trips, playing rounders…

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…

Autumn has undeniably arrived. Rose hips and seed heads, leaves coloured red and orange and golden teasels catching the afternoon sunlight. Fresh mornings bringing the added layer of clothing to visitors and staff, yet exciting times ahead as the new season brings an increase bird activity again.

The lagoons may be a little low in water, but the wildfowl are here in strength with great numbers of mallard, teal, gadwall…

We have had a whirlwind summer so far here at Newport wetlands. Late July saw the eagerly anticipated arrival of the shrill carder bumblebees on mass. We are extremely lucky to be able to say that one of the UK’s rarest bumblebees can be found in overwhelming numbers here. Along with the brown banded carder bee it is probably harder to spot the more common species in the UK!

Image credit: Jeremy White - Shrill…

June is a transitional month in the life of the reserve.  After all the spring activity as birds establish territories, find mates and build nests, after the new growth of the reeds, June calms down.  The reedbeds become quieter as the birds shift their effort to feeding young and our migrants start to put on weight for their next journey.  We still have a huge variety of species, 73 bird species in June, but most are a…

Image credit: Terry Winter

What a busy two weeks it has been here at the wetlands! The breeding season is in full swing with many species either wandering round with a trail of fluff or flying over the lagoons hoping to catch a fish. From mallard ducklings to little grebes to blackcap chicks and baby blue tits keeping our kiosk volunteers happy there is plenty of new life to go around.

Image credit: Kirsty Lindsay

The…

Yogi Duck and the Little Chick picturebook written and illustrated by ©IsabelBenavides

This month, on 30 May 2022, RSPB Newport Wetlands Reserve will be delivering a brand new, bespoke storytelling session for families, ‘Yogi Duck and the Little Chick.’ In this blog, aspiring author illustrator, Isabel Benavides, explains how the idea for a story about a duck who does yoga came into being.

 

Isabel Benavides…

The past week or two have really been the fulfilment of Spring.  The air has been full of song from our year-round birds and from our newly arrived migrants.  We’ve been listening to the earlier migrants for a few weeks, Blackcaps and Chiffchaffs, for example, and now they been joined by Reed and Sedge warblers, Common and Lesser Whitethroats and, much to our relief by at least one male Cuckoo. Another species that has…

After a long waiting game, the iconic sound of the cuckoo circled the reserve this week. A quiet Thursday morning was soon flipped on its head as visitors descended off the reserve with beaming smiles, eager to share the good news. It has been heard everyday since with a couple of sightings too! A lovely walking group touring the country were treated to a double sighting and another calling in the distance on Sunday.…

Easter well and truly lived up to its reputation of being a busy time of year and we aren’t just talking about the visitors. Our Easter trail and children’s activities were a real success and it was lovely to see families getting out and exploring nature. We have had some much-needed relief in the wet, cold and windy weather allowing the migrant birds, butterflies and wildflowers to really come into their element.…

Sunday afternoons as a child often involved sitting by my Grandad’s pond, a slice of Victoria sponge in one hand and a bewildered frog in the other. There was nothing I liked more than exploring the delights lurking within the folds in the pond lining, often bypassing my Grandmother’s welcoming embrace in anticipation of what I might find. 

If someone were to tell me 5 years ago, that pond dipping would become…

Image Credit: Andrew Quittelier

As we welcome in April, some very exciting changes have happened in our visitor centre. We have a calm and relaxing new style to our café to recover and ponder your days adventures in. The shop has relocated and brings a burst of colour to the centre. Our staff and volunteers have been working so hard these past two weeks to bring you a new and exciting look to the centre. We really hope…

Let’s talk about Springtime and Newport Wetlands Reserve.

Formally, Spring starts on 1 March each year and lasts for three months.  The natural world works to its own timings and our plants and animals respond to day length and temperature changes.  For the past few weeks we’ve been noticing this as the reserve comes out of the quiet of winter.

Some of the changes we see around the reserve are quite gradual…

Spring seems to be springing into action recently. After what feels like months of grey days the sun has finally graced us with its presence. Recently we had the “Big Garden Birdwatch” which was a big success for the reserve, with bird ringing, guided walks and feeder making all taking place. Changes have also taken place in the visitor centre too. Welsh Government guidelines have been relaxed meaning there is now more…

On Sunday morning, despite the poor weather, one of our volunteers braved the natural elements and was rewarded with a lapwing flyover. We sometimes see lapwing down on the foreshore, but majority of sightings are a large group flying over the reserve. They are relatively easy to identify when flying due to the shape of their wings.

  

 Image credit: Jeremy White

During our Saturday morning guided walk we were treated to…

After the busy Big Garden Birdwatch weekend, Last week was a good time to enjoy a quieter week on the reserve. It was a week of mixed weather, sunshine and blue skies one way you look and dark, stormy looking clouds the other. That is always a spectacle to see when on the higher ground of the reserve. The opposing skies with a rainbow in the middle will never fail to make you stop and take a moment.

Image credit: Anthony…

What a year 2021 was for us! Reopening from a lockdown to kickstarting events again, 2021 was certainly a year.  

After opening back up in the Spring and were able to welcome back volunteers as well as the public, meaning the reserve started to feel like its normal self once more. 
During the summer we finally brought back events such as the classic family favourite: Pond dipping. We also did sweep netting along with the…

January has certainly not been a quiet start to the new year for the team here at Newport wetlands. With the weather up and down it’s been a tough month for our feathered friends. Yet the sun has been shining this past week and we couldn’t be happier about it.

The past few weeks we have been lucky to see the otter family grow and play, yet mum keeps the two young pups at a cautious distance. If you are up…

Here at RSPB Newport Wetlands we will be running some very exciting events over Big Garden Birdwatch weekend and beyond! BGBW is a vital date in our calendars and with an ever-increasing pressure to look after those species who visit our gardens, why not take an hour out of your busy lives to relax and do a good thing for nature and take part in a citizen science project!

Sign up for you pack here: Big Garden Birdwatch…

The weather has taken a turn for the cooler, which is resulting in the woolly hats making an appearance! That hasn’t stopped the wildlife though, with it being quite a busy week for sightings.

Otters - Liv Davies

The otters have been making quite the appearance recently spotted in many of the lagoons and providing a bit of a show for the visitors. For our volunteer Liv her lucky mushroom hat has worked again as…

This week at the wetlands we have seen a fantastic array of birds, mammals and even the odd insect still flying about in the autumn sunshine. Red admiral is one of the butterflies that will continue flying into October or November and can be seen nectaring on garden buddleias, flowering Ivy and on rotting fruit. There is an indication that numbers have increased in recent years and that overwintering has occurred in the…

Rydyn ni'n falch iawn o fod yn bartner gyda Netflix ac Aardman ar Robin Robin, sy’n stori gerddorol stop-symud newydd ar gyfer y Nadolig ac sy’n adrodd sut mae robin goch ifanc yn ceisio darganfod ei le yn y byd. Mae’n ymddangos am y tro cyntaf ar Netflix ar Tachwedd 24 – felly rhowch y dyddiad yn eich dyddiadur! 

I ddathlu, rydyn ni’n eich gwahodd i ymuno â theithiau antur unigryw ar thema Robin Robin yma yn Gwlyptir Casnewydd y Nadolig hwn. 

Mae dros 30…