This week I have had a few visits to Goldcliff Lagoons late in the evening or early morning. Things seem to have "calmed" down on the "unusual" birding front a little since the Phalarope appears to have moved on and the Arctic Terns passed through.
I've been enjoying watching the Avocets as usual. They make great subjects to photograph especially in the the evening light.
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| Avocet on Priors at around sunset |
Dunlin have been continuing to frequent the lagoons - usually at high tide. On Saturday morning there were over 200 hundred on Monks. I could not see anything else mixed in with them.
A Peregrine Falcon chased a Lapwing at Monks Lagoon and that was quite spectacular to watch.
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| Zooming after a Lapwing |
There has been fewer reports of the Spoonbill being seen. There has been reports of Great White Egrets being observed flying over the lagoons. Would be good to see them actually land at Goldcliff. I thought I had seen a pair at distance and captured them on photo only to be told by the Recorder that they were Little Egrets. I must admit working out the difference between these species at a great distance is not the easiest and caused some discussion. They will come again I am sure to Goldcliff Lagoons and hopefully I can get a picture of them.
The Glossy Ibis remains a frequent visitor.
John Lawton and I had some great views of it on at Priors Lagoon late on Saturday morning. John will no doubt publish some video on his
You Tube channel very soon.
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| Flossy the Glossy Ibis |
Its worth noting that both the Spoonbill and Glossy Ibis have been seen at Boat Lane so sometimes its worth checking the salt marsh area at Boat Lane from the roadside.
A number of the waders on-site have chicks. Don't forget if you witness any chick predation to please report it -
click on this link. I saw a Carrion Crow with an egg in its mouth on Saturday . Not sure what species the egg came from. I have written a separate post on predation . You can read it
here.
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| Egg thief |
I've noticed quite a few Swallows and Sand Martins coming through in the evenings.
In the field behind the Snipe Platform they were landing on one of the fences that borders the reen. Two of them joined a reed bunting for a while.
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| Swallows and a reed Bunting |
Whimbel have been observed regularly at the reserve.
I saw a flock of five birds late one evening fly from Becs Lagoon.
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| Whimbrel |
On Tuesday evening I heard a bird calling from behind the seawall hide and when I went investigate it found a Wheatear peering down at me from the seawall.
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| Wheatear |
My favourite picture this week was off a flock of Oystercatchers flying across the estuary which was as still as a mill pond and because of the misty cloud it was hard to tell where the water ended and the sky started - it was all a milky grey.
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| Oystercatchers |
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