Knot to be disappointed during a visit to Goldcliff

 

I had been up since 3 am on Friday. I had flown one of my drones over the city of Newport in the dark, capturing the lights of the footbridge, and watched a partial eclipse of the Moon. It had been an eventful morning.

After a Greggs and a short drone flying lesson with Paul Joy, I arrived at Goldcliff Lagoons. I entered Hide 1 and was greeted by two of my photographer friends who were admiring the view of Monks Lagoon. I scanned the feathered bird denizens out there on the lagoon. Lapwings were displaying, Redshank were piping away, and a flock of small waders were in the water roosting.

Knots and a few Black Tailed Godwits

I gave these grey coloured grey waders in the water a second glance; from a distance, they could be mistaken as Dunlins, but when I looked harder using my camera's inverter, I realised that they were not Dunlins but instead corrected my identification - the waders were Knots. There was a lot of them, I estimated about fifty plus That was until I scanned along the island and noticed even more huddled along the edge of the island. My revised count was something like at least 150+. This is quite unusual for Goldcliff as in recent years we have not seen big flocks of Knot.

The wader flock suddenly got startled and all took to the air, zooming around the lagoon before settling down again.

Reflections - wader flock takes flight

The Knots come in to land.

I changed position and walked up to Hide 2 to try and get a better view of the Knots on the island, but because of the reeds ( they really do need cutting, please NRW) and the destruction of the Redshank Platform, I could not get a good view at all. I returned to Hide 2 and was very fortunate to walk in just as the birds took flight again.

The wader flock flew over Becs Lagoon, so I decided to walk around the reserve to the Avocet ( AKA Seawall Hide) to view the wader flock.

On Becs Lagoon, there was a huge flock of waders. There must have been 350+ Black Tailed Godwits and in among them had landed the Knot flock. 

The wader flock on Becs Laggon.

The flock erupted into the sky, and I had a cracking view of the godwits' Black Tails. I was using my Olympus OM-1 camera and 300mm Zuiko Pro Lens with the Olympus 1.4 converter attached. This combination is the best I have ever used so far in my experience. The lens is super sharp, the focus is fast, and the reach is massive.

The wader flock descends.

Accompanying the Godwits and Knot were also the Avocets. These iconic birds are now a common sight on the lagoons at this time of year as they have returned to breed. I counted 60+ during my visit, but it's probably nearer the 100+ mark.

I was treated to quite a few flypasts by these wonderful birds.

Pied Avocets ( Black and White photo)

Avocet flypast.