Fire damage at Goldcliff Lagoons

 

The damage as viewed from the seawall.

At around 1.45pm on  Monday, 25th August 2025, the heartbreaking news broke of a big grass fire on the nature reserve Goldcliff Lagoons. The reserve is beloved by hundreds of local birdwatchers and is a vital habitat for many wildlife, especially birds.

About a mile stretch of grass from the reserve and farms bordering the seawall caught fire. The exact circumstances of what happened are being investigated, so I will not comment on that investigation or any rumours, but there were witnesses on the reserve at the time and photographs of the fire can be found on the South Wales Argus Website here.

Despite the fire spreading along the seawall and further into the reserve, the valiant members of the fire service were able to extinguish the flames before even more catastrophic damage was caused.

I have been informed by the NRW that the Avocet Hide ( aka Seawall Hide) has been completely destroyed, and the new electric fence ( only installed this year) has been damaged alongside other fencing. This is shocking news. I was only sat in the Avocet Hide a week ago, having a great time watching the Yellow Wagtails, Whinchats, Cettis Warblers, and Sand Martins.

Today I visited the reserve to see the damage for myself. 

The path to the seawall

The fire damage stretches from the Snipe Platform all the way to the seawall. Fortunately, the fire stopped just after the Snipe Platform, so Hides 2 and Hide 1 have been left untouched.

The Marsh Platform was lucky.

The Marsh Platform also seems to have survived the worst despite all the grass having been burned.

The Avocet Hide ( aha Seawall Hide) was devastated.

Burnt down to its foundations

The Avocet Hide ( aka Seawall Hide) has been raised to the ground and is a very sorry sight.

Horrific, the view towards the farm.

The good news, however, is that whilst walking around the reserve, especially near the fire-damaged seawall, there were plenty of birds. Perhaps they were taking advantage of the barbecued insects.

I saw three Wheatears and at least ten Yellow Wagtails perched up on posts and diving down to pick insects off the burnt grass.

Whilst walking back through the reserve from Hide 2, there was a big flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plovers perched on the dried mud of Monks Lagoon.

In the air were plenty of hirundines - including Swallows, House and Sand Martins.

I left the reserve and headed over to Goldcliff Point near the cafe, and put my drone up to acquire some aerial pictures.

The whole seawall that contains the reserve has been burnt.

Panoramic Shot of the reserve showing the scale of the damage - Best viewed large.

This picture shows the reserve in its entirety. 

On the positive side of things, the damage could have been far worse. On the negative side, the loss of the Seawall Hide is devastating, and there will be a huge number of people wanting NRW to build a new hide to replace it. I am sure there would be lots of people who would offer their help to restore the reserve to its former glory. 

Perhaps what has happened is an opportunity now for the NRW to engage with the birding community and wildlife groups such as Friends of Goldcliff, Gwent Ornithological Society, RSPB and Gwent Wildlife Trust in order to do some good on the reserve and rebuild.