Birds, friends and fresh air

Goldcliff this week saw another early start and a good selection of birds, with migration slowly getting underway. En-route to the first hide were Stock Doves and a Chiffchaff calling with 6 House Martins flying around. A Greenshank was a nice surprise once I opened the shutters in the first hide, but a Grey Heron soon caught my attention.

It had caught a three-quarter grown young Coot and stood at the edge of the bank trying to swallow it whole. This went on for several minutes before finally the Heron gave up and dropped it on the ground before flying off. I appreciate this is a part of nature , but it is horrible when you witness this close in. The Coot will soon become food for scavenging Crows and gulls. Two friends, Dan and Andrew from the Ross-0n-Wye area met me and it was lovely to finally catch up - the last time we had spoken was late March here.

Next the Redshank Platform saw a lot more life - with a Sedge Warbler feeding in the foliage. Lapwing and Avocets were showing well and 15 Ringed Plovers were added to the list. The Snipe platform however had a lot more activity, with 5 Little Egrets a single Wigeon which was a surprise, a Common Sandpiper, Cettis Warbler calling and a Reed Warbler singing

Moving on the Marsh Platform gave us really close views of the 120 Black-tailed Godwits, most of which were in breeding plumage showing off the lovely brick-red plumages. The remainder were a mix of first year and non-breeding birds. They are such a beautiful wader. Mixed in with them and looking quite small compared to the Godwits were 13 Knot.

A group of 61 Redshanks were huddled together close to the edge of the reeds but there was nothing obvious mixed in. Close by however in amongst some Godwits close by was one individual that really stood out. This was double the size of the others with long legs and a longer bill. We contemplated if this was a Godwit of the race 'limosa'. Dan said he saw this bird last week and had sent in a report, but now I was going to get some pictures to send him for further support.

A Grey Wagtail overhead calling was a nice surprise as was a group of 4 Yellow Wagtails that dropped in on the fence line, calling for a few minutes before moving on as quickly as they had arrived. I managed to get a picture of one of the juveniles.

There were a pair of Little Egrets stood next to each other in the water, yet they looked completely different in size which was funny.

Also from here we clocked up a pair of Swifts, a pair of Swallows, a Reed Bunting, a Buzzard and 3 Little Ringed Plovers of note. The sea wall proved too windy to scan out at sea for more than about a minute so we moved on to hide three for a cuppa and sandwiches. A flock of 124 Dunlin showed well  from here with 2 juveniles mixed in.

It was nice to have a good old chat up covering a multitude of topics and to see some of the local birders on the way around too. Near to the car park we stopped to watch the many Gatekeepers on the wing and the first Common Blue butterfly of the year. An Emperor dragonfly whizzed past but did not linger for a photo.  It was just so nice being back on the coast again and seeing some good friends.  Here's to next week.

gatekeeper pic