Frosty mornings over the last few days have been a reminder that although it might be March, the spring equinox is still a week-and-a-half away.
But migrant birds are already starting to appear at Newport Wetlands as they arrive from their warm wintering grounds in southern Europe and Africa.
Wheatear, which arrives in Britain between March and May has been spotted a couple of times over the last week, once in flight.
Avocets have also started to arrive over the last couple of weeks, most likely from Spain and Portugal. Reports from visitors put the number of these elegant waders at around 10 so far, but this figure is certain to increase with around 30 to 40 birds usually spending spring and summer here.
A more unusual report was of a suspected sighting of a grasshopper warbler on Friday. This summer migrant does not usually arrive in the UK until mid-April so to see this small, secretive warbler in early March is a bit of a surprise. While it may be incredibly shy and hard to spot, it’s song is a remarkable insect-like trill that can be sustained for several minutes without a break. The trill is uniform in pitch and has been compared to the sound made by an angler’s reel – it comprises of 26 double notes per second!
A variety of different warblers – including sedge and reed warblers – will be arriving at Newport Wetlands over the next few weeks so if you’re out and about on the reserve you’ll almost certainly be rewarded with sightings of these summer visitors. An excellent way to detect and identify a bird is by its song and this time of year means the air will be filled with the sound of singing as male birds try to attract a mate.
The RSPB website is a great resource to help you identify birds – just click here for photos, sounds and video and don’t forget to pop into the Visitor Centre to let us know what you’ve seen and add it to our species list!