It might be a depressing thought, but autumn is already underway for some of our migrants.
Waders such as black-tailed godwits and bar-tailed godwits have been seen in large numbers at Newport Wetlands over the last few days as the stop off on their migration south to Africa from their northern breeding grounds.
The black-tailed godwit can be seen at several sites in the UK during the summer but only breeds at a few of them, mostly in East Anglia. The bar-tailed godwit however, does not breed in the UK but in the Arctic. Both birds start their migration in July and the black-tailed godwits have been seen regularly at the first set of screens where reeds were cleared earlier this year – though of course they were no-where to be seen when I went up to take a photograph!
The grey plover is another migrant wader, which has been seen several times over the last couple of weeks here at the reserve. These impressive birds leave their Arctic breeding grounds in July and August with the first adult migrants arriving in Britain during July and juveniles following a month later, so hopefully we’ll have a few more weeks of sightings.
Little ringed plover and little grebe can still be seen on the Visitor Centre scrape and there are still regular sightings of little owl and bearded tits, with lots of bearded tit juveniles flitting about. A spotted flycatcher has even been spotted in a copse on the far western side of the reedbeds and a little gull was seen last Tuesday.
There is still a huge number of warblers, including reed, sedge, whitethroats (common and lesser) and chiffchaff, as well as song birds such as goldfinch and linnet. And of course, a trip to Newport Wetlands wouldn’t be complete without the marsh harrier, which is still showing, along with hobbies and the occasional sighting of a peregrine falcon.