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Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a lovely festive break. We’ve had quite a busy time here at the Wetlands with lots of visitors walking off the Christmas pudding overload! Regular service has now resumed, the opening hours are back to normal, and we’re back to blogging, hooray...

Hi all, here’s the list of sightings from last week (26 th November to 2 nd December): Main trails birds: Bearded tit, Blackbird, Blue tit, Buzzard, Cetti's warbler, Chaffinch, Coal tit, Coot, Curlew, Fieldfare, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great tit, Green woodpecker...

Recent highlights around the Newport Wetlands reserve include a ring-tailed hen harrier, the marsh harrier , and the short-eared owl (which disappeared after my last blog post, but has been spotted once or twice again this week!). There’s been a sparrowhawk hunting around the Visitor Centre this...

Hi everyone! After a long wait, the Newport Wetlands blog is back. Jenna and I will be keeping you updated with reserve news and recent sightings. There’s been a lot of raptor activity recently, with a sparrowhawk , a kestrel , and a green-tagged marsh harrier being spotted regularly over the...

If my attempts at using technology are successful, hopefully below is a video of the starling murmuration on Saturday afternoon. It was filmed on a phone so the quality isn't great, but it should give you an idea of how spectacular these displays really are.

The trees and hedgerows of Perry Lane are crammed with redwings and fieldfare feeding, a water pipit appears to have taken up residence in the reedbeds and the starlings are still treating us to spectacular displays – winter is well and truly here. It’s impossible to visit Newport Wetlands...

So it’s that time of year again, when we’re able to enjoy one of Britain’s most beautiful natural spectacles. Starlings can be seen in the UK all year round, often in noisy groups bullying the smaller birds away from your garden feeders. But during autumn and winter their numbers...

It’s all been happening here at Newport Wetlands over the last few days with not one but THREE sightings of the ever elusive bittern. And as if that wasn’t enough, there have also been two sightings of the rare Dartford warbler. The copse on the eastern side of the reedbeds has proved...

Got down there this afternoon...cold but a lovely clear blue sky. As usual when I visit, I don't see many birds, but I know they're there because I can hear them and they left extra clues this time :-) Only saw one big "blob" of starlings about 4:15 that caught me out of position...

If you haven't yet seen one of nature's true autumnal spectacles, a trip to Newport Wetlands is a must. As this photograph taken last night shows, thousands of starlings are continuing to display in huge flocks known as murmurations. These murmurations are taking place over the eastern reedbeds...