Sunday, 14th December 2014
There was a good turnout of 16 members for a walk at Newtown National Nature Reserve. We were not quite so inconvenienced by the rain this time. One pulse coincided with a visit to the hide and the second pulse occurred when we were by the boat hut. The tide was low which meant we had good opportunities to study the waders and ducks. From the hide we saw Oystercatcher, Brent Geese, Redshank, Shelduck, Little Egret, Teal Wigeon, Greenshank, Canada Geese, Cormorant and a pair of Stonechat. Whilst at the boat hut a Peregrine was spotted and then another one joined it. David Bone took a good picture of them both. 14 Red Breasted Mergansers were seen in the river; Sue could not make up her mind whether the Peregrine or Red Breasted Merganser was the bird of the morning and then along came six Turnstone so she changed her mind. On the Marsh we spotted Grey Plover and Dunlin. In the Causeway lake were many Pintail, a very smart bird, and some Black Tailed Godwit and amongst the Black-headed Gulls was a Mediterranean Gull. Two Mute Swan were there as usual. In the fields opposite there was a large flock Lapwing and on scanning we saw Curlew, Black Tailed Godwit and a large flock of Brent. During the morning we saw 43 species.
Jackie Hart
