A morning’s birding on the Severn Estuary: I started at Aust Warth but could only see a whitethroat so I moved on to the Pilning wetland in the hope of seeing the reported black-winged stilt.
Whitethroat
Other birders reported that it had been showing well at the front of the ponds but it had now moved to the back. I was able to locate it by going down the lane leading off the main path (where I heard a cuckoo) but it was still quite some way off. The one benefit was that I was now out of the cold wind; unfortunately the light was not good.
Black-winged stilt
There were also lapwings (6), pied wagtails (3), little ringed plovers (6), and a greenshank not too far off. On the way back I saw 3 male reed buntings and another whitethroat.
Lapwing
Greenshank
Pied wagtails
Little-ringed plover
Reed bunting
I counted a dozen swallows too.
A flock of 9 yellow wagtails were reported but I didn’t see them. There were shelduck and tufted duck on the wetlands and more shelduck (6) on the warth and on the estuary.
On the way home I stopped at Aust again and had a very good view of a kestrel.
Click below for gallery of photos from this morning.
Martin Tayler's bird blog & nature photos 