Accidental birding

Had planned a day at home but ended up wandering the length and breadth of the levels for the best part of the day. Goldcliff produced: 3+ Yellow Wag, 15 White Wag, 1 Redstart, 1 Spotshank, 1 Greenshank and 20 Whimbrel. There was also an excitable Reed Warbler which was chucking the odd bit of mimicry into its song (it could do very passable impersonations of House Sparrow 'chirrups' and Swallow alarm call).


An afternoon pottering about between Sudbrook and the mouth of the Wye resulted in: 1 White Wag, 9 Wheatear, 7 Whimbrel, a Grey Seal (county tick) and 1 metric tonne of dog shit. The best site for the shite was Blackrock: park at the picnic site (ST512881) then take the 'coastal' path SW for approximately 100yds, once past the tree lined green, turn left and check the soles of your shoes; if you don't see any, retrace your steps and then try the path NE from the picnic site (a very showy individual was about 20m along this path this afternoon). NB. They can be difficult to see whilst birding, but remember to use your ears, doggy doo will often give away its position by way of the characteristic 'silent footstep'.