Report of outing to New Passage and Pilning Wetlands 9th March 2026
Fifteen members of the group met at New Passage on a cold murky day. The visibility was poor but there were plenty of birds. A chaffinch was heard and then seen flitting about in a tree, along with a magpie and a bluetit. The pill was full of water with wigeon swimming about and whistling to each other, On the far bank, on the last stretch of mud, were a flock of redshank. On the shoreline towards the Severn Bridge groups of dunlin and knot could be seen through the scope. Shelduck were sheltering on the grass and a teal joined the wigeon. We walked up the pill seeing jackdaw, house sparrows, starling and wood pigeon. Not to mention the baby lambs reminding us that it is spring.
Huddled on top of a post was a disgruntled looking kestrel, clearly not enjoying the cold wind. By the sluice gate we heard a cetti’s warbler and saw a chiff chaff. A cormorant flew overhead and landed by the pond. A small flock of goldfinch flew past. The first pond had large numbers of black headed gulls, and some teal and gadwall. A lone pied wagtail was chasing flies, and a shoveler glided past.
We walked on past the building to get a better view of the mute swans. Under the rushes were five or six snipe, a lapwing and seen through the scope several curlew busily feeding. Using the scope , as the poor visibility was hampering identification , we also found a ringed plover.
Behind us on the grassy stretch skylarks were ascending singing their hearts out. Flitting around on and off the fence and into the longer grass were several meadow pipits. Walking on to the deeper ponds we were able to see little grebes, coots, and tufted ducks. Again, using the scope to see in the far distance a little ringed plover was spotted.
We returned to the pill hoping that the tide had gone out enough to uncover the rocky foreshore. Here we saw a few turnstones flicking through the seaweed. One of the houses had a good collection of bird feeders and we had close up views of goldfinch, starlings and a lot of house sparrows. An excellent morning viewing with 35 species recorded and one heard but not seen.
Chaffinch Bluetit Magpie Wigeon
Redshank Linnet House sparrows Shelduck
Dunlin Knot Teal Starling
Jackdaw Wood pigeon Collard Dove Chiffchaff
Cormorant Goldfinches Black headed gulls Gadwall
Pied wagtail Shoveler Mute swans Snipe
Lapwing Ringed Plover Little Grebe Meadow Pipit
Skylark Tufted duck Little ringed plover Turnstone
Oystercatcher. Blackbird Robin