Bird Walk – 28th May

Many thanks to Iain Walker for leading a group around the Meadows this morning. Bird highlights included:

• Buzzard
• Jay
• Swifts
• Kingfisher
• Grey Heron
• Sand Martins
• Moorhens
• Grey Wagtail
• Pied Wagtail
• Goldfinches

Bird walk – 28th May (Confirmed)

Join Iain Crawford at 9am in the Byfield Lane Car Park (see map) for a walk around the Meadows to watch and listen for birds. All welcome; if you have binoculars then bring them along

Flounces, Thorns, Carpets and Shells

Moths have much better names than butterflies! On Friday night we had a visit from the Gwent county moth recorder with his (reasonably) portable lamp and generator. Set up for a couple of hours as it grew dark this attracted three different kinds of yellow underwing (Large, Lesser and Broad-bordered), three rustics (Flounced, Square-spot and the recently arrived Vine’s), Green Carpet (which is patterned like a carpet, it doesn’t eat them!), Light Emerald, Flame Shoulder, Ruby Tiger, Dusky Thorn, Setaceous Hebrew Character and the Yellow Shell that illustrates this post. An enthusiastic audience of children and adults were kept busy trying to capture these in clear plastic pots for inspection and identification.

Bird Walk – 28th April

Ten of us joined Steve Butler for a rather breezy walk around Linda Vista Gardens and the Meadows this morning. It was good to hear lots of bird song, including from migrant blackcaps, though the many wrens won the prize for volume. But the best bird was down on the river, where a common sandpiper spent long enough preening to give everyone a chance to see it through the telescope.

Birds seen or heard: Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Common Sandpiper, Goldcrest, Goosander, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Robin, Sand Martin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Woodpigeon, Wren.

Summer Walks Programme 2019

We’re pleased to announce a series of walks to look at the wildlife of the Meadows. Most last about 2-3 hours. Please wear appropriate clothes and footwear. Children must be accompanied by an adult. Dogs only on leads, please.

Sat 10/8 [CANCELLED, due to bad weather, sorry]: Dragonflies and other insects. Meet Steve Butler 10am at the Byfield Lane entrance

Fri 6/9: Moth night. Meet Martin Anthoney 8pm at the orchard in Mill Street. Please bring torches

Bird Walk – 6 Jan 2019

Join us (weather permitting) for a new year bird walk around Castle Meadows and Linda Vista Gardens with Steve Butler. Meet at 10am, Sunday 6th Jan, in the Byfield Lane car park, with suitable footwear and binoculars if you have them.

Bird walk – 13th Jan 2018

Something to look forward to in the New Year. Steve Butler will be leading a bird walk in the Meadows on Saturday 13th January. Meet at 10am in the Byfield Lane car park, wearing clothes and footwear appropriate to the weather.

Butterfly Walk 8th July 2017

Thanks to Steve Butler for guiding a group around the edges of Castle Meadows (edges are often more interesting places for wildlife) to look for butterflies. A good range of species were spotted: speckled wood, large white, red admiral, comma, meadow brown, ringlet, tortoiseshell and green-veined white. However, for the second occasion on our walks this year the highlight was a moth – this time a magnificent elephant hawkmoth found in the copse.

A close look at grassland

Many thanks to Sheelagh Kerry of the Monmouthshire Meadows Group for taking us around the meadows this morning and demonstrating just how varied “grassland” can be. Three species of clover, three of buttercup and more than ten of grass can be found in what might look, at first sight, like a uniform habitat.

However we were all distracted by the star of the morning’s walk – a magnificent eyed hawk moth. Grassland may be the home of lots of little white moths, but this definitely isn’t one of those.