A Bittern, Curlew Sandpipers, Peregrine Falcon and Green Sandpiper!
Another busy week at WWT Llanelli means that this weeks sightings blog will be a little brief, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been a good week for sightings!
A Eurasian Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) was spotted among the reeds on Deep Water Lake by a handful of visitors on Tuesday 28 July. This is incredibly exciting news, and while it hasn’t been seen since, we hope it will pop by again soon. Keep your eyes peeled!
Wildlife highlights 29 July to 4 August 2026
Another treat was the Curlew Sandpipers (Calidris ferruginea), which were seen on the Saline Lagoon multiple times this week. Green Sandpipers (Tringa ochropus) also seem to have returned this week, with a few being spotted on the Freshwater Lagoon. Soaring over these sandpipers was a Peregrine Falcon (Falco peregrinus) on the hunt! While it’s been seen a few of times this week, some lucky folks were able to observe it hunting on the Saline Lagoon.
Our wader numbers, including Common Redshank (Tringa totanus) and Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia), have also been steadily increasing, as seen below:
· 213 Redshank on Saline Lagoon
· 32 Greenshank on Saline Lagoon
· 1040 Black Tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) (955 on Saline Lagoon, 85 on Deep Water Lake)
· Also worth mentioning the Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus) which has been a regular on the Saline Lagoon and Dafen Scrapes for the last few weeks.
The sunny days have brought out the butterflies in good numbers! Walk any of the reserve and collection area paths and you could see Peacock (Aglais io), Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta), Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae), Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus), Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina), Gatekeeper (Pyronua tithonus) and many other types. We’ve had numerous sightings of Clouded Yellows (Colias croceus), while a handful of lovely little Small Coppers (Lycaena phlaeas) have been seen by our Reserve Team while out on surveys. The Millenium Wetlands are also abuzz with dragonflies, who seem to have come out on mass for our Dragonfly Festival. Recently, Common Darters (Sympetrum striolatum) have been particularly abundant!
Lastly, part of the reason this week’s sightings have been a little more brief this week is due to our reserve team bringing a number of new cattle on site. At the time of writing this, we have ten new cattle out on the Saline Lagoon and adjoining areas. There’s likely to be more in the future, too. You might catch see these gentle giants lounging in the shade or munching some grass in a distant corner. Whether it’s their poo, their pee, their eating habits, or simply how they churn up the earth with their hooves, almost everything these cattle do feeds back into our conservation work, and we’re incredibly excited to have them as part of the team!
That’s it for this week but be sure to pop by, there’s plenty going on, including live music, canoe safaris and our Dragonfly Festival!
