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| Buzzard |
The combination of reasonably decent weather, a desire to get out birding and a lack of energy and motivation saw me take the relatively easy option of a trip to the top of the Law on the 9th of March. Raptors were my main target, with displaying birds such as Buzzards, Peregrines and Sparrowhawks all a possibility but with a slim chance of a passing Red Kite if my luck was really in. With it still being a bit too early for much in the way of Spring migration, I wasn't expecting much outside of the raptors but as always, you just never know what might put in an appearance. Sunshine, light winds and reasonably warm weather would at least make the expected periods of little activity more bearable than they sometimes can be up there.
I headed out just after 0915 for the 15-20 minute walk to the top of the Law, around a mile away to the (south-ish) west from home. Starling, Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and Magpie made for a steady, but rather unexciting, run of sightings before I reached Dens Road. Both Goldfinch and Goldcrest were noted as I continued up Canning Street with Chaffinch, Great Tit, Wren, Blackbird and Robin being found on the final stretch up to the hill itself. Things were relatively quiet from the top of the hill but the sun had a bit of welcome warmth to it. An Oystercatcher was heard somewhere out to the west while Coal Tit and the first of at least 2 Chiffchaffs were heard from the trees further down the sides. A Meadow Pipit overflew westwards just before 1005.
A pair of Jackdaws passed by around 1010 before things hit a bit of an early lull. After about half an hour of nothing much happening a couple of Bullfinch sightings lifted the spirits a little. A Coal Tit showed in a tree to the east at 1100. A pair of Buzzards were seen out to the west around 1105 before drifting to somewhere in the vicinity of Dudhope Park. Another, or possibly even the same, pair appeared around an hour later circling to the southwest of the hill. A Sparrowhawk also put in an appearance around the same time. A trio of skeins of Pink Footed Geese were seen heading northwards inland over the next quarter of an hour or so. Among one of the flocks was a single rather obvious Barnacle Goose, a very welcome new bird for my #2025Dundee150 list. A Song Thrush was heard singing at 1300 and a Lesser Black Backed Gull drifted over. I had a chat to a young Irish guy for 20 minutes or so, whose Grandad also photographs birds.
There was a bit of a tussle between some gulls and a Buzzard out to the southeast, and a Sparrowhawk and a corvid were seen interacting even more distantly out to the east. Another much closer Sparrowhawk sped round the north side of the hill towards the west, diving out of sight behind the trees. Another Buzzard was spotted and I moved down to the front of the hill for a better view. This proved rather fortuitous as the bird, a youngster from last year with pale eyes, chose to land in the very top section of one of the tall conifers by the access road a little to the east of south. I spent quite a while watching and photographing this bird which showed really well for an extended period, even ignoring a couple of Carrion Crows which tried to chase it off from its perch. It eventually did move on, but by that time I had taken rather a lot of (largely very similar) photos.
Another Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk were seen out towards Balgay Hill before the local male Kestrel finally put in an appearance. It did a spot of hunting before relocating to near the top of the mast at the back of the hill where it sat for a short period before it too departed again to settle in one of the east side trees where I was able to get even more photos before it headed off for more hunting. Another Sparrowhawk was seen before I finally called it a day after 5 hours at the top of the hill. Although I only managed a total of 29 species for the whole day, and not all from the top of the hill, I had managed to add another new bird to my #2025Dundee150 list (in bold) and taken a LOT of fairly decent photos of Buzzard and Kestrel, some of which can be seen below.
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Buzzard |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Buzzard |
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| Barnacle Goose & Pink Footed Goose |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Magpie |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
Birds - Barnacle Goose, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pink Footed Goose, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
