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| Pied Wagtail |
A morning looking for insects (butterflies mostly) was cut short by the possibility of a parcel I was waiting for, being delivered. As it turned out, I went home for no reason and the parcle delivery itself became a bit of a saga, which showed just how bad Royal Mail can be, at something they used to be the best at. A trip out in the evening with Rohan to see what we could find on the slightly less exposed Fife side of the river, where the trees would bear the brunt of the wind from the south, would hopefully make up for the relatively poor morning's searching. Rohan picked me up at 1800 and we headed for Tayport.
House Martin was spotted before we set off and Herring Gull, Swallow, Feral Pigeon, Collared Dove and Jackdaw were seen from the car on the drive out to the Tentsmuir end of Tayport. As Mark had seen a flock of Little Gulls there in the morning we set up the scope and scanned out over the mud. Mark had also seen a Beaver in the burn, but again, there was no sign for us. Unfortunately with the tide well out, there were likely birds hidden from view along the water's edge. We were able to pick out Shelduck, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Mallard, Lapwing, Great Black-backed Gull, Carrion Crow, Curlew, Black-headed Gull and Grey Heron. A Sedge Warbler was singing loudly behind us and a few Swifts were zipping around overhead. Wren, Woodpigeon, Starling, and Goldfinch were also in the same general area.
There was no sign of the hoped for Little Gulls, which wasn't really unexpected. However, I did manage to spot a small group (maybe 3 or 4) Bottlenose Dolphins - my first of 2026 - out in the river, which was a bit of a surprise given the tide state. It appeared the folk on the Broughty Ferry side were oblivious to their presence, even when they appeared to be quite close to the Castle. As we wandered along towards Tentsmuir Forest a Sparrowhawk with prey in its talons flew over us, relatively low and I was able to grab a few photos. Skylarks were heard singing and with the aid of the scope I managed to find a few Sandwich Terns out over the river. A Buzzard was next onto the list, followed by Greenfinch, Pheasant, Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit, Blackbird, Common Gull and Cormorant. Walking back to the car we added Chiffchaff.
We drove round to the harbour area to see if we could add anything there or at least get closer views of the dolphins. We did manage to add Eider, Redshank, Siskin, a Painted Lady butterfly and a few Rabbits. Another Grey Heron was seen fishing at the harbour and a couple of Pied Wagtails and a number of House Martins which were nesting on the flats next to the harbour were swooping around. We headed for home around 2120. While not quite as successful as we might have hoped, Rohan did manage to add a few new species to her rather casual list for the year, and it was far more enjoyable than editing photos at home, as I would likely have been doing otherwise. A total of 38 species of birds, 1 of butterflies and 2 of mammals were noted, and with most birds rather distant, not many photos were taken.
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Curlew |
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| Starling |
Birds - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies - Painted Lady.
Mammals - Bottlenose Dolphin, Rabbit.
