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| Iceland Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
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| Iceland Gull |
The bird(s) in the pictures above are Iceland Gulls. Most winters a few birds show up in Scotland, and if we are lucky at least one will make an appearance locally. The bird in the top two photos was my first ever "proper" rarity find - a 1st year bird at Clatto Reservoir on the outskirts of Dundee a few years ago. The bottom bird was another 1st year bird that wintered at Anstruther harbour and which was tempted in with some bread. A friend tried to tempt it in with lemon sole which the bird apparently turned its beak up at, leaving my friend with rather smelly fingers.....
The reason for posting photos of Iceland Gull will be apparent if you happened to read last night's post on my local patch - Riverside Nature Park, a short while after I posted it. Another regular at the site had discovered another 1st year bird at the park yesterday and had posted photos on BirdForum.
Naturally I was hoping that I might see the bird at some point. At lunchtime I received both negative and positive reports by text of the bird being in Invergowrie Bay this morning. The positive report was later than the negative so I weighed up the option of asking to leave work early to try and see the bird myself. When I mentioned the species, my boss, a non-birder asked "didn't you see one of those at Clatto Park?" (She lives near the park and it had obviously stuck in her head for some reason - I was impressed that she remembered. Moreso that she had actually listened to the original conversation....). As things worked out, I more or less managed to get my work up to date, so I asked and was granted permission to leave early.
Generally speaking, I'm not a "twitcher" as such, but if something unusual turns up locally and I can get there I will usually try to go. If it is on my patch, then I can't really give it a miss....
Leaving work at around 1445, I caught a bus to the Technology Park and walked down to the park, where I bumped into another local birder, Bob McCurley, who had been trying to see the bird, but had drawn a blank. As I had crossed the bridge over the railway I had scanned with the small pair of 10x25 binoculars I had with me and seen a pale looking gull flying towards the water's edge out in the bay. Bob set up his scope and scanned through the rather distant gulls. We walked down to the hide and tried again, but no luck. There was a large flock in their usual place over towards Invergowrie among the rockier part of the bay, but these were mostly Black Headed with a few Common dotted through with 1 or 2 juvenile Herring Gulls. Strangely the area on the Dundee side of the pipe was bereft of Gulls as was the pipe which is very unusual. A Buzzard flew by the hide quite close with a Carrion Crow giving it some unwanted attention. A Starling flew over as well.
I mentioned to Bob the possibility of getting down to the shore on the Invergowrie side of the bay so we walked to his car and drove round. It is possible to get along the shore by crossing the bridge at Invergowrie railway station and walking through the trees. Bob scanned from the bridge but still no luck. We walked on till we reached the edge of the bay. There was a steady stream of gulls low over the water heading into the wind towards Kingoodie to roost. Checking through them again produced no Iceland Gull. The light was starting to go, so we headed back to the park to once more try from the hide but the birds we had seen from the opposite side had moved on and there were only waders (Redshanks and Curlews) and ducks (Mallard and Teal) near the Dundee side. As we entered the park, I spotted a small group of Long Tailed Tits feeding in the hedge. A new species for Bob's yearlist, so he at least had something to show for his visit.
Bob decided to call it a day and head for home, but despite the rapidly fading light and my rather limited binoculars I decided to see if there was anything else around in the park. On the hill and by the Lochan was a large group of Carrion Crows, and more gulls continues to stream in from the north to roost in the river. As best as I could tell, none looked much like an Iceland Gull. The lochan held a pair of Teal and around 10 Mallards.
I skirted round the area behind the car park, spooking a lot of smaller birds from around the edges of the flood. Blackbirds and Redwings were heard calling as the flock dispersed into the trees but the visibility rendered them as blurs and silhouettes only. A few Woodpigeons noisily clattered out from the trees and these were recognisable against the lighter parts of sky, though the wing slaps were pretty conclusive on their own anyway.
Heading along by the cow field I spotted movement ahead by the edge of the trees and stopped to look. The dark shape did the same. I could just make out what it was. A Fox.
And no, I don't know what it said......
Rather short list of birds seen -
Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Curlew, Herring Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Redshank, Redwing, Starling, Teal, Woodpigeon