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| Tufted Duck |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Moorhen & Tufted Duck |
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| Mallard |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Coal Tit |
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| Redwing |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant (Sinensis race) |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Red Breasted Merganser & Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Red Throated Diver |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Cormorant |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Mallard |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Robin |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull (JN69) |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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Black Headed Gull & Feral Pigeon
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With strong winds forecast I decided against taking a bus trip over to Fife, instead once again remaining local, and seeing what I could find within the city of Dundee, and mostly on foot. As things transpired the strong winds failed to fully materialise but as I did succeed in getting some nice photos it wasn't a wasted day out. I decided to follow a broadly similar route to the previous weekend's outing, but chose to not visit Caird Park as most of the likely species were possible elsewhere en route.
I left the house at around 0930 to the sight of a few Herring Gulls hanging in the wind overhead with others sweeping over with the wind behind them. A Carrion Crow flew over and a small group of Feral Pigeons huddled together on one of the tenement rooftops. A Starling glided over and a Woodpigeon was perched in a small tree in a garden. Two Jackdaws chased one another over. A Black Headed Gull flew above Clepington Road while Feral Pigeons flew into land on another tenement. My usual detour along Mains Terrace provided distant views of a small skein of Pink Footed Geese heading inland, and there was no sign of the usual House Sparrow flock. Only a handful of Feral Pigeons were seen instead.
Swannie Ponds was the next stop and as always the Black Headed Gulls and Mallards outnumbered everything else, with around 50 Mallards and at least a similar number of Black Headed Gulls present. The Mute Swan family were swimming around the edge of the pond, while the small group of Tufted Ducks were congregated up the far end past the island. A mixture of ages of Herring Gulls held back a bit further out, lazing around. A Robin showed briefly on the path before flying back into the bushes. A Goldfinch overflew and a Wren flew across the road and perched on the wall opposite before disappearing over the other side seconds later.
Some scanning with the binoculars found me a Common Gull, though there were no rarer gull species around, though I did find the regular ringed birds among the flock of Black Headed Gulls (JN69, J4U2 and 2XLD) along with another bird with a single metal leg ring which I eventually identified as another Norwegian bird - 6181458, from photos. I didn't realise that this bird had also been around earlier in the year. A Woodpigeon overflew, and the resident Moorhens appeared out on the water.
As I was leaving to head for Eastern Cemetery I noticed a single Oystercatcher had dropped in to forage on the grassy area bordering the ponds. A bit of a surprise though I expected to see one later anyway (but didn't as things worked out). A small flock of House Sparrows chirped in the bushes by the TA depot at Rodd Road with a few more flying in to join them as I passed. On reaching the gates of the cemetery I noticed that it was a lot quieter than the previous week with only a Blackbird to be seen initially. Wandering a bit further in did produce a handful of Redwings. Herring Gull and Feral Pigeon both overflew.
A Goldcrest foraged among the branches of a small tree about halfway through the cemetery and a few Blue Tits were in another tree nearby. Towards the southeast corner I could see larger birds flying around from tree-top to tree-top. These did appear to be thrushes and indeed they were - Mistle Thrushes, Redwings and a couple of Fieldfares though in much lower numbers than the previous week's visit. One of the Mistle Thrushes showed quite well picking berries from a Yew tree in flight then landing on the grass to eat them. I did manage close views of both Redwing and a much closer Mistle Thrush. A Coal Tit fed among the branches of another Yew. A Chaffinch and a Greenfinch as well as a few Woodpigeons were seen befre I headed down towards Stannergate.
It was much quieter at Stannergate too with the tide further in and thus less beach for the birds to forage on. Further along a dog walker ensured a lack of waders. There were a few Carrion Crows around and out on the water a couple of Black Headed Gulls and a single Common Gull. Herring Gull was seen further along to the east but there were no birds out on the river to be seen. I almost managed to miss a Grey Heron roosting out by the point with the glare from the sun making it quite hard to pick out as it stood motionless among the rubble and rocks. The small flock of local Linnets flew around and I did pass them perched in a tree as I wandered back up to the main road to try and catch a bus into town. A Goldcrest appeared about a foot in front of my face foraging in a garden hedge at the end of the bridge over the railway before it took flight across to the other side of the road.
I had a ten minute wait for the X5 bus but the only birds seen were a couple of domestic white pigeons. A few more Feral Pigeons were seen near the bus station and when I arrived at City Quay there were no birds visible out on the water. Three Fieldfares overflew westwards, a first for me here. A few Cormorants roosted on the wall by the dry dock along with a Herring Gull. I crossed the footbridge and headed along to check out the outer quay area. A Robin perched on the chain behind the Unicorn and a Grey Heron was roosting opposite, unnoticed when I was across the opposite side of the quay. A few Starlings picked among the cobblestones, and a Blackbird flew towards the flats where I could hear more House Sparrows chirping away. Another small skein of Pink Footed Geese flew over low, being blown further to the east by the wind which was a bit stronger down by the river than it had appeared to be further inland.
Ahead of me on the water I could see the strong white glow of a bird on the water which I suspected was probably Dave in his winter plumage. Checking with binoculars confirmed this to be the case and the second Red Throated Diver was also still in attendance suggesting it may stay a while yet. A small group of Red Breasted Mergansers flew in and I spotted a few more further over towards the boat wrecks. I eventually picked out one of the Little Grebes although it seemed to spend most of its time underwater. A Rock Pipit flew by and a Grey Wagtail went in the opposite direction a few minutes later. The local Linnets put in a brief appearance. A Cormorant surfaced not far in front of me and appeared to be a continental (Sinensis) subspecies bird. These birds which may or may not be from mainland Europe (or England) seem to be overwintering in the area now. It would be interesting to find out where they are appearing from.
I decided to head back into town to catch a bus back to Swannie Ponds to check through the gulls again while the light was still reasonably good. I checked the river on my way out but there were only Cormorants to be seen, roosting out on the 'submarine'. The birds at Swannie Ponds were the same as earlier (Mallard/Tufted Duck/Mute Swan/Moorhen/Black Headed Gull/Common Gull/Herring Gull), though a Dunnock was an addition to the list as it hopped around on the path among the gulls and ducks after a family had spent some time feeding the birds on the water. A Collared Dove overflew and two Robins showed well in the trees by the corner of the pond though the light wasn't great for photos. A Carrion Crow posed for a photo before flying down from the railings onto the grass.
I spent some time trying to photograph the metal ringed Black Headed Gull, discovering later at home that I had actually been photographing a second single metal ringed bird. This one appeared to be a British ringed bird but frustratingly I only managed two photos which showed enough detail to read some of the details. The code started with E and appeared to contain the sequence "683" although the 6 could be a 5. I will need to try again to get photos of this bird, assuming it sticks around. A flock of Feral Pigeons circled around over the houses to the north as the gulls all took flight.
As I was contemplating leaving to head for home I heard the unmistakable calls of Long Tailed Tits near the Clepington Road side of the pond and hurried round to try and see them. With the bare branches of the trees this turned out to be quite easy, and a pair of Blue Tits kept pace with the Long Tailed group as they made their way around the perimeter trees. The low sun gave the birds a warmer glow than even the usual pink flush and after a few minutes I did indeed head for home after a Pied Wagtail overflew giving me one final tick for the day.
Herring Gulls and Feral Pigeons as well as a few Carrion Crows, Starlings and Blackbirds gave me something to look at before I reached home. I managed a total of 39 species though nothing too unexpected/surprising but still enjoyed the day out.
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Linnet, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren.