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| Herring Gulls |
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| Moorhen |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Feral Pigeon |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Mallard |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Common Gull & Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Mute Swan, Mallard, Black Headed Gull |
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| Common Gull |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Common Gull |
The lure of a warm bed proved too strong so my rather ambitious plans for an early rise followed by the 12 mile walk from Tayport to Leuchars on a bitterly cold day came to nothing. However, I'm not overly keen on wasting a day, so I decided I would head out with my camera and binoculars anyway. At this time of year, Swannie Ponds can give some good photo opportunities and with gulls from all points of the compass possible it was unlikely to be a total waste of time.
Just before 1pm I headed out into the crisp, cold air, so typical of a Dundee winter day. Birds appeared to be in short supply until I turned into the next street where a Carrion Crow flew down into a garden, a few Herring Gulls swept over and a Blackbird foraged seemingly unconcerned as I walked by along the frosty pavement just a few feet away. Heading uphill to Clepington Road, I added House Sparrows, Starlings, Feral Pigeon and a Woodpigeon, all in the general area of a feeder in a garden.
Once I reached Clepington Road, the regular Black Headed Gull (I assume) was seen, and House Sparrows were very vocal from within the hedges along the front gardens towards Forfar Road. On reaching the mostly frozen Swannie Ponds, I could see Woodpigeons perched in the mature trees across the road, but I was almost immediately distracted by the calls of
Long Tailed Tits and Blue Tits feeding in the trees round by the main road. I hurried around to try to see them, catching sight of the birds just before they flew off to the gardens opposite. A year tick, and not a bad start. A Pied Wagtail landed on the path off to my left.
As always out on the ponds there were plenty Mallards and a mixture of gulls. Black Headed and Herring Gulls were in the majority, the smaller birds seemingly less wary than the larger ones. Wandering further round I could see the Mute Swan family and Tufted Ducks on another area of unfrozen pond, along with more gulls. A few Common Gulls were seen dotted around. A few minutes later, the first Moorhen appeared near the island. A small flock of Fieldfares overflew, the first of a few similar groups of the afternoon.
Carrion Crow, Blackbird and Feral Pigeon were all noted at various times, as was a single Grey Squirrel. Most of my time though was spent looking for ringed gulls and this proved remarkably fruitful. In addition to the previously seen J4U2 and JN69, Norwegian Black Headed Gulls and another single metal ringed Norwegian bird - 6181458, I found another 4 British ringed Black Headed Gulls though it wasn't possible to read the whole ring codes from the photos for a variety of reasons. What I did manage was EY47?66, EY47?12 and ????583 and one with an upside down ring which appeared to start with 5Y(possibly followed by 37). If anyone can fill in the gaps, please let me know, via a comment.
I also noted one of the Mute Swans was ringed. Lime IPU, which is apparently the local female bird. It is certainly a lot easier to read the rings on a Swan's leg than on a Black Headed Gull, or something even smaller, through binoculars/camera. With the majority of gulls stood around on the frozen surface it was much easier to scan through the flocks and try to spot the silver rings. However, distance and strong low-angled light combined to make it tricky to read full sequences, at times.
I did manage to easily read off a yellow ringed Herring Gull adult, which I suspect is from Aberdeenshire. Coded T-714. This is the first ringed Herring Gull I've seen here, though I have seen others at Arbroath before. A metal ringed Common Gull was also a first for me here, though it was quite a wary bird which didn't make even getting photos of the ring particularly easy. The code appears to be EW85247 though. Hopefully, as with the others I will get details of where/when they were ringed at some point.
I was joined for 5 minutes or so, by my birding buddy, Jacqui (along with her friend and her wee dog, Archie) as they headed back home after a spot of Angus birding. A male
Sparrowhawk overflew as we chatted, giving me my second year tick of the day, though Jacqui missed it as it flew behind the trees. I added a few more photos of Pied Wagtail to the memory card before I decided my fingers were feeling the cold just a bit too much and I headed for home. I wandered down Pitkerro Road past the Morgan Academy where Starlings were beginning to congregate before heading off to roost. A male Chaffinch overflew.
I arrived home at around 1520 and it was obvious that the daylight is beginning to last a bit longer again compared to even a month ago. Hopefully Spring won't wait too long before it gets here....
I managed just 19 species, but 10 ringed birds, and 2 year ticks (in bold). Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Fieldfare, Herring Gull, House Sparrow,
Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Feral Pigeon,
Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon.