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| Hawfinch |
As we drove in a Blackbird hopped around by the road. Two Robins kept a bit of space between them around the edge of the car park. A few Feral Pigeons passed overhead. There was a lot less water around though the remains of the large puddle to the east of the car park had frozen over. We used the gate as support to walk across the ice to the grass. Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon were seen as we walked towards Buzzard Wood. Again, a large frozen puddle extending from the wood to most of the way across the usually flooded area blocked our way. As we were hoping for Snipe this made little difference as we intended to walk around the edges anyway.
I walked in along the edges trying to avoid any deeper water, while Nat stayed on the grass. Ahead of us, 2 Snipe broke cover and flew off. Seconds later another pair, followed by a third took flight and flew off. The next bird lifted silently, stayed quite low, flew in the opposite direction and dropped back down the other side of the hedge that bisects the flood. A Jack Snipe. A new year-tick, and another bird that I failed to see last year. Surprisingly, yet another pair of Snipe exploded out of the longer grass followed seconds later by an altogether more surprising female Pheasant. A few Goldfinches landed in the tops of the hedge as we walked round to try and see where the Jack Snipe had landed.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen flying along the road in the direction of the car park. Just as it disappeared out of sight, a second Great Spotted Woodpecker appeared in the trees in Buzzard Wood. This was the first time I've seen 2 woodpeckers in the park. A trio of male Greenfinches flew over our heads as we scanned the area by the hedge for the Jack Snipe to no avail. A pair of Redwings were perched in the trees to the north of Buzzard Wood. We walked westwards towards the higher half of the park. Dunnock and Blue Tit were in the bushes by the path.
A Carrion Crow cawed loudly from its perch on a fencepost. A Mistle Thrush dropped onto another post close by. Stock Dove was next onto the list, 3 taking off and circling round before landing again further away. We had good views of a Redwing perched on the fence. There were a few others on the ground in the field but they all flew off as we walked a bit closer. A Herring Gull glided over as we waked up the slope to the top half of the park. A Song Thrush took off from the lower slopes of the hill and away into the hedge. Walking further round we found a pair of Bullfinches feeding on buds on a small tree by the path. Chaffinch, Goldcrest and Reed Bunting went on the list as we walked through towards the Lochan.
Although the Lochan was frozen over, there was still a small patch of open water where the Mute Swan pair were. An Oystercatcher called as it flew inland from the direction of the bay. A pair of Siskins dropped into the hedge nearby giving us good views. A Wren foraged in below the hedge. We watched a pair of Long Tailed Tits flit passed us. A little further on towards the hide we caught sight of a male Yellowhammer ahead of us. When we reached the hide the tide was further out than I'd hoped it would be. There were the usual Herring and Black Headed Gulls as well as a few Common Gulls, Oystercatchers, Curlews and Redshanks out on the mud. A Skylark flew over heading west.
In the burn were a few Mallards, while more roosted by the mouth of the tunnel. A single Teal was on the small muddy shore down from the hide. A pair of Goosanders were a nice bonus and a Grey Heron was stood by the outflow pipe. A Grey Wagtail dropped in for a few seconds - another nice bonus bird. Leaving the hide we headed round to get a more open view across the bay. A Cormorant was on the pipe with wings held open. Carrion Crows gave chase to a Buzzard low across the bay and a single drake Goldeneye and 6 Shelduck were spotted, as was a young Mute Swan. Despite a bit of scanning we failed to find any other waders or wildfowl species. A Starling passed over going in the direction of Invergowrie.
We heard the Magpie chuckling as we neared the car park. I was looking the wrong way when Nat spotted it flying down to near the compost area, so I hurried up the hill to see if I could also see it. There were a few Mistle Thrush and Redwings feeding on the hill and after a bit of hunting I spotted the Magpie as it took off to fly back into the trees. It was a bit later than we had intended when we left the park but after seeing 44 species we could hardly have any complaints.
There wasn't much to see on the way to Perth, except a few fields full of Rooks. Arriving at Scone Palace we added Jackdaw. As we walked up the drive way towards the arch we looked up into the trees hoping for a Hawfinch but only finding Great Tits and Blue Tits. Once through the arch we walked down the driveway, stopping and looking up regularly. A Fieldfare flew over and a Stock Dove flew out from the trees. We bumped into John McHale near the end of the drive who was also looking for the same birds and had a chat, though there was also plenty of listening for calls and watching for movement while we did so.
I eventually spotted a bird fly in to the high branches in a tree to our right. I managed to get onto the bird with the binoculars and was happy to see it was a Hawfinch. I struggled to get the others onto the bird though and then couldn't find it myself when I looked away for a few seconds to try to get a better view of the general location of the bird. A Treecreeper was next onto the list, clambering around on a tree nearby. We could see the ADBC crowd down the driveway towards the palace looking up into the trees. Did they have the birds? We couldn't tell.
A few minutes later I spotted more movement and this time succeeded in getting Nat onto the bird. John had wandered off to check a different area and we had been joined by Graham Ewen. More birds flew in and we managed reasonable views of a few of the birds. Before the ADBC crowd reached us a flock took flight from the trees, showing there had been far more birds above us than we had been able to see. The trees blocked our view of where the birds had gone so with our target species in the bag we decided to head back to the car. A Wren below the trees showed briefly.
Back at the car we weighed up our options. The weather forecast (snow inland) suggested my preferred option of Kinnordy Loch was a bad idea. Nat had mentioned that she'd never been up Kinnoull Hill so we decided to try there in the hope that we might get lucky and see a Peregrine. A few Carrion Crows were in the fields on the way up to the car park but there was little else. There was a bit of snow and ice around at the car park and on the path up through the trees, which wasn't positive. We decided to press on anyway up to the viewpoint. There were a lot of walkers and mountain bikers around but sadly few birds. A Robin and a Coal Tit or two was all we saw on the way up, with even less on the way down. A pair of corvids may have been Ravens but the views were fleeting and distant.
It was a nice day for a walk and the views from the top, where there was still a coating of snow, were good so the lack of birds wasn't as disappointing as it might have been. With Nat needing to be home around mid-afternoon we headed for home around 1420. A Buzzard in a field by the dual carriageway and a Kestrel flying away from the road a bit further towards Dundee were the only birds seen before we reached Dundee, and a Pied Wagtail flew off the roof of the old Tesco depot as we came off the Kingsway.
It had been a successful day out with 2 year ticks (in bold), both tricky birds to get, added. 54 species in total (44 at park, 24 outwith the park). Species in italics only seen at one site.
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Mistle Thrush (& Carrion Crow) |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Black Headed Gull & Mute Swan |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Shelduck |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Hawfinch |
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| Hawfinch |
Species seen at Riverside Nature Park - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jack Snipe, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Redshank, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Snipe, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Species seen outwith the park - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Fieldfare, Great Tit, Hawfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.