Despite having joined the Dundee Naturalists' Society last Summer, I had yet to make it along to one of their numerous outings. However, their May coach outing to Killiecrankie in Perthshire certainly caught my attention. I always try to get there at this time of year as it is a good place to at least try to find Wood Warblers and Pied Flycatchers which visit in the summer to breed. The former are usually relatively easy to find but not always easy to photograph well, spending much of their time high in the trees. The latter had been hard to find last year and the year before on my visits - with only a single rather poor sighting of a fairly distant bird to show for my efforts.
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| Wood Warbler |
With the coach due to leave Courthouse Square at 0900 I headed out around 0830. There were few birds around with only Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon and Herring Gull seen before I caught the bus into town. A mix-up meant that the coach was almost an hour late and Courthouse Square doesn't have many birds though I did manage to add Carrion Crow, Goldfinch and Lesser Black backed Gull. Once we finally got underway Starling, Jackdaw and Mallard were added as we headed out Riverside and past the Nature Park.
A few Buzzards soared above the fields and a few Rooks were dotted around at various points. Mute Swans were seen at Willowgate trout fishery below the Friarton Bridge. Near Ballinluig we added Pheasant and a few flyover Swifts. Closer to Pitlochry we saw an Oystercatcher in another field. There was a choice of two walks with the group - a short one staying relatively close to the visitor centre and village area and a 4.5 mile longer walk looping out and back to the centre. With the coach due to leave around 1630, I decided to do neither walk but instead to seek out my target species and if possible also try to see Garden Warbler, Nuthatch and Spotted Flycatcher also. Nat, who was also on the trip, decided to do likewise.
Thankfully the stronger winds of the previous few days had dropped off and the sun was still shining, meaning that despite the birds being largely under cover or in the foliage, there should still be enough light for decent photos. Around the car park, we spotted Great Tit and Blue Tit while by the picnic tables we added Chaffinch. A Buzzard circled just above the trees. We walked down past the visitor centre and up the other side of the gully after crossing the small wooden footbridge. I heard a contact call - very monotone and flat. I was certain it was a
Wood Warbler. We looked through the mess of branches trying to locate the bird, eventually succeeding. A year-tick and without too much effort.
We had a much closer encounter with another Wood Warbler a few minutes later when we chanced upon one with a beakful of nesting material near the path before it dropped to the ground a little ahead of us. We edged forward slowly, and as we did so the bird returned to perch just in front of us, without nesting material this time. A couple of quick photos and we moved on leaving the bird to its nest-building. Movement on a branch above the path caught our eye and a quick glance showed a long-ish beak and a black bandit mask. Nuthatch, and another rather easy find. A Blackbird flew across the path ahead of us.
Off to our right I could hear a bird singing. As it wasn't particularly familiar I was fairly sure it had to be Pied Flycatcher, so we followed a small track into the trees arriving at a slightly open area with mature trees towering over us, but widely spaced. A bit of searching by stopping and listening then moving towards the song soon found the source, and it was, as suspected, a nice male
Pied Flycatcher. The second main target and number 3 of 5 already accounted for within half an hour. We spent some time watching the Flycatcher singing and catching flies. There was a second bird within earshot also, and at one point there was a bit of a chase between 2 of the birds.
Soon after we found Spotted Flycatchers near the railway line, along with a Robin and a few Siskins. We could hear a Garden Warbler singing, so I decided to try the same tree I saw one in the last time I saw one here on the off-chance it was a returning bird. It took some time but we eventually succeeded in seeing the
Garden Warbler in exactly the same part of the same tree as I'd seen it previously. Unfortunately it proved impossible to get a photo before it flew into a different tree and we managed to lose sight of it. Still, it was the 5th of our 5 target species and my 3rd year-tick of the day. Mission accomplished and we still had around 4 hours left to play with.
We decided to have a wander down to the village where we added Swallows and House Martins swooping around up above and House Sparrows and Goldfinches around the gardens along with Blue Tits. Crossing the bridge at the river we spotted what appeared to be a colony of Common Gulls on the pebbles in teh river upstream of the bridge, though their colours made them very easy to overlook. A small tributary held a Dipper which flew off upriver. We had heard Common Sandpiper earlier but were unable to find one in this more open part of the river. A resident of the village who was painting his cottage was exceedingly chatty and when we finally managed to excuse ourselves we took his advice and checked out the small waterfall below the trees up the small tributary, but there was nothing to be added, though the Dipper was glimpsed again here.
Back we went to the Garden Warbler tree where we had some lunch and tried again to photograph the rather elusive bird. A Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Coal Tit distracted us for a few minutes but eventually we gave up to go and spend some more time with the Pied Flycatchers and Wood Warblers. I did manage further brief views of Nuthatch and we added Willow Warbler to the list as well. We watched a pair of Wood Warblers in the trees just to the right of the visitor centre for a short time and I was able to show a few folk who hadn't seen one during the day the birds as they called to each other as they foraged among the branches. With everyone back before the planned departure time we left early to head for home after what had been a rather successful day out, with all 5 targets seen - though only 3 photographed relatively well.
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| Buzzard |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Wood Warbler |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Robin |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Pied Flycatcher |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Wood Warbler |
A rather low total of only 34 species but it was definitely quality over quantity with 3 year ticks (in bold). Species seen - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Dipper,
Garden Warbler, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Mallard, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Pheasant,
Pied Flycatcher, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Swallow, swift, Willow Warbler,
Wood Warbler, Woodpigeon.
