The weather forecast for Tuesday was pretty decent again with plenty of sunshine forecast and reasonably warm temperatures, but thankfully not too hot. As I'm not overly keen on being out and about when it gets really hot this wasn't a bad thing. I decided I would visit Riverside Nature Park for an early morning visit as I had agreed to carry out a breeding bird survey, to help with assessing the success or otherwise of the council's new dog control measures within the park during the breeding season. Hopefully, the measures will make a difference though as there are still a large percentage of dog owners ignoring the signs, either willfully or otherwise, it will only be a partial effect that we will be able to quantify, if anything, for this year.
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| Sedge Warbler |
I headed out around the same time as I would go to work and while waiting on the bus built up a list of 10 species - Blue Tit, Swift, Starling, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Feral Pigeon, Swallow (not too common around here), Blackbird and Carrion Crow. House Sparrow was added on the Perth Road when I got off the bus for the short walk to the underpass and into the park. A Buzzard circled above the park. Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Herring Gull were all seen as I walked along the path outside the fence, heading towards the Invergowrie end to start my surveying, as I needed to work out a route that covered the whole park.
An overflying Blue Tit, Oystercatchers in the field, Jackdaws and Pied Wagtail near the Lochan, Starlings nearby picking among the grass, Mallards roosting by the Lochan and a Yellowhammer singing from the hedge all made for a productive wander along the fenceline. Feral Pigeons were seen at the railway bridge as I entered the park. Lesser Black Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls could be seen in the bay. Chaffinch and Goldfinch both flew into the trees. A Dunnock and a Song Thrush both ventured out from cover to feed on the ground near the fence behind the hide. The thrush looked to be a recently fledged bird. A Cormorant was stood on the outflow pipe drying its wings.
Also in the bay were a few Shelduck and among the Black Headed Gulls was an orange ringed Common Gull (a Grampian ringed bird, I suspect, though I couldn't read the code because of the distance and heat shimmer). A Curlew was one of the few waders picked out. A Blackcap showed in the bushes just to the left of the front of the hide, and a Blackbird flew across the relatively open area out front. A Mute Swan was on the burn. A surprise was a drake Tufted Duck which flew in - only the 2nd seen at the park, though apparently the bay used to be a good area for them when the sewage pipe actually still worked. Another bird to appear in the trees at the hide was Long Tailed Tit - 2 birds calling to each other as they foraged in the trees.
A Sedge Warbler took a bit of finding also in front of the hide but a short song flight helped to 'nail' that one. A Grey Heron wandered into view along the pipe. Another surprise was a pair of Gadwall on the burn, though around this time last year there were a few pairs around the park. A Willow Warbler picked around in the trees above the path as I headed out from the hide and into the park proper. Robin was next onto the list and above the hill I spotted a Skylark, though it sounded like there were at least another 2 in the air at the same time. Great Tit, Magpie, Stock Dove, House Sparrow and House Martin rounded off the list for the park as I jotted down the sightings/non-sightings of 8 species (mostly ground/low nesters).
Numbers of Common Whitethroat seemed to be pretty good with 9 apparent territories found. Surprisingly there were only 2 Willow Warblers and 3 Blackcaps noted but 2 Sedge Warblers was more than I saw last year. There were at least 4 Yellowhammers dotted around and 2 Reed Buntings sang at different parts of the park. There was no sign of Lesser Whitethroat, but as they are a nightmare to find once they stop singing this wasn't any surprise. There were at least 3 Skylarks airborne above the hill at the same time, as I walked round the path but none a little later.
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| Song Thrush |
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| Buzzard & Carrion Crow |
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| Common Gull |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Gadwall |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Robin |
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| Small Tortoiseshell |
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| Blackbird |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Jackdaw |
38 species seen at Riverside Nature Park - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black
Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull,
Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Grey Heron,
Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed
Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied
Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Skylark, Song
Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon,
Yellowhammer.
I had arranged to head into the Angus Glens with Gil once she had finished the things she had to do, so when she texted me to say she had managed to get everything done I headed into town to meet her at the bus station at around 1115. We picked a glen and headed inland to see what we could find. It was a fairly typical haul from the car with Chaffinch and Pied Wagtail before we left Dundee followed by Pheasant, Rook, Buzzard, House Martins and Oystercatcher on the road up. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was added just before we made it to the beginning of the glen.
We parked the car, stopping to photograph a Blue Tit attacking its own reflection in the wing mirror of a car parked nearby, as a Robin hopped around on the ground nearby. Siskins were in the tops of conifers nearby and Gil spotted a
Spotted Flycatcher doing what they do - catching flies, in the trees. A 2nd bird was close by doing likewise. My first Spotties of the year and one of our hoped for targets for the day. We walked along the road adding Willow Warbler, Mistle Thrush, Curlews, Common Gulls and a few distant Buzzards across the glen.
Moving further on we repeated the park and walk technique this time adding Whitethroat, Dunnock, Linnet and a Treecreeper before we moved on to a third stop. I hoped to find Whinchat here, having done so in previous years but despite plenty of searching I drew a blank. There were plenty of Meadow Pipits around though, which probably helped to explain the presence of a
Cuckoo, which we heard and then eventually saw when it flew in to land on a fence post up the hill from us. A male Black Grouse also flew past. A Lesser Redpoll flew out from the trees, circling round before dropping back into the tree-tops. Sand Martins fed on flies above us.
We moved on yet again, stopping to watch Lapwings in a roadside field and looking in the heather on the opposite side of the road for Red Grouse. Once again we drew a blank. We did see a distant Raven here though before we drove on to the end of the Glen for a short wander. Here we found Song Thrush, Goldcrest and Tree Pipit in addition to plenty of Meadow Pipits and a few Starlings. Heading back down the Glen we found a few Red Legged Partridges but they disappeared into the heather before I could start shooting a video clip. We decided to head for Loch of Kinnordy for a short visit and to see what we could find.
There had been a Garganey drake found earlier in the day but when we arrived there was no sign of it and it hadn't been seen by anyone in the hide at that time. We settled down to scan, finding a fairly normal spread of species for this time of year - Osprey, Shoveler, Black Headed Gull, Mallard, Greylag, Coot, Moorhen, Mute Swan and Redshank. There were Great Tits and Blue Tits in the trees by the hide, acrobatically feeding among the branches and budding new leaves. A few Teal and Wigeon appeared from behind the bogbean islands before Gil quietly asked what a particular duck was. It was the drake Garganey, my second in just 4 days, though it had been a lot longer since Gil had seen one. The Marsh Harriers put in an appearance rounded off with a food pass which again I screwed up the photo off.
With time wearing on we had one last stop to make - a visit to Balgavies Loch so Gil could try to get a photo of a Redpoll - a species that had eluded her camera so far. We ignored the Osprey at the nest concentrating instead on the feeders in front of the compact wooden hide. Out on the water I did manage to add Tufted Duck to our day list. As well as Blue Tit, Great Tit and Chaffinch we were treated to views of a Moorhen, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting and Coal Tit at, or near the feeders, and Redpoll, Lessers and one that definitely looked a very strong contender for a
Mealy/Common Redpoll being much greyer and slightly chunkier (and is being counted as such). Gil also spotted a Goldeneye pair out on the Loch. With plenty of Redpoll photos taken we headed for home adding one final species as we entered Dundee - a Collared Dove landing by a house on the northern edge of the city.
A good, productive day out in 2 distinct parts with 3 new additions to my year-list (in bold).
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| Blue Tit |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Cuckoo |
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| Spotted Flycatcher & Pied Wagtail |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Shoveler |
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| Osprey |
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| Shoveler |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Garganey |
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| Marsh Harrier |
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| Moorhen |
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| Redpoll |
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| Greylag Goose |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Dunnock |
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| Lesser Redpoll |
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| Common/Mealy Redpoll |
64 species seen outwith the Nature Park - Black Grouse, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot,
Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunnock, Garganey
, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greylag
Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing,
Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Mallard, Marsh
Harrier, Meadow Pipit
, Mealy Redpoll, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Red Legged Partridge, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Shoveler, Siskin, Song Thrush,
Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Tree Pipit, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
