With Little Stint and Wood Sandpiper still to see for the year-list I decided to head out early to catch the incoming tide at Riverside Nature Park. There was also a chance of getting some vis-mig species flying through. Once again the weather was forecast to be quite good. My vague plan was to stay at the Nature Park until the tide came in then move on elsewhere to catch it on the way out.
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| Osprey |
I headed out at 0725 to walk into town to catch a bus out to the Nature Park. Woodpigeon, Herring Gull, Great Tit, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon, Robin and Black Headed and Lesser Black Backed Gulls started my list for the day. I was lucky that the bus I had been hoping to catch actually ran at a later time than the Traveline Scotland app/website suggested it did. This meant a very short walk to the park.
I decided to walk along the outside of the park to check on the Lochan from the fence first. Woodpigeon was first on my list for the park, soon followed by a Blackbird. Herring Gull and Carrion Crows overflew, and a single House Martin hawked for insects above the Lochan. A family of Mallards and the Highland Cattle were the only other things around apart from the Martin. A flock of Feral Pigeons headed over, and a pair of Goldfinches landed in the bushes. A medium sized bird flew over with a flight style reminiscent of a Magpie. A quick photo or two showed it to be a rather unexpected Jay. It continued on westwards until it was out of sight over Invergowrie.
Next up was just as surprising. A Swift, the first I'd seen for a few weeks with the locals having moved on elsewhere. A buzzy whistled single note call from somewhere above triggered my memory and I soon spotted the culprit as it headed west. A Tree Pipit. Things were already going rather well. I checked the bay from the railway bridge as the vegetation around the hide is now blocking the view of a good part of the burn and the bay, rendering the hide rather obsolete except around high tide. Not ideal.
I could see waders in the bay, mostly Redshanks, but also a few Oystercatchers, Dunlin and a single Bar Tailed Godwit. There were also plenty of gulls, mostly Herring Gulls but numerous Black Headed Gulls and a few Lesser Black Backed Gulls. The shrill call of a Kingfisher had me scanning the burn and I soon found it perched on a rock. Another good bird. A couple more Tree Pipits passed over. Out on the end of the pipe were a few Cormorants, and a Grey Heron. More scanning found a Black Tailed Godwit.
From the hide I added a single well camouflaged Lapwing by the pipe. There were a few Teal around as well as Mallards. A Great Black Backed Gull loomed over the smaller Herring Gulls further along the pipe, and I checked each juvenile bird for a hint of anything unusual. There was 1 bird that hinted at not being a Herring Gull, or a Lesser Black Backed Gull, but photos suggested that Lesser Black Backed Gull was the likeliest. I did eventually find a Common Gull among the gulls. There were still a few Sandwich Terns around, and one or two Curlews on the mud. A Grey Wagtail flew by as I headed further into the park in the direction of the Lochan. There was nothing else to add there, so I headed along the edge of the bay. A Meadow Pipit was around near the hill, and a Whitethroat youngster showed well, though briefly.
A couple of Stock Doves headed over and Dunnock and Yellowhammer were both seen as I headed back towards the hide to wait for the tide to come in fully. An Osprey flew into the bay from the direction of Kingoodie and I watched it dive from the path down to the hide though the vegetation blocked the view to a large degree. It seemed to not have caught anything and I lost sight of it behind the trees. On the mud in front of the hide I found a single Ruff. Among the Dunlin, I discovered a very clear Curlew Sandpiper, and a second one nearby. When a train caused the large Dunlin flock to take flight, I took some photos. On the back of the camera I counted 3 white rumps on 1 photo, but later at home I discovered there had actually been 5 Curlew Sandpipers among the Dunlin.
A Jackdaw landed down on the pipe beside the Feral Pugeons and gulls. A Chiffchaff appeared briefly in the trees by the hide. Unfortunately before the tide could push everything into a convenient group in front of the hide a train came past sending everything except 1 Redshank, 1 Curlew Sandpiper and the Ruff off and out of sight. Unfortunately they failed to return so after a bit of waiting I chose to head back along the edge of the bay. One or two more Tree Pipits passed overhead. My total was eventually to reach around 8. Having only had 2 or 3 previously this was a good count, even if it was low compared to some other vis-mig sites.
A few Linnets were around the compost area and a Wren was in the weeds near the bottom of the hill. A Robin was in bushes by the compost area and a Sparrowhawk was seen circling up towards Ninewells. Swallows passing by harassed it for a short while. A Willow Warbler was next to be added followed by 4 Magpies flying into the trees near the car park from off the hill. I chose to head up the hill to sit in the sun and wait for the tide to turn. A second Osprey flew by, and headed on out over the river. A small group of around 10 Canada Geese "whiffled" to lose height and looked to be headed into the bay but instead continued on to Kingoodie.
Another walk to check out the lower half of the park gave me a Coal Tit in the trees, a few Chaffinches at Buzzard Wood, a second Sparrowhawk being mobbed by a Carrion Crow that it easily outpaced and outclimbed. A Song Thrush was flushed as I checked out the compost area from the slope near the gate. Blue Tit was seen near the car park, and the first Buzzard of the day glided over into trees behind the compost area where it drew the attention of 1 of the local Carrion Crows. I eventually managed to see a Pied Wagtail having heard 1 a few times but failing to see it. Other birds heard but not seen included Great Spotted Woodpecker calling from the trees around the railway line and a Greenshank from round the edge of outer edges of the bay.
I eventually decided to head for home a bit later than I had intended on leaving the park as the weather had turned cloudy and looked like it was going to rain. I had enjoyed a very successful morning and ended up with a park list of a very creditable 52 species which is one of the top totals for a single visit.
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| Jay |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Bar Tailed Godwit |
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| Tree Pipit |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Black Tailed Godwit |
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| Cormorant |
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| Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper & Redshank |
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| Curlew Sandpiper & Ruff |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk & Swallow |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Osprey |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Sparrowhawk & Carrion Crow |
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| Great Black Backed Gull |
Species seen outside the park - Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Great Tit, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon.
Species seen in/from the park - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Jay, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Ruff, Sandwich Tern, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Tree Pipit, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
