It would be safe to say that I'm not really a 'Christmassy' person. I do like the time off work though. Despite having a few offers of different places to spend the day, I decided to do my own thing. One thing that I've noticed is that because folk are otherwise occupied there is an increased chance of decent wildlife sightings around the city on Christmas Day. As long as the weather is dry, it can be worth heading out for a walk. Having managed to avoid having to work this Christmas Day - unlike last year (and next), I decided to see what I could find.
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| Cormorant (Sinensis race) |
I headed out shortly after 1110 to head first for Caird Park. As "Storm Barbara" was still lingering it was rather windy and very overcast. The lighting wasn't great for photos but I had chosen to travel light anyway (D7100 and 70-300mm lens) so I was only really aiming for record shots for this blog post. The local Feral Pigeons kicked off my list for the day. I spotted a quite distant Carrion Crow and a Herring Gull but the smaller birds seemed to all be sheltering from the elements. I headed down Graham Street towards the Kingsway, picking up a group of 5 Starlings over the newer houses.
I heard Redwings at the football pitches. A Woodpigeon and a few Blackbirds were seen through the fence before the first of about half a dozen Redwings landed on the grass. I watched one catch a worm and got a few photos (the bigger lens would've been a far better choice). I crossed the road to see if I could see the noisy House Sparrows chirping away from a garden but they were hiding in the hedge and went unseen. A little further on and I did manage to see a female House Sparrow in another garden, perched in a bush.
I crossed the Kingsway and headed into Caird Park. There were a few Great Tits in the trees edging the fairway of the golf course and a Carrion Crow chased a Buzzard along a different fairway a little further down the hill. A Robin showed by one of the tees and there were a number of Blackbirds feeding on the grass. I sneaked up on the Buzzard which had moved into the trees nearer to where I had seen it initially, but it flew off across the fairway as a dog walker approached.
It was very quiet along the stretch of the Gelly Burn leading to the ponds. I heard Bullfinches in the trees opposite but didn't try too hard to pinpoint their whereabouts. At the ponds, a flock of Siskins were feeding in the trees above the path and also on the island. As I neared the end of the island I spotted a streak of blue across the far side. A Kingfisher with its back to me. I took a few photos before the bird changed perches and was now facing me. After a couple of minutes it spotted me and flew up behind the island and out of my sight.
As I stood at the top of the stairs leading to the lower pond, the Kingfisher flew past me and down the length of the lower pond and out of sight again. There were a trio of Mallards and a few Moorhens on the pond, but there was no further sign of the Kingfisher. I headed up to the old graveyard which was very quiet. I spotted a Roe Deer just over the perimeter wall and took a few pics as it stood looking at me. A Jay called from the trees nearby. As I headed down to the northeast corner I discovered that there were in fact 3 Roe Deer together and after a few seconds of contemplation as to whether I was a threat or not, though wandered off into the weedy area behind them. There was no sign of them when I left the graveyard but I tried to see if I could find the Jay that had called. Just as I was about to give up, it called again and flew out from a conifer and into a large Oak where it vanished among the branches.
Rather than head down to the Dighty as I had considered doing I decided to head next to Swannie Ponds via Mains Loan and Mains Terrace. Chaffinches, Blue Tits and Great Tits were in the bushes by the road up to the Kingsway. Mains Terrace was rather quiet but as I went to start along Lammerton Terrace I heard the chuckle of a Magpie from behind the houses, so I changed my route to see if I could see the bird. As it turned out there were actually 4 Magpies up on the chimneys of the house on the corner with Clepington Road.
At Swannie Ponds, the adult Mute Swans were on one side of the island while the two youngsters were by the boating ramp. There were plenty Black Headed Gulls and some Herring Gulls on the water including at least one probably Argentatus Herring Gull from Scandinavia among the flock. A Dunnock foraged around below the bushes. There was a single Tufted Duck among the Mallards at the western end, but later I discovered that there were actually at least 23 Tufties on the ponds, possibly the highest total I've seen here. A Goosander, which appeared to be a young male (adult feathers beginning to appear around the bill and on the back) showed really well at the edge of the pond and I got quite a few nice shots of it.
There were a lot of Black Headed Gulls on the path further round and I headed towards those. A metal ringed Black Headed Gull was on the grass behind the bushes. I scanned through the gulls on the path and found a Common Gull and 2 colour ringed Black Headeds. One appeared to be white J4U2 and the other had a green ring (probably JN69) but before I got close enough to get good photos a dog walker and his dog put the whole lot up despite it being rather obvious what I was photographing was the birds on the path. Some things never seem to change...
There was still a single Coot lingering from the summer which suggests a year round presence for the species now. A single Goldfinch overflew as did a pair of Redwings before I headed for eastern Cemetery. Things were very quiet there with only a few Carrion Crows and a trio of Woodpigeons seen, though a Redwing was heard, but not seen. City Quay was my next destination and so I wandered along Arbroath Road. A Mistle Thrush pose nicely in the trees just inside the fence at the Dundee High School sports complex where I used to play six-a-side football. A Redwing flew across the road and into a tree laden with berries. A male Sparrowhawk circled around above the rugby ground across the road.
I cut down onto Broughty Ferry Road and along to the footbridge over the railway line. I could see a few Cormorants in the outer part of the quay and a drake Red Breasted Merganser. A Pied Wagtail briefly landed nearby before the rain started. I checked the quay area for anything else but a Sinensis race adult Cormorant was the only find of note (a second younger bird might have also been from the continental race but I couldn't be sure). There was another Cormorant which seemed to have what appeared to be some discarded fishing tackle attached to its wing. Despite the rain I tried the Tay but there were only a few more cormorants visible on the 'submarine' above the swell. As the rain showed no sign of abating I headed for home, adding a second Sparrowhawk minutes before I reached home.
32 species seen in quite a productive wander of just over 6 miles length. The lack of people (except for the ubiquitous dog walkers) certainly seemed to ensure that the encounters with wildlife were less fleeting.
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| Redwing |
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| Buzzard |
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| Siskin |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Mallard |
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| Moorhen |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Roe Deer |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull (Argentatus in the centre) |
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| Goosander |
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| Goosander |
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| Goosander |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull & Common Gull |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Mute Swan (& Mallard & Goosander) |
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| Coot & Tufted Duck |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant (possible Sinensis). |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jay, Kingfisher, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon.
