Being off on holiday for another week I was hoping to fit as much birding in as possible, however I've been rather under the weather since the weekend, though I did manage out on both Saturday and Sunday. On both Monday and Tuesday I never left the house, but I decided to see if I could squeeze in a walk and a spot of birding on Wednesday afternoon, to get me out of the house again. As is often the case when I don't feel like going too far, I settled on a walk to Swannie Ponds.
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| Grey Wagtail |
I headed out at around 1330 but there were hardly any birds to be seem though I did hear a few Robins as I walked to Clepington Road. A Herring Gull glided by and a trio of Starlings swept overhead. I added Jackdaw to the list on Clepington Road and Feral Pigeonsa little further on along the road. House Sparrows were heard but not seen.
Arriving at the ponds, I discovered there was ongoing work to clean out the weed and a JCB digger and a tractor were at the far end, while at the near end a man was scooping weed out onto the path. Out on the water were a mixture of Mallards, Black Headed Gulls and Mute Swans. I found a Black Headed Gull with a Norwegian ring ending in 8 (probably 6184158) a regular winter visitor. There was not yet any sign of any of the regular colour ringed birds (Green JN69 / White J4U2). There were a few Coots still around and at least one Tufted Duck, as well as a few Herring Gulls.
A Magpie, Blackbird and a Song Thrush were all heard from the island but none were seen. A Grey Heron was roosting up in one of the trees on the island and a Grey Wagtail flew past, low over the water. I decided against doing a circuit of the pond, choosing instead to head for home, via the second-hand book shop at Stobswell. I found that there were actually two Grey Wagtails as two flew in and landed among the dead leaves on the path. A Robin popped out onto the path briefly.
Walking down towards Stobswell, I added a couple of Carrion Crows and a Pied Wagtail flew from the roof of Morgan Academy to the tenements opposite. A large group of Long Tailed Tits were in the trees along the edge of the school grounds. Blue Tit and more House Sparrows were heard but neither seen. I drew a blank on books at the shop and changed my mind on continuing down to City Quay, choosing instead to stick to my original plan of going home.
Despite only 15 species seen, it got me out of the house for a while and allowed me to enjoy a little bit of 'easy' birding. The Grey Wagtails seem to be quite prevalent in Dundee at present with a pair at least in the City Centre, another bird around the former Eagle Jute Mills site on Dens Road and at least one within a short distance of home.
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Mallard |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Coot |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Grey Wagtail |
Species seen - Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Coot, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Tufted Duck.
