When I started this blog I wasn't sure how long I could keep it going and if anyone at all would read it, but here it is, entering the 5th year of posts (not counting the fact it technically started on Hogmanay 2013). My posts tend to be read around 50-70 times these days, but I did have a spell last year when I was getting up to around 500. My decision to leave Facebook has played a part in that massive drop. I don't have any adverts on my page so it doesn't benefit me in any tangible way to have more readers but it is always good to know that someone, somewhere is reading my words/looking at my photos. So, thanks again to all my readers and I hope you will continue to enjoy my posts on here (feel free to share the posts via social media, if you like).
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| Dipper |
So, on with 2018. Thankfully the weather forecast for January 1st was dry, though there was a suggestion that there might be some rain around lunchtime which wouldn't be ideal. I had 2 options to try and see as many birds as possible. Head west to Riverside Nature Park, or head east to Broughty Ferry. Either way, on foot, with detours, I would be looking at around 12 miles at least. I chose the latter, but with the addition of a very early morning visit to Caird Park, and possibly the Dighty Burn too, which would definitely add a couple of miles but would significantly increase the chances of adding a few good species to the list. Hopefully, making the decision justifiable.
It was around 0810 when I headed out into the pre-dawn gloom. A Robin could be heard singing but a Herring Gull glided overhead at the same time, making the species once again my first of the year. Another Robin could be heard singing at the top of my street but it was only a few more Herring Gulls that could be seen. Heading uphill I could hear the chirping of House Sparrows from within a hedge and just before one of the birds flew out and across the road. Bird number 2. A Carrion Crow landed on a lamp-post as I crossed Clepington Road heading for Graham Street. A couple more Carrion Crows were on the ground at the aptly named Corbie Wood (not a wood, just a street name).
Crossing into Caird Park, I could hear a Blackbird alarm call but failed to see the bird. I did manage to see a couple of Siskins flying over seconds later. A decent bird to get on the list. A Woodpigeon pair clattered out from a wooded area by the path. A couple of Blackbirds foraged around among the leaf litter at the edge of the path. A Wren was flitting around among the vegetation by the bridge over the Gelly Burn and a Blue Tit was in the bush at the other side. A pair of Goldcrests were seen in the trees above the path as I headed for the ponds. The light still wasn't great with sunrise still around 15 minutes away and the ponds circled with tall trees on a steep banking.
As I slowly walked along the edge of the top pond I heard the familiar call of a Kingfisher ahead of me and stopped as I wanted to see the bird, rather than miss it as it flew away having seen me first. I scanned ahead of me and there it was perched atop a pond-side piece of vegetation. I dug into my bag for the camera but as I did, I heard a splash as the bird dived for a fish and then the call as it flew off. No photo, but another good bird before sunrise. A Robin followed me along the length of the ponds, perching on stones and branches any time I stopped to scan. Mallards and at least 3 Moorhens were on the lower pond. I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker call but couldn't see it anywhere.
A pair of Feral Pigeons and a Jackdaw were on the roof of Mains Castle. I hunted without luck for Jay around the graveyard before deciding to walk down to the Dighty Burn to see if I could get Dipper or Grey Heron along the short length of burn to the road up into the park again. I had no sooner crossed the road when I heard a Dipper call. I stopped and the bird landed on a rock in the burn nearby. I edged nearer to where I could hear it singing. I wasn't expecting singing Dippers on January 1st! A second Dipper arrived and there seemed to be a skirmish before both flew upstream a bit. As I was going that way anyway, I walked slowly along listening. I soon heard the bird singing again. I dug the camera out for my first photo of 2018. A Dipper (with rings) perched on a stone in the burn. It flew up onto a fallen branch, where the second bird arrived and again there was skirmish before both flew off again.
As I walked along again, trying to avoid the ice forming on the path, a Grey Heron lifted from where it had been stood unseen at the side of the burn and flew off around the bend. I headed back into the park, though the path was increasingly icy making progress up the hill trickier than ideal. I added Great Tits near the castle as well as a Black Headed Gull. A skein of Pink Footed Geese headed inland. At the top end of the stadium a Chaffinch was in bushes by the gate and a Coal Tit was seen in the trees. Although I had failed to get Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Mistle Thrush or Buzzard on the list the detour had proved worthwhile so on I went headed to Swannie Ponds.
A Starling singing atop a chimney at Forfar Road was the only addition though a high flying non-calling thrush may have been a Fieldfare. Collared Doves were absent from the usual streets which was slightly disappointing and I heard but couldn't see what I'm certain was a Bullfinch. The ponds were mostly unfrozen and there were plenty of birds around. In addition to the already seen Mallards, Moorhen, Herring Gulls and Black Headed Gulls, I added Tufted Duck, Mute Swan and Common Gull. A pair of Dunnocks were on the path feeding. I searched without luck for the single Coot which had been still around on my last visit. A Pied Wagtail landed by the pond as I stopped to scan the gulls on the ice for leg rings, finding 3 - J4U2, 2XLD and one of the green ringed birds. Unfortunately the green one went unread as when I stopped to take a photo, a dog-walker put the brake on the lead to stop her dog from interrupting the photo and the noise scared the birds off the ice. She was very apologetic about it, which made a pleasant change from most dog-walkers I seem to run into.
I'd heard Magpie calling from around the park area but had failed to see it but finally one landed atop the trees on the island and it was on the list. Next stop was Eastern Cemetery for thrushes. As I walked along Rodd Road, a trio of Fieldfares flew over chattering noisily. A Long Tailed Tit was heard a short distance in and I eventually spotted it in a tree across the road from the cemetery. Redwings and Mistle Thrushes were found at the cemetery as well as he expected Woodpigeons. A pair of male Chaffinches were photographed in a tree but I failed to find any Greenfinches. A Buzzard flew out from one of the trees and as I reached the gates on Arbroath Road a Sparrowhawk flew out of the trees by the toilet block and off into the park.
I headed next for Stannergate and the long walk along the Tay to Broughty Ferry. A Linnet was the only addition near the end of the docks though the House Sparrows and Carrion Crows were very active along the road. A Grey Heron was stood out by the end of the harbour edge banking. The tide was already rather high and waders were nowhere to be seen. A pair of Oystercatchers flew upriver. A small charm of Goldfinches landed in the trees next to the road giving me another expected tick. I finally found a Redshank by the water's edge a mile or so further on. Out on the water I picked up a distant pair of Eider. A small group of Turnstones and another Redshank were found near the boatsheds. A Shag was a slightly unexpected find as one fished out on the river.
More scanning ahead found a pair of Red Breasted Mergansers off Douglas Terrace. An odd sounding pipit flew over near the lifeboat station. Rock Pipit seemed most likely given the location, but photos show what appears to be a Meadow Pipit, though the call wasn't the typical "tseep". A pair of Common Gulls were perched on the walkway at the lifeboat station and a group of Turnstones and Redshanks were roosting underneath the end of the walkway beside the lifeboat. At the end of the next pier along Redshanks and Oystercatchers were roosting. A Cormorant was seen fishing offshore.
Eiders were seen in flight out over the middle of the river almost constantly coming and going. A Greenfinch flew past as I neared the Glass Pavillion restaurant. I decided to continue along by the water rather than detour into the local nature reserve as the water levels were already high and my chances of finding a good mixture of waders was lessening by the minute. With so many walkers along the beach there were limited spots for roosts anyway. I heard a Song Thrush beside a small bush and circling round it I spooked the bird and saw it fly off confirming my ID from its call. A surprise was a Bullfinch which flew off from a bramble patch and into the roadside trees bordering the reserve.
Ahead of me on a narrow piece of beach I spotted the white bellies of roosting waders. I picked out a number of Ringed Plovers with a smaller number of Dunlin amongst them. No Sanderling though. I skirted round them so as not to disturb them but within a few minutes walkers along the beach had moved them on 3 times. As I neared the Dighty outflow at Balmossie I picked up a couple of Wigeon offshore. More scanning found a few Goldeneye as well as Mallard, Black Headed, Herring and Common Gulls. Turnstones and Redshanks were roosting on the sewage outflow concrete and the rocks next to them.
Having made it all the way to Balmossie, it was now time to turn around and head for home, hopefully picking up a few more species on the way, though I wasn't expecting too many new ones. A detour into the end of the Barnhill Rock Garden found a female Bullfinch by the railway line. A mixed flock of Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits and Coal Tits were along the line of the path into the local reserve. A trio of Greenfinches were in the treetops, and a female Bullfinch landed in a tree just a few feet from me, though she refused to turn her head for a decent photo before she flew up to the top of the same tree. More Bullfinches and Goldfinches were seen further on and Redwings were also noted in the tall trees by the railway line.
I did my best to avoid the 'dook' near the Castle but I couldn't avoid the crowds on their way to watch the spectacle of a crowd voluntarily wandering into the water en masse on the 1st of January. I was going in the opposite direction to them all, all the way back to the Stannergate. I did stop near the lifeboat station to photograph a Rock Pipit feeding along the washed up detritus high up on the shore. By now the tide level was within a metre of the jetties etc. Had the weather been stormy, I suspect the roads would have had water sloshing onto them. A Mistle Thrush was in trees near the RTYC building and a few Oystercatchers flew past but there was little to be seen, bar a few gulls here and there by the time I made it back to Craigie Drive.
By now my legs were feeling very heavy but I knew I only had a few miles more to go. I cut up through Eastern Cemetery again, this time finding a pair of Stock Doves atop a tree, and the winter thrushes including a single Fieldfare (and a Greenfinch). There was still no sign of the hoped for Coot at Swannie Ponds (though at least one Argentatus subspecies Herring Gull and an interesting looking rather pale headed younger Herring Gull), nor any Collared Doves along Mains Terrace. I did have a flock of Redwings in trees seen from my living room window a minute or so after I got home.
Well, that was my birding on January 1st and I managed to see 54 species of bird and 1 mammal species - a Grey Seal (and having now checked Google Earth, walked 14.6 miles!). I've definitely had worse starts to a year, so although the lack of a trip to Riverside Nature Park as last year meant no Jack Snipe or Snipe, it was still an encouraging start to 2018. Long may it continue.
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| Dipper |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Pink Footed Geese |
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| Magpie |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Buzzard |
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| Redwing |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Shag |
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| Redshank |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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| Eider |
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| Common Gull |
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| Redshank & Turnstone |
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| Redshank & Oystercatcher |
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| Grey Seal |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Cormorant |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Ringed Plover & Dunlin |
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| Ringed Plover & Dunlin |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Wigeon |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Turnstone |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Eider |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Redshank, Turnstone & Oystercatcher |
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| Turnstone |
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| Cormorant |
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| House Sparrow |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Redwing |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Redwing, Fieldfare & Mistle Thrush |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Redwing |
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| Mistle Thrush & Redwing |
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| Fieldfare, Mistle Thrush & Redwing |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Herring Gull (Argentatus) |
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| Common Gull |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Redwing |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dipper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Linnet, Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Shag, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Just a short-ish extra paragraph covering 2nd January. I didn't get out of bed until much later than I'd intended because the weather forecast and limited public transport made options rather limited. However, when I walked to the local shop in a sleety shower around lunchtime, a Grey Wagtail (my first for 2018) was heard and rapidly looked for and spotted as it flew over the top end of my street. A nice wee bonus on a non-birding day. I managed to add Herring Gull & Woodpigeon on my way back from the shop and then had a few minutes at my living room window which gave me Blackbird, Carrion CRow, Jackdaw, Redwing and Feral Pigeon. So 55 species after 2 days. Onwards......
