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| House Martin |
Saturday was one of those days. I headed out at around 1135 to try and catch the bus to Carnoustie with the plan being to walk along the cycle path at Barry Buddon back to Monifieth. Although insects were the main target I decided to take the 200-500mm to see how it would perform rather than the much lighter 90mm macro lens and to see how I coped in the temperatures while carrying full kit. On the rather hurried walk to catch the bus I saw Blue Tit, Herring Gull, Starling, House Sparrow and a Lesser Black Backed Gull which obviously had youngsters on a roof as it swooped at me half-heartedly a few times as I passed.
I messaged my pal, Paula, in Carnoustie who is off work on maternity leave for most of this year to see if she wanted a brief visit as I would be passing hers anyway so I might as well take the opportunity of a catch-up. She didn't reply straight away so the plan stayed the same, get off the bus at the beginning of Carnoustie and walk down to the cycle path and head west. Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow and Rook were seen from the bus and House Martin was seen in Barry village before I got off the bus. A Buzzard was seen circling to the west and a Blackbird was seen sheltering from the sun in the low branches of a tree across the road. A Song Thrush flew across in front of me as my phone let me know I had a message. From Paula, letting me know she was home if I wanted to pop by.
As Paula's house was only 2 minutes away I took the next path and very soon saw Paula in her garden. She has House Martins nesting below her eaves so I was able to attempt a few photos as we sat and chatted. There appears to be 2 youngsters in the nest this year - 1 with a grey chin, the other white. There was a bit of wing stretching at one point so they may not have too much longer before they fledge. Swifts were seen zipping around nearby, and Herring Gulls would appear en masse and then disappear just as quickly from time to time. A Kestrel was seen hovering over to the west near where the Buzzard had been earlier and it flew over in the direction of the golf course. A pair of Jackdaws flew over.
I happened to show Paula my photos of the Ruby Tailed Wasp from a few weeks ago and a short time later my eye was drawn to an insect flying along her house wall near where she was sitting. It turned out to be a Ruby Tailed Wasp. Only my second sighting ever and once again totally unexpected. I've no idea how I've managed to not see these before this year. The longer we sat and chatted the more sun I got, and the less I could be bothered walking anywhere, so a couple of hours after I'd intended leaving Paula's garden and with only a few photos taken of "her" House Martins I headed for the bus and home. I did add a Black Headed Gull to the short list for the day from the bus back to Dundee, but I ended up with only 17 species - which wasn't too bad considering it ended up being a social call rather than actual birding.
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| House Martin |
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| House Martin |
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| House Martin |
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| House Martin |
Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Song Thrush, Starling, Swift, Woodpigeon.