0715 : Roaming Round Riverside (26/9/19)

With the Dunhill Golf tournament teeing off at Kingsbarns, St Andrews and Carnoustie I decided to do my birding a little closer to home and chose Riverside Nature Park for Thursday's outing. I set myself the achievable target of 40 species and headed for the park just after 1100, hoping to catch the incoming tide and perhaps some less common waders to boost the totals. I made it to the park just before 1145. There were 9 Moorhens on the Lochan as I headed for the hide overlooking the bay. The view was almost wholly obscured by vegetation but I did still manage to find 2 Curlew Sandpipers, a Greenshank and a Knot amongst the more usual fare. Around the rest of the park the main highlights were Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Stock Dove, Goldcrest and Bullfinch. A Pheasant was heard but not seen around the hill near the Lochan. I managed an unexpected 51 species seen at the park and 2 heard only, plus 1 other species outwith the park.

Magpie

To/from Riverside Nature Park - (To) Woodpigeon, Starling, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Feral Pigeon. (From) Dunnock, Swallow.
Butterfly seen - Red Admiral.

At the park - Carrion Crow, Swallow, Long Tailed Tit, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Magpie, Starling, Buzzard, Grey Heron, Jackdaw, Woodpigeon, Teal, Mallard, Moorhen, Chaffinch, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lapwing, Redshank, Dunlin, Knot, Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, Black Headed Gull, Robin, Grey Wagtail, Great Black Backed Gull, Goosander, Common Gull, Chiffchaff, Meadow Pipit, Sparrowhawk, Skylark, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Cormorant, Yellowhammer, Bar Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Black Tailed Godwit, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Goldcrest, Blackbird, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Jay, Dunnock, Pink Footed Goose, Stock Dove.
(Heard only - Pheasant, Wren).
Mammals seen - Rabbit.
Butterfly seen - Red Admiral.

Greenshank, Redshank, Dunlin

Lapwing, Redshank & Knot

Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin & Redshank

Redshank, Curlew Sandpiper & Dunlin

Great Black Backed Gull

Meadow Pipit

Sparrowhawk

Skylark

Woodpigeon

Mallard

Lapwing

Goosander

Yellowhammer

Black Headed Gull

Lapwing & Grey Heron

Teal

Goldcrest

Goldcrest

Feral Pigeon

Teal

Curlew & Bar Tailed Godwit

Bar Tailed Godwit & Black Tailed Godwit

Curlew

Robin

Blackbird

Robin

Robin

Goldfinch

Jay

Pied Wagtail

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Pink Footed Goose

Jay

Dunnock

Magpie

52 Species seen - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.
(Heard only - Pheasant, Wren)
Butterfly seen - Red Admiral.
Mammal seen - Rabbit.

0714 : Wet And Dry (25/9/19)

My original plan for Wednesday was to twitch a Migrant Hawker dragonfly at Trottick Ponds here in Dundee, having been informed of the insect's presence by Fiona McLean who had been in the area to see it and had diverted by to Kilminning in the hope of seeing the Little Bunting on Tuesday. However, a message from Roy on Tuesday evening asking if I could help him see Roseate Tern and Yellow Browed Warbler meant a change of plan. I arranged to meet Roy at around 0930 and then head for Westhaven. A message on Wednesday morning from Roy let me know that Carolyn Hargest was also coming along and that they were running a little later than planned. We got underway around 0955.

Arctic Skua

A rather wet Westhaven did eventually produce a Roseate Tern for all to see along with a few marauding Skuas offshore. However as we were by this time soaked through we decided to head for Arbroath to try for Black Tern at the harbour and the Cliffburn Gulley Yellow Browed Warbler. Unfortunately we failed on both species though we did have some good views of the Terns and more Skuas. By mid-afternoon we hoped the rain at Westhaven would have finally abated and headed back to look for the Panbride House Yellow Browed Warbler (another Stuart Green find) but we failed to even hear it. I suspected the bird was no longer there (in fact there were 2 though not where we were looking) so we headed back to Westhaven for another short spell of seawatching before calling an early halt to proceedings just before 1600. A decent enough day with Long Tailed Skua the best bird seen and a surprise late Swift over Arbroath.

Dundee - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Grey Wagtail, Magpie.

Dundee to Westhaven - Mute Swan, Mallard, Coot, Common Gull, Black Headed Gull, Oystercatcher, Collared Dove, Rook, Buzzard, Swallow.

Westhaven - Redshank, Turnstone, Cormorant, Great Black Backed Gull, Dunlin, Curlew, Red Throated Diver, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Kittiwake, Arctic Skua, Gannet, Arctic Tern, Sandwich Tern, Roseate Tern.

Arbroath - Swift, Barnacle Goose, Razorbill, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipit, Great Tit, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Grey Heron, Eider, Long Tailed Skua.

Westhaven - Peregrine, Goldcrest, Bar Tailed Godwit.

Arctic Skua

Arctic Skua

Arctic Skua & Guillemot

Arctic Skua

Kittiwake & Arctic Skua

Arctic Skua

Arctic Skua

Roseate Tern, Common Tern & Arctic Tern

Roseate Tern

Arctic Skua(?)

Arctic Skua & Long Tailed Skua(?)

Arctic Skua(?)

Arctic Skua(?)

Long Tailed Skua(?)

Arctic Skua(?)

Arctic Skua(?)

Common Tern

Common Tern

Arctic Tern

Common Tern

Common Tern

Barnacle Goose

Common Tern

Swift

Swift

Barnacle Goose

Arctic Tern

Kittiwake

Arctic Skua & Long Tailed Skua(?)

Arctic Skua(?)

Arctic Skua(?)

Eider

Long Tailed Skua(?) & Common Tern

Long Tailed Skua(?) & Common Tern

Oystercatcher, Common Gull & Common Tern

Common Tern

Rock Pipit

Yellowhammer

Rock Pipit

Buzzard

Arctic Skua

Peregrine

Bar Tailed Godwit

52 Species seen (year tick in bold) - Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Barnacle Goose, Bar tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Linnet, Long Tailed Skua, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Roseate Tern, Sandwich Tern, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Turnstone, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.

*Skua IDs are not all 100% confirmed, and may be inaccurate.