Once again I had to wait in on Wednesday for a parcel to be delivered. Thankfully, for once, the parcel arrived before tea-time. In fact it arrived around lunch-time. As the weather was relatively decent I decided I should head out somewhere for some birding. I decided on Riverside Nature Park again, as it was a slightly shorter walk than heading for Balmossie. I would have slightly longer than my previous visit and with a rather high tide due around 1900, there was a chance I might manage to catch some of the waders as the tide came in, before it was time to head for home.
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Dunlin
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I headed out just before 1315 and decided on a relatively similar route to one I often take on my way to work. A Sparrowhawk being harassed by a Carrion Crow was seen from Strathmore Avenue just before I decided to take a detour along the back of the Law and down past the south side of Balgay Hill. I added Siskin and Jay before I finally reached the park around 1415. I gave myself until 1700 to try and see 40 species or more. I was going to set a slightly lower target of 35, but decided to aim a little higher given the tide state and weather conditions. The only thing against me was the time of day with morning usually much more productive than afternoons.
Things were a lot quieter than my other recent visits and it was relatively slow going trying to add birds to the list though with Blackbirds, Song Thrushes and Redwings around it did appear that there had been a bit of thrush passage going on. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard calling and I just managed to catch it in flight as it flew to Buzzard Wood from behind the car park. After roughly an hour I had made it as far as the bay where things began to pick up slightly. Cormorant, Grey Heron and a Goosander were all on the outer reaches of the pipe. There were plenty of Redshanks and Teal around, plus some distant Mallard and a selection of gulls.
I picked out a single Oystercatcher near a Curlew before finding a Black Tailed Godwit but oddly the expected Dunlin seemed to be absent. I watched a small flock of Long Tailed Tits near the wooden gate into the recycling area, with one of the group missing its 'long tail'. A single Pink Footed Goose called as it headed upriver. A Sparrowhawk being pursued by a rather half-hearted Magpie added another species before a Mistle Thrush flew over. A Great Spotted Woodpecker wasn't as big a surprise as it might have been, having seen one flying from more or less the same area recently, as it flew from the bushes down from the picnic benches. A Great Black Backed Gull was spotted a little further on before a bird flew low across the path towards the hill. An unexpected young Pheasant - and my first in Dundee this year (most years one makes it to the park though they never seem to linger for too long).
With the tide still having a bit to go before a visit to the hide might prove productive I headed round to check the Lochan where the Mute Swan pair and 2 Moorhens plus a handful of Teal were seen and a Grey Heron was standing looking out towards the road from the grass between the Lochan and the road. A Stock Dove flew past as I headed along to the hide to scan across the bay. I spent about 10 minutes trying to see a couple of Goldcrests I could hear among the bushes in the fenced off area bordering the path, but had zero success with them. When I reached the hide I found that wherever the Dunlin had been hiding there were now plenty visible among the Redshanks.
A few Common Gulls were added and the leucistic Dunlin was spotted which meant I was able to get a few photos of both sides of the bird allowing me to comapre the bird to the Montrose Basin leucistic bird - though inconclusively. Despite lots of scanning and re-scanning through the waders I failed to add anything else. I noticed that the blue sky of earlier had now been replaced by a rather murky grey but the shelter provided by the screen at the hide meant I didn't actually realise it was also now raining, though not particularly heavily but as I was wearing a denim jacket I was still going to get rather wet walking home. I checked the list to see how the total was looking expecting a figure around 33 or so. Instead I had seen 39 species and the Goldcrest made it 40. I heard a Skylark calling above the hill as I headed for the exit but failed to see it.
A Grey Squirrel in the trees as I left the park distracted me for a few minutes. I thought I'd seen one on a recent visit but the view had been too brief and there was too much vegetation in the way to be certain. This new sighting suggests I was correct, especially as the previous view was in the closest trees and bushes as you enter the park proper. I added a Jay at Balgay Cemetery as well as Black Headed Gulls and Common Gulls on the football pitches on the other side of the hill. As I neared home and the light was beginning to go I heard geese, and looked up to see at least 500 Pink Footed Geese going over in several sizeable skeins. A minute or so later I spotted another few hundred a bit further on, but headed in the same southerly direction. Perhaps not a classic afternoon's birding but with 44 species recorded it was a decent enough few hours out, and the rain did go off after about 10 minutes of my walk back meaning I didn't end up quite as wet as I expected to.
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Redwing
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Magpie
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Blackbird
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Starling
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Redwing
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Herring Gull
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Greenfinch
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Song Thrush
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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Woodpigeon
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Cormorant
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Grey Heron
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Goosander & Carrion Crow
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Herring Gull, Curlew & Oystercatcher
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Long Tailed Tit
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Long Tailed Tit
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Long Tailed Tit
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Long Tailed Tit
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Long Tailed Tit
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Herring Gull
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Woodpigeon
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Black Tailed Godwit
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Redshank & Curlew
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Pink Footed Goose
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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Greenfinch
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Redwing
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Goldfinch
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Mistle Thrush
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Robin
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Sparrowhawk
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Sparrowhawk
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Mallard
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Herring Gull, Black Tailed Godwit & Redshank
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Moorhen
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Mute Swan
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Teal
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Grey Heron
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Stock Dove
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Redshank, Black Headed Gull & Common Gull
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Dunlin, Redshank & Black Headed Gull
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Dunlin, Redshank & Black Headed Gull
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Dunlin & Redshank
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Dunlin
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Species seen (outside park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Great Tit, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Jay, Magpie, Pink Footed Goose, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel.
Species seen (at park)/heard only in italics - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common
Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin,
Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose,
Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon,
Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
