With a reasonable, if rather cold, weather forecast for Wednesday I decided I should really get out and about somewhere for what would be my last day's birding of 2020. I wasn't really sure where to go, with the icy pavements from the previous day a bit of a concern, so I decided to head out without a set plan and just see where I ended up. I had to wait in for a shopping delivery first so it was just before 1030 when I eventually headed out onto the chilly but sunny Dundee streets.
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| Starling |
There were birds around but nothing too unusual was seen until I reached Mains Loan where a Redwing flew over and a Fieldfare then flew out from a tree on the otherwise very quiet piece of wasteground. Starling and Collared Dove were added on the short walk to Swannie Ponds which were still frozen. The top pond was almost devoid of birds compared to what they are normally like, except for a pair of Coots in a small unfrozen patch and 3 Black Headed Gulls and a Common Gull at the other end of the pond.
Thankfully there was plenty to see at the lower pond with Mute Swans, Coot, Mallard, Herring Gulls, Black Headed Gulls and Common Gulls all noted. Scanning through the flock for ringed birds I once again found yellow 2CA6 and 2XLD both ringed in Aberdeenshire and Norwegian ringed white J4U2. A second white ringed Norwegian bird JMK7 was also noted - which may be a new bird for me here (though the code does seem vaguely familiar), and a couple of partially read metal-ringed Black Headed Gulls were also photographed before I moved on again.
I headed into Baxter Park next and after watching a Grey Squirrel climb up a tree trunk while a dog walker took photos with his phone, I stopped at the Spring Grove which was quite busy with a stream of birds coming in to drink and bathe. There were reasonable numbers of Greenfinches and a Redwing or two as well as more typical stuff - Goldfinches, Blue Tits, Chaffinches, Great Tits, Robin, Wren, Blackbird as well as a Song Thrush, Dunnock, House Sparrow and Coal Tit. A singing male Starling did a very good impression of a Black Headed Gull but was drowned out by dog walkers before flying off. I had a short chat to 3 ladies who stopped to ask if I'd seen anything interesting before I decided to move on again. I stopped to photograph a pair of Pied Wagtails foraging on the grass near the pavillion first.
Next I wandered down to a rather icy road into City Quay spotting Long Tailed Tits on the way there. Other than a couple of Grey Herons, a few gulls on the water and a couple of Cormorants things were very quiet though a pair of Oystercatchers were roosting on a Foxlake pontoon at the Apex Hotel end. I scanned the river to no avail before heading up through the city centre. I decided to double back slightly to check the area near the Dundee Science Centre but only managed to add a Rabbit at Seabraes though a Bullfinch was heard calling there but not seen. I checked the University campus in the hope of finding Waxwings but not surprisingly drew a blank.
A Goldcrest was seen outside Abertay University, which was surprisingly the first of the day. I contemplated a few different routes home from there but as there wasn't much likelihood of adding anything new I wandered up Victoria Road. Just a few seconds from home I saw the Feral Pigeons take flight from a nearby tenement roof and then spotted the reason - a big female Sparrowhawk cruising low overhead. Not a bad way to round off the day's fairly uneventful walk. I managed a total of 35 species of which Bullfinch was the only 'heard only' species.
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Black Headed Gull (2XLD)
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Black Headed Gull (2XLD)
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Black Headed Gull (2CA6)
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Black Headed Gull (JMK7)
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Common Gull
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Black Headed Gull (JMK7)
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Black Headed Gull (J4U2)
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Black Headed Gull (J4U2)
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Herring Gull & Black Headed Gull
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Herring Gull
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Greenfinch
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Redwing
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Redwing
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Goldfinch
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Greenfinch
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Chaffinch
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Blackbird
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Chaffinch
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Greenfinch
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Greenfinch
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Blue Tit
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Goldfinch
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Starling
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Dunnock
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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Cormorant
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Species seen - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch (heard only), Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals seen - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
