Although I had considered an early morning search for the Caird Park Tawny Owl I'd heard the previous Monday, I chose to sleep in again on Saturday. One of the main drawbacks of being so limited in options due to the Covid restrictions in place just now is that it is hard to get motivated to go and visit the same few places over and over - especially when it is almost certain that there will be no major surprises to be had, at least the majority of the time (though there are some minor ones from time to time). When I did eventually get out of bed and organised I decided that I would do a slightly wider circular route than my semi-regular small very local one. My Swannie Ponds - Baxter Park - City Quay route could relatively easily be widened to add Balgay Hill into the mix. It would add a couple of miles extra walking to the route but there was a chance of a few extra species too.
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Siskin
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I headed out into the relatively mild afternoon at about 1255. I planned to spend an average of somewhere around 20 minutes or so at the first 3 locations before heading to Balgay Hill for a longer stretch before heading home for around 1700 or so. Disappointingly there wasn't too much to be seen on the walk to the Ponds with none of the smaller birds seen or even heard at all. On the water at the ponds it was fairly standard mix of species though there were a couple of Lesser Black Backed Gulls around too. A few Goosanders were still in evidence as well as a Grey Heron roosting on the island. The Mute Swans had started to build a nest too, though it appeared to be in the very early stages.
The local Coots seem to be getting very territorial too, with lots of squabbling and chasing going on. I found a female Bullfinch in the trees by the south-eastern corner of the top pond and a pair of Long Tailed Tits a short distance away. Great Tit and Blue Tit were also added before I set off on the short walk down to Baxter Park. I stopped off at the Spring Grove which had been cleared a little, meaning it was marginally easier to see some of the previously hidden parts. Although things seemed relatively quiet, there was almost constant comings and goings of a lot of smaller birds - Blue Tits were chasing each other around, Goldfinches were popping in for a drink and a pair of House Sparrows were skulking in the bushes to the left of the main bush by the water.
A Wren worked its way down the small stream towards me before it was spooked by walkers passing by talking loudly. A slight surprise was a small group of Siskins seen mostly in the tops of the larger trees though sometimes dropping down briefly to drink - though they were very skittish when they did so. Blackbird, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Great Tit and a very confiding Dunnock all added to the mix as did the occasional Woodpigeon dropping in. A few folk stopped to have a look and a chat, and I was able to pass on a few of my small cards directing them to this blog/flickr account/Twitter (now @SFbirding) to see the photos (and what else is to be seen locally), so if any of you are reading this - I hope you're finding it enjoyable/informative etc.
I ended up spending a lot longer than planned at the Spring Grove finally seeing both Robin and Starling plus a heard only Goldcrest and Pied Wagtail before moving on to City Quay. Walking down towards the docks I spotted a Buzzard circling high in the sky, adding another bird to the list for the afternoon. Although City Quay wasn't quite as productive as it had been recently there were still a Red Breasted Merganser and a Guillemot near the Unicorn. A pair of Oystercatchers were seen on the Foxlake pontoons and a brief detour to the river side added a party of 8 Cormorants and an Eider.
As it was now 1540 I decided to head for home rather than continue onto Balgay Hill as I had originally planned to do. In all, I managed to see a total of 36 species and also got some nice photos of some of the birds in Baxter Park, including a bathing Siskin. Not unexpectedly I didn't add anything to the list for the year but it was good to get out into the fresh air for a few hours and also to have some enjoyable chats about birds with folk too.
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Goosander
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Coot
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Coot
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Coot
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Coot
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Goosander
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Bullfinch
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Herring Gull
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Goosander
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Lesser Black Backed Gull
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Blue Tit
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Blue Tit
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Blue Tit
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Chaffinch
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Blue Tit
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Blue Tit
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Dunnock
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Woodpigeon
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Blackbird
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Siskin
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Siskin
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Wren
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Wren
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Goldfinch
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Dunnock
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Dunnock
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Dunnock
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Robin
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Blue Tit
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Wren
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Dunnock
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Wren
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Wren
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Chaffinch
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Dunnock
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Long Tailed Tit
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Great Tit
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Long Tailed Tit
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Starling
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Chaffinch
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Siskin
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Siskin
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Siskin
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Siskin
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Blue Tit
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Greenfinch
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Starling
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Starling
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Robin
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Guillemot
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Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest,
Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Guillemot,
Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long
Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Red
Breasted Merganser, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Starling, Tufted Duck,
Woodpigeon, Wren.
