Keith Edwards has recently found Purple Hairstreak butterflies at Riverside Nature Park around some of the relatively small Oak trees that are dotted around the central parts of the park. Having never seen the species before and figuring that the smaller the trees the easier it should be to see the rather small butterflies, I decided I would head down to the park on my midweek day off on Wednesday. I was also hoping that I might run into some migrants on the move, perhaps a Tree Pipit or a Yellow Wagtail passing overhead. I decided on an early start and to try and stay at the park for as large chunk of the day as possible. I also arranged to meet Lainy a little later in the morning to try for the Purple Hairstreaks. I decided to set myself a few targets - 5 species of butterfly (relatively easy given the sunny conditions forecast), 55 species of bird (slightly trickier but not impossible) and 2 species of dragonfly/damselfly (a fair bit of luck required).
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Stock Dove
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I headed out around 0530 quickly noting Woodpigeon, Herring Gull, Swift, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon and Starling. I decided to head for the waterfront in the hope that any migrants following the river would hopefully pass overhead as I headed west. On the walk down I was able to add Blackbird, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Blue Tit, Magpie, Robin and Goldfinch. Heading along Riverside Drive I soon added Linnet, Pied Wagtail and 2 flyover Grey Wagtails (potential migrants). Oystercatcher, Black Headed Gull and Wren as well as Greenfinch were seen around the football pitches just before the University playing fields. The 35+ Pied Wagtails feeding together on the grass needed scanning through but proved not to be hiding anything more interesting among their number, to my disappointment, if not surprise.
A pair of Jays flew across the road as I passed the playing fields and crossing over to check around the railway line I was able to watch a displaying Stock Dove and a Chaffinch. Swallow and Dunnock were both added before I finally reached the Nature Park at around 0655, a bit later than I had intended. As I was planning on hanging around for a large part of the day it wasn't really a big deal and I set about seeing what I could find. Wren, Goldfinch, Robin, Woodpigeon, Chiffchaff, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Song Thrush, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow and Magpie didn't take too long to appear on the list as I headed towards the car park. The trees between the car park entrance and the recycling site entrance proved quite productive with Whitethroat, Chaffinch, Blackbird, Blackcap, and Coal Tit all noted along with a number of Long Tailed Tits.
My first butterfly of the morning was a Small Tortoiseshell just before noticing a couple of Swifts zip overhead and a Rabbit disappear into cover. Mallard and at least 8 Moorhens were at the Lochan. Yellowhammer, House Sparrow, Curlew, Stock Dove, Sandwich Tern, Redshank, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Common Sandpiper and Dunnock were seen around the bay area as I wandered back to the car park to meet up with Lainy. There were a few Meadow Brown butterflies already fluttering around by the path edges in the sunshine. Lainy and I decided to check around the lower half of the park first where we added Swallow, House Martin, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Great Tit as well as Small White and Green Veined White butterflies. Bullfinch was noted and a small flock of Starlings headed over from the airport before we wandered back to the area where Keith had spotted the Purple Hairstreaks.
A butterfly flew past us before landing on a Buddleia bush. Lainy had seen Comma in the area the afternoon before but this one turned out to be a rather fresh looking Painted Lady - and number 5 on the butterfly list for the day - meaning I'd reached my target number though there were still a few species we had a chance of seeing. A Grey Wagtail flew over before Lainy spotted a Comma on the Buddleia - my first of the species in Dundee. We wandered round to check out the bay area again where we were able to add Grey Heron and Black Headed Gull. A lady stopped to ask us about some geese she'd seen a few days previously. I suggested they might be Canada Geese but I hadn't considered Greylag Geese, which I suddenly became aware a small skein of was flying past us as we were chatting. How's that for a coincidence?
The only Skylark we were to see all day took off from the hill and a bit of hunting around the area by the two small pools gave us a Small Copper and a Large White butterfly but no Azure Damselfly or any other species. There were Cormorants on the island off Kingoodie and an Osprey did a spot of hunting over the bay, making three failed bids for a fish before finally succeeding on the fourth attempt. Oystercatchers were picked out among the Redshanks and Curlews in the bay and a few Common Sandpipers were also found. There were also a pair of Common Teal in the burn. The first Buzzard of the day was seen circling to the north and a Greenfinch flew over. I disturbed something in the vegetation which was either a Frog or a Toad but we didn't get a clear view to be able to determine which it was.
Lainy had arranged to meet a friend and her son at the park so we headed back towards the car park but a spot of confusion meant we were on different paths though after walking up and over the hill we successfully found them. I left Lainy with them and headed for a look at the waders from the hide. When I reached the hide there was a couple already there birding and we started chatting. It turned out they were visiting the park for the first time, inspired by having read this very blog (after discovering my posts on Twitter about the White Tailed Eagles from my living room earlier in the year). One of the main reasons I do this blog is to encourage folk to get out and see what is around, so it is great to get positive feedback about that very thing. We chatted for a while adding Jackdaw and Common Gull but disappointingly the wader flocks failed to appear.
Lainy joined us after her friend headed off again and the conversation continued for a while before we wandered back into the park again. We stopped at the Lochan to try for Dragonflies and Damselflies and I eventually managed to spot a Common Darter dragonfly and eventually also a Common Blue Damselfly. In the end we managed to see 3 or 4 Common Darters but only the solitary damselfly. Lainy also spotted a Dark Green Fritillary butterfly flitting past. We headed back round to the Buddleia bushes that had been productive earlier in the day. Lainy found a 6-Spot Burnet Moth and the Comma butterfly she'd found the day before in the area where Keith had seen the Purple Hairstreaks showed well too. We checked the trees again in the hope of seeing a Purple Hairstreak but things seemed quite quiet. We decided to head back round for another look at the bay to try to add to the wader species seen earlier.
A Peacock butterfly was a welcome surprise by the small pools near the picnic tables. As Lainy tried to get photos of it, I spotted a small flock of Lapwings flying out of the bay. A second Osprey was then seen circling to the north. Lainy arranged for Adam to pick her up around 1530 which gave us an hour to explore the lower half again and give the Oak trees another look. We failed to find any Reed Buntings at all along with a few other usually almost guaranteed species that might have meant that I would have reached my target of 55 species in the park. We had brief views of a possible Purple Hairstreak in the 4 Oak trees beside where the Comma was resting in between flights but nothing conclusive.
We wandered round to the car park to meet Adam and as we stood chatting a large white dog walking company van pulled in, and a number of dogs were released from the back of the van and allowed to roam where they wanted with the dog walker ignoring what they were doing before he wandered off leaving two of the dogs in his charge to leave their 'mark' at the edge of the car park. Having disappeared round into the park, he was ignorant of the fact that he had some picking up to do while also being oblivious to what the dogs were actually doing. An absolute joke and I suspect likely a regular occurence at the park and elsewhere where this employee takes the dogs his company charges money to exercise and take care of.
In my opinion, if you're not keeping an eye on them at all times, you're not doing what you're being paid to do (and if you're not picking up after them, you're also breaking the law!). I also think there should be a requirement for all dog-walking companies to be licenced and an absolute maximum number of dogs allowed to be under the supervision of any one person at a time (especially when they are off the lead and potentially a hazard to others). I'd also like to see more dog wardens employed and utilised by Dundee City Council as dog fouling is still an issue within the park and elsewhere in the city - though it isn't too hard to see why, given how often I see dog walkers (professional or otherwise) not picking up after their dogs.
We were joined a few minutes later by Ian Ford and Kate Traherne from the Friends group for the park. We stood chatting for a while and as we did so I spotted a small grey butterfly fly up the side of the one Oak tree on the north side of the car park. I wasn't quick enough to get a photo but having watched a video of the species in flight later at home and checked the relative size against some of the other butterflies we'd seen earlier, I'm around 90% sure it must have been my first Purple Hairstreak. We finally said cheerio to Ian and Kate and Adam and Lainy dropped me off on their way home. Although I'd failed by 6 species to get the target number of 55 at the park, I had actually achieved that number with the combined totals within and outwith the park. I had also exceeded my butterfly target and succeeded with the dragon/damselfly target. All in all, a very good day out.
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Pied Wagtail
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Stock Dove
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| Greenfinch |
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| Blackcap |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Chiffchaff |
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Coal Tit
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| Chaffinch |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Yellowhammer |
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Stock Dove
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Redshank & Common Sandpiper
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| Teal |
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House Martin
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Song Thrush
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| Swallow |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Goldfinch |
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Long Tailed Tit
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| Wren |
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Blue Tit
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| Greenfinch |
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Painted Lady
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Small Tortoiseshell
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| Comma |
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Meadow Brown
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| Goldfinch |
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| Mallard |
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Common Sandpiper
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Common Sandpiper
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Greylag Goose
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Sawfly sp.
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| Bullfinch |
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Small Copper
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Large White
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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Black Headed Gull
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| Osprey |
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Lesser Black Backed Gull & Grey Heron
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| Osprey |
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| Black Headed Gull, Common Gull & Sandwich Tern |
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| Swift |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Osprey |
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Udea lutealis
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Black Headed Gull
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Common Blue Damselfly
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Common Darter
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| Buzzard |
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| Comma |
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6-Spot Burnet Moth
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Carpet moth sp.
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Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull & Lapwing
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| Lapwing |
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| Buzzard |
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Carrion Crow
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| Comma |
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| Magpie |
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| Buzzard |
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Comma, [Dark Green Fritillary - seen by Lainy], Green Veined White, Large White, Meadow Brown, Painted Lady, Peacock, Purple Hairstreak, Small Copper, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White.
Dragonflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Common Blue Damselfly, Common Darter.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
Moths (at Riverside Nature Park) - Carpet sp., Six-Spot Burnet, Udea Lutealis.
Birds (outwith park) -Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Woodpigeon, Wren.
