Having had another successful day out on Friday with Ian and with decent weather forecast for Saturday I decided I would get up early and head to Riverside Nature Park in search of a Mediterranean Gull seen by Keith Edwards on Friday while I was seawatching at Usan. Although I had succeeded in reaching my 125 for the year target, I wanted to try and see just how high a total I can get to, and Mediterranean Gull should be one of the slightly easier birds to get - if not at the park, then maybe at Balmossie in the gull roost. There was also the chance of running into Little Stint or something even rarer among the waders in the bay.
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Jay
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I slept in, having ignored the alarm but still managed to get out for 0900. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Blue Tit, Robin, Jackdaw, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow provided a fairly standard mixture of birds within the first few minutes of getting outside. There were a few Meadow Pipits migrating over and I soon added Magpie, Starling, Coal Tit , Chaffinch, Goldfinch and Dunnock too. At the Law Goldcrest, House Martin, Long Tailed Tit and Chiffchaff were noted but a pleasant surprise was a brief view of a Spotted Flycatcher doing what Flycatchers are known for - catching flies, before it disappeared into the trees behind the picnic tables. Unfortunately, I had chosen to leave the camera in the bag, and once I got the camera out there was no further sign of the bird. Still a very welcome bird for my Dundee 2021 list and my first record of the species in the city (though it is on the Riverside Nature Park list).
Blackbird and Black Headed Gull were added as I walked to Balgay Park where a few Swallows were seen hawking high above the trees on the hill. A Jay was giving a young Sparrowhawk some grief in one of the taller conifers and I eventually managed to see both of the birds. Further on, a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over and perched briefly on an exposed branch before moving on again. A trio of Buzzards were seen circling up over Ninewells as I exited the cemetery and a Grey Wagtail flew over westwards. A pair of Buzzards drifted over a bit higher as I neared the park around 45 minutes later than intended, though the delays en route were very worthwhile.
The later start did mean that there was less activity than was ideal but I was still able to rack up a list quite quickly with Chiffchaff, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Great Tit, Meadow Pipit, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Robin, Wren, Buzzard, Swallow, Feral Pigeon, Magpie and Black Headed Gull all seen or heard within my first 10 minutes in the park. A Red Admiral butterfly flitted by as I headed for a quick look at the Lochan. A surprise was a singing Skylark above the hill. Mallard, Teal and Moorhen were on the Lochan. A Grey Wagtail flew over and I stopped to photograph a Common Darter dragonfly on the path by the Lochan screen.
I continued round to check the bay where Grey Heron, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Redshank, Curlew, Dunlin, Black Tailed Godwit, Oysteractcher and Lapwing were all spotted. A Pied Wagtail flew over. I spotted Kate Treharne at the top of the hill and wandered up for a chat. There was an event on - a Green Walk, so we were joined shortly after by Ian Ford and his daughter and a few others. There was lots of chatting in the sunshine with a spot of birding thrown in. A Song Thrush was seen in flight and a few more Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, Swallows and Wagtails passed overhead. Sandwich Terns were seen out over the bay. Activity on the airport runway with a procession of vehicles suggested that the annual joint emergency services exercise was about to begin, and with a few boats on their way up the Tay towards the bay, that suspicion was confirmed.
We were joined by a few more people who had family taking part in the exercise and I ended up taking more photos of what was going on out on the river than what I had planned on doing. The sun was unseasonably warm and with very little wind it was rather pleasant just standing around. Birds were still being added to the list with Reed Bunting, Linnet, Cormorant, Bar Tailed Godwit, Goosander, Common Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Jackdaw, Stock Dove, Yellowhammer and my first ever Riverside Nature Park Razorbill (the 150th species at the park since it opened, seen earlier in the week by Ian Ford, Keith Edwards and Stuart Green). A Peacock butterfly flew past me as I stood on the hill.
I eventually decided I really should see what else I could find around the park and succeeded in adding Greenfinch, Blue Tit and Long Tailed Tit as well as Small White butterfly before calling it a day and heading for home. The amount of time I spent at the top of the hill as well as the additional disturbance to the gulls, waders and wildfowl in the bay meant that I failed to see the hoped for Mediterranean Gull. Checking my photos of the wader flocks in flight confirmed that there wasn't anything 'less common' that I'd missed either - which was a bit of a relief. I noted 46 species of birds at the park with 28 on the way to the park, giving a combined total of 56, as well as 3 species of butterfly and 1 of dragonfly. Not a classic visit to the park but far from the worst.
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Meadow Pipit
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Sparrowhawk
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Sparrowhawk
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Sparrowhawk
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Sparrowhawk
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Jay
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Stock Dove
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Chaffinch
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Magpie
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Woodpigeon
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Buzzard
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Black Headed Gull
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Red Admiral
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Skylark
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Common Darter
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Teal
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Oystercatcher & Redshank
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Oystercatcher, Redshank & Dunlin
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Song Thrush
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Dunlin
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Dunlin
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Dunlin
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Bar Tailed Godwit, Mallard, Redshank & Dunlin
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Yellowhammer
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Redshank
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Redshank & Dunlin
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Cormorant
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Redshank & Black Tailed Godwit
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Pied Wagtail
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Meadow Pipit
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Goosander
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Meadow Pipit
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Razorbill
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Goldfinch
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Curlew
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Buzzard
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Mallard
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Mallard
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Red Admiral
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Curlew
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Curlew
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Teal
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Common Darter
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Common Darter
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Common Darter
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Common Darter
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Blackbird
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Stock Dove
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Carrion Crow
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Long Tailed Tit
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Long Tailed Tit
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Birds (outside Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Swallow, Woodpigeon.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Skylark, Song Thrush, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at park) - Peacock, Red Admiral, Small White.
Dragonflies (at park) - Common Darter.
A few bonus photos of the Emergency Services Joint Exercise in Invergowrie Bay and the River Tay -
