It has been a long time since I've posted a round-up of what I've
managed to see and/or hear on my walks to and from work. The last one
covered things up to Friday 13th of August. The following week was my
last "full" week at work (minus my Wednesday off, obviously) before a run
of eight weeks where I was only at work for two days and off for five,
so although there has been a lot of time has passed, there has only been
the equivalent of around 20 days worth of birding on the "on-foot commute". It
has been a bit of a mixed bag overall though most days have thrown up
something decent and I even managed to sneak in an unexpected migrant year-tick too.
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Tree Pipit
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On Monday 16th of August I was able to record a
total of 21 species of which the best were Buzzard and House Martin.
Three species of butterfly was quite unusual considering my routes to/from
work and the relative lack of flowering plants along the way. The three were Green Veined White, Large White and Small
Tortoiseshell. The following day I managed 26 species with Blackcap,
Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Jay, Sparrowhawk, a late Swift, migrant Tree
Pipit and Willow Warbler. A Red Admiral and a Green Veined White
continued the short run of butterflies. Two days later on the 19th, the
highlights among 22 species noted were Bullfinch, House Martin, Jay and
Stock Dove. I had amazingly close views of a rather chilled out Fox that
more or less ignored me as it looked for something edible before
trotting past me about 10 feet away and across Loons Road and into a
garden at 0710 in the morning.
Friday the 20th was a bit of an
anti-climax after what had gone before and only 20 species were seen or
heard of which Collared Dove was the closest thing to notable. Among the
26 species on Monday the 23rd, Swallow, Peregrine and Pied Wagtail were
the main highlights. Things were better the following day with a very good
selection including Bullfinch, Buzzard, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey
Wagtail, House Martin, Nuthatch, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and Tree Pipit
among the 28 species on the list for the day. With the rest of the week
off, it was the 30th before I was back to work again. 26 species including
Bullfinch, Buzzard, Nuthatch, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk and another Tree
Pipit were noted that day - the three raptor species on a 'commute' being
unusual. Sometimes I manage two but rarely do I reach three.
The last
day of August produced 26 species of which the more interesting ones
were Buzzard, Grey Wagtail, House Martin, Meadow Pipit, Nuthatch,
Peregrine and Siskin. Monday the 6th was my first September walk to work in
2021 and again 26 species was the number of species found. Grey Wagtail,
Jay, Peregrine, Song Thrush and another Tree Pipit were the best from the day's finds. In 2020, the Tree
Pipit passage had dried up before the date it began this
year. Tuesday the 7th made it to 25 species of which Buzzard, Meadow
Pipit, Siskin, Song Thrush and Stock Dove were the ones most worthy of a
mention. By Monday the 13th of September the total had dropped back to 23
species. Grey Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Peregrine and Stock
Dove were the highlights. On the 14th, House Martin, Meadow Pipit, Song
Thrush and Sparrowhawk were the best birds noted among 24 species in
all.
By the 20th of September the sunrise time was beginning to
be noticeably later meaning that things were much quieter when I left
for work though most of the species I would normally pick up close to
home can also be found further on during my journey. Only 23 species
were found that day with both Grey and Pied Wagtail as well as Meadow
Pipit among the (marginally) better birds. A Fox sitting among the gravestones in Balgay Cemetery
until it spotted me and trotted off was the main highlight though.
Although I only managed 21 species on Tuesday the 21st a late Swallow
was slightly unexpected though Grey Wagtail and Meadow Pipit were less
so, having been noted the previous day too. I only managed 18 species on
Monday the 27th with nothing out of the ordinary noted. The following
day added another species to take the number on the list for the day to 19 of which a Grey
Wagtail was the sole highlight.
By Monday the 4th of October, a
significant part of my walk to work was pre-sunrise. Bullfinch at Balgay, the Cox's Stack Peregrine and a Siskin were the more interesting
species among the 23 noted. Buzzard, Meadow Pipit and Song Thrush were
the closest things to highlights among the 19 species on the 5th.
Following on from a relatively decent 8 days off work, Thursday the 14th
proved rather disappointing with nothing out of the ordinary among the 18
species on the day's list. Buzzard and Pink Footed Geese were the best I
could muster on Friday the 15th of October.
I had intended on
finishing this round-up there but for the sake of a memorable title I
decided to add an extra couple of day's worth. On Monday the 18th it
was relatively slim pickings with regards numbers of species in the morning though a hooting Tawny Owl at the Law
was a welcome find but even better was a
Ring Ouzel in Balgay
Cemetery and rather a lot of Redwings passing overhead in the pre-dawn
gloom. The Ring Ouzel was identified from its distinctive alarm call as I
approached, having spotted the bird with the help of my thermal imager.
On the walk home after work the quality was still high with around 400
Redwings noted as well as Nuthatch, Jay, Peregrine, Grey Wagtail, a skein
of around a hundred Pink Footed Geese and a flock of around thirty
Oystercatchers together. A total of 25 species was pretty decent for what was
in effect an hour's worth of afternoon daylight and an hour of, at best ,
rather poor light in the morning.
On Tuesday the 19th of October, the total for the day was down again to just 21 with nothing particularly spectacular noted. A late Lesser
Black Backed Gull was nice and there were still Redwing on the move in
the darkness as I walked to work and a few stragglers on my way home including a
flock of ten. A Pied Wagtail heard calling was also a surprisingly uncommon bird for the walk to/from work. At
Balgay Hill in the morning there was a very strong scent of a Fox as I
entered the gate at the Glamis Road entrance. I scanned around using the
thermal imager and it wasn't a surprise when I spotted the Fox at the
top end of the triangle of trees and grass in front of me. Once it
realised I was there it trotted on up the hill and out of sight.
Most
days during the period covered in this post I checked through the gulls
at the football pitches where Black Headed, Common and Herring Gulls
were joined sporadically by the odd Lesser Black backed Gull but I keep
scanning through them hoping for a Mediterranean Gull, but with no luck
so far. I managed a total of 49 species of bird (including a year-tick
(in bold) - which doesn't happen too often) as well as a surprising 5
species of butterfly and 2 of mammal. Things get much quieter overall
for the next 3 months as darkness increasingly cuts into the daylight
available for finding birds though I will still be looking and listening
regardless.
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Buzzard |
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| Jay |
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Long Tailed Tit
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Carrion Crow
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Herring Gull
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Goldcrest |
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Pink Footed Goose
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Grey Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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| Blackbird |
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Red Admiral
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| Starling |
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| Oystercatcher |
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Coal Tit
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Stock Dove
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Meadow Pipit
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| Swift |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Blackcap |
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| Peregrine |
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House Sparrow
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| Swallow |
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Collared Dove
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House Sparrow
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| Chaffinch |
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Song Thrush
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| Oystercatcher |
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Ring Ouzel
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Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Ring Ouzel, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Tawny Owl, Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Green Veined White, Large White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White.
Mammals - Fox, Grey Squirrel.
