Rain all day on Sunday meant that I lost a day's worth of potential birding before the end of December. My plan for Monday was to get up early and head out along my likely route for January 1st, but when I woke up and checked the weather forecast, I discovered that heavy rain was predicted for an hour or two in the latter half of the morning. With shelter limited at Balmossie (or at Riverside Nature Park - though there is the pedestrian underpass at the Invergowrie end which could be utilised there) there wasn't really much point in heading out as planned. Looking out the window when I did get up I discovered that it looked quite a 'grotty' day even without the rain, which if nothing else, isn't great for photography.
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Grey Heron
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As it turned out, and rather annoyingly, the rain failed to appear. As it was looking less and less likely to appear I decided that I should head out after all and see what I could find, even if I chose the more direct route to Balmossie, rather than a repeat of last January 1st's route. I headed out around 1115, expecting to reach Balmossie sometime around 2 hours later, hopefully without getting wet on the way. Woodpigeon, Magpie, Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Feral Pigeon and Starling got the list for the day off to a productive, if fairly typical start, followed over the next few minutes by Carrion Crow, Grey Wagtail and Goldfinch.
Baxter Park added Robin, Black Headed Gull, Chaffinch, Blackbird and Redwings as well as House Sparrows and Greenfinch. A pair of Goldcrests were in a small tree in front of the gatehouse at Eastern Cemetery. A Grey Squirrel was seen running around before an unexpected Skylark was picked out flying over westwards high above. A single Redwing and a single Mistle Thrush were noted but the site was very quiet. There was however a Sparrowhawk hunting and it flew in and landed in a tree close to where I was, which allowed me time to get the camera out and get some photos before we both moved on again. Another Grey Wagtail flew over as I was leaving the Cemetery at the southeastern gate.
I reached the Stannergate just after 1200, quickly adding Oystercatcher, Wren, Grey Heron, Red Breasted Merganser and Turnstone. Unfortunately there was very little else to see along most of the walkway route except for a few more Oystercatchers and Red Breasted Mergansers. A single Common Gull flew past. A small group of roosting Redshanks were on the pipe at Douglas Terrace and a Curlew foraged along the shore nearby. On the river I added Eider to the list and a Cormorant flew by. A trio of Pied Wagtails and a single Rock Pipit were seen at the harbour, with an unexpected Razorbill fishing not too far out from the castle. A Grey Heron and a Redshank were in the harbour itself with a few Eiders hauled out on the rocky islet offshore.
Moving on again, I detoured into the small nature reserve where a few Greenfinches, Bullfinch, a Jay and a Stock Dove were noted. It was as quiet as I've seen it for a while with hardly any birds around. There were lots of walkers all along the beach from the castle - possibly even more than most summer visits. This didn't bode well for adding much before I reached the Dighty outflow. I did pick out a Bar Tailed Godwit low over the river and movement in a pool between the two main routes of the walkers - strandline and shoreline, turned out to be an unexpected Little Egret. It didn't stay long before flying off to the east however.
Thankfully, most of the walkers beyond the end of the esplanade were avoiding the areas most productive for finding birds. This did mean I was able to pick out Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Knot, Bar Tailed Godwit and Grey Plover though the numbers of most were rather low. Oystercatchers, Turnstones and Redshanks were also noted. On the water were more Eider, plus Wigeon, Mallard and Goldeneye. I scanned through the roosting and bathing gulls as the poor light got worse and it began to rain. Thankfully it didn't last too long and I was able to get partial shelter for a few minutes where the path cuts below the footbridge over the railway line. The gulls were much as expected with Herring Gulls, Common Gulls and Black Headed Gulls all I could make out.
After the shower the light improved quite a lot, though it didn't last long. A Great Black Backed Gull was found and a few Jackdaws were down on the beach among the large flock of Starlings. With another shower moving in, I decided to take a more direct route back to Broughty Ferry by cutting along the main road. There is a park at Reres Hill which I've passed before but never had a look at. I decided I might as well pop in as I was passing anyway. There are quite a few trees down from the recent Storm Arwen and the path I chose was blocked though I did manage to clamber over the fallen trees there. I ran into a retired former work colleague and stood chatting for around 15 minutes, adding a Great Spotted Woodpecker as we chatted.
I then navigated along some unfamiliar streets back to the waterfront at Douglas Terrace, adding a Coal Tit on the way. A Goosander with some Red Breasted Mergansers in mid-river towards the harbour was a bonus bird and the final addition to the day's list apart from a few Rabbits seen in the gloom at Eastern Cemetery. I reached home around 1615 having seen or heard a total of 51 species. Considering how busy the beach was and the direct route I took that hopefully bodes quite well for my first outing to Balmossie in the New Year, assuming that most species seen are likely to still be around then too. There were also a few species that I didn't see, so the potential is there to get close to 55 or 60 species (weather permitting) if luck is on my side. Despite the brief showere it turned out to be quite a decent enough day's birding for late December.
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Redwing |
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Mistle Thrush
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| Starling |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Oystercatcher |
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Grey Heron
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Red Breasted Merganser
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House Sparrow
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Herring Gull
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| Curlew |
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| Eider |
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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| Redshank |
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| Eider |
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| Razorbill |
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Carrion Crow
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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| Cormorant |
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| Redshank |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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Stock Dove
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Bar Tailed Godwit
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Little Egret
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Little Egret
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Little Egret
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Little Egret
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Grey Plover & Black Headed Gull
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| Eider |
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| Wigeon |
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Herring Gull & Common Gull
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Wigeon, Bar Tailed Godwit & Knot
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Birds - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Knot, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sanderling, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.