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| Robin |
June is always one of my quietest months for birding. It tends to be a bit too warm for me to go anywhere and there is a bit too much foliage on the trees even when it is a bit cooler. Waders and even gulls are very few and far between and migration is more or less over for the 'Spring' movements. There are however plenty of newly fledged youngsters around, though they are not always easy to see. Hearing them calling constantly is the easy part, and watching the adult birds can often help to find out where the noisier youngsters are hiding. As with last summer, myself and Keith Edwards have been keeping an eye on the Nuthatches at Balgay Hill here in Dundee. Last year the one nest that we were aware of proved successful, though we were unsure how many birds had fledged.
Although the forecast for the weekend was for rather windy conditions, I figured that as I would be out of the sun in below the trees at Balgay, I might as well try and see if there had been any breeding success again this summer. This year we were watching three nests - one in the same area as last year, one further east and one in the cemetery half of the hill. The fact we had three nests did suggest that we might have underestimated the number of fledged birds in 2021. Trying to watch and count a number of very mobile birds in the trees isn't easy and we chose to err on the side of caution. This time around it would just be myself attempting to find and count any fledged Nuthatches, at least on Saturday.
I headed out at around 0800. The wind was quite strong but thankfully it wasn't overly cold, nor overly warm. Herring Gull, Blackbird, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Starling, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Feral Pigeon and Jackdaw were all noted on the walk up past the football stadiums. Woodpigeon, Swift and Carrion Crow were around near the start of Byron Street before I diverted up towards the Law. Goldcrest, Goldfinch and Blue Tit were added on the walk to the hill where a Whitethroat was displaying near the small car park. A family of Greenfinches were on the steps behind the toilet block and a few Magpies were around at the top of the hill. I checked Cox's Stack for Peregrines but drew a blank.
The walk from the Law to Balgay Hill added Bullfinch and Chaffinch and a Grey Squirrel to the list as well as a singing Blackcap in the trees by the Friary. A House Martin was hawking for insects over the grassy slope at the eastern end of the hill. The walk along the wooded hill-top paths towards the Observatory gave me Wren and Chiffchaff as well as the local Buzzard which I inadvertantly spooked from its perch in a tree near the path. Robin, Siskin and Great Tit were also noted in the same general area. I decided I would check up on the western nest first and work my way back to the others. Surprisingly it didn't take too much effort to find Nuthatches in the area to the north of the western nest. There were at least 3 youngsters and at least 1 adult bird. I was able to get very close views of one of the youngsters as it foraged on a tree stump by keeping a gravestone between me and the bird.
As with last year, it proved tricky to keep tabs on all the birds as they constantly moved around with only the high pitched incessant contact calls to help refind them. There were a few young Bullfinches around also though they were a lot more wary than the Nuthatches which at times showed down to a metre or so in branches above me - often too close for photos. I spent a couple of hours watching this group. At one point, three of the youngsters even flew up onto one of the roofs of the houses beyond the wall. Eventually I headed back to the eastern half of the hill to try to find out if the other families had successfully fledged or not. There was no sign of activity at, or even near, the first of the two nests. I hoped that signified success rather than failure.
Moving on to the area near the third nest, which was the one we discovered last, I added Treecreeper, Jay and Long Tailed Tit. I also managed to locate a larger family group of Nuthatches with at least 6 birds foraging in the trees close to the path. I was able to get lots more photos as the birds kept busy. A Sparrowhawk passed overhead. I had another wander to see if I could find the third group of birds that I hoped would be around but I was unable to find any signs. I did however stumble upon an area where the Nuthatches were feeding in good light. This made a pleasant change and I spent an enjoyable hour or so watching the birds at close range as well as Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Robin and Blackcap. Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Wren, Magpie and Jay were all nearby too. The Buzzard put in another appearance.
It proved hard to tear myself away from the sunny spot but I eventually did to try again for the third family. Once again I drew a blank but as it was now after 1500 I decided to head for home. A stop at the Law added a Willow Warbler to the list for the day taking the number of species for the day to 34. As the purpose of the day's birding was to try and find if the Nuthatches had bred successfully or not, it had proved to be a successful day out. As is often the case with the Nuthatches at the hill, I had taken a few hundred photos of the birds which at times seemed almost completely fearless. Once again I had managed to improve on my previous best photos of the species with ridiculously good views in sunshine and I may yet post a very photo-heavy "Nuthatch special" blog. All in all, mission accomplished, though with the unanswered questions of "just how many youngsters are there this year?" and "Was the remaining nest successful, or not?".
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| Siskin |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
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Coal Tit
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| Nuthatch |
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| Dunnock |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Buzzard |
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| Magpie |
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| Bullfinch |
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Tree Bumblebee
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| Treecreeper |
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| Jay |
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| Blackcap |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Robin |
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| Blackcap |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Nuthatch |
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Nuthatch, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swift, Treecreeper, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel.
