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Reed Bunting
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Although the forecast for Wednesday was a little cooler than of late, it was still meant to be relatively warm and sunny with just light winds. Once again, I considered an early start at Dundee Law but managed to get to bed a bit later than intended meaning that idea was scrapped. I decided on a trip to Riverside Nature Park. With last week's successful visit still fresh in my mind I decided I might as well see what else I could find, to hopefully add to my Dundee 140 list. There are lots of different routes that I can take to get to the park and for reasons that will become clear the one I chose to take this time won't be elaborated on.
It was still relatively early when I headed out and the bird species I noted were broadly similar to those I'd expect to see on my walks to work with Bullfinch, Peregrine, Tree Pipit, Chiffchaff, Stock Dove, House Martin, Jay and Nuthatch all noted at various points. However, I was once again in for a big surprise. In a small copse of not too tall trees I could hear a group of Magpies sounding rather agitated. Despite the location, I suspected potential for an Owl, though a Buzzard or Sparrowhawk was far more likely, or even a cat. I found the Magpies grouped around one particular small-ish Oak tree along with a few equally agitated Blackbirds.
Suddenly something appeared on a branch around 6 feet above me. It was mostly brown and the view was relatively brief but I had no doubt as to what I had just seen. Unfortunately the camera was still packed away at this point. With the Magpies not having moved off, I figured the animal was still in the same tree though hidden from my line of sight by the thick foliage on that particular tree. After about 10 minutes, it reappeared and this time I managed to take a few photos - though I didn't realise at the time the camera had focused on leaves closer to me. However, there was still enough detail visible to see that I had just found a Pine Marten in Dundee! I wish I'd thought to video the animal with my phone as the results would likely have been better than what I got - a few largely blurry photos.
Needless to say, I was rather pleased with the new addition to my Dundee mammals list, and only my second ever encounter with the species (the other was near Loch of Lintrathen). I think the noise being made by the Magpies meant it was unaware that I was even stood just a few feet below, given the lack of urgency in its movements. If I'd had to predict where I might ever run into a Pine Marten in Dundee, Camperdown Park or Templeton Woods would be my guess. Then perhaps Caird Park or Trottick Ponds given how close they are to the outskirts of the city. There are plenty of trees on both Balgay Hill and even around the slopes of the Law and there plenty of large gardens full of trees dotted around some of the posher parts. I doubt the location where I saw mine would even have made my top 20 guesses, but that's nature - it doesn't always do what it the books say it should do.
I eventually made it to Riverside Nature Park around 0900. Once again I chose not to set myself a target figure but I was expecting somewhere around 50 once again, though obviously it was unlikely I'd see 2 species of Harrier again. I headed for the bay to check on the tide state rather than lingering at the eastern end so the initial rush of species was more of a trickle. Among them were Blackcap, House Martin, Swallow, Stock Dove and a Meadow Pipit. A third adult Moorhen was at the Lochan. I met Keith Edwards at the hide and he let me know what he'd seen already - including 2 Kingfishers. I eventually managed to hear one but didn't see it.
An Osprey and a Buzzard with rather strong white undertail coverts initially looked more interesting than it turned out to be, with both birds headed north from the bay. There was nothing too unusual among the few waders we could see from the hide. Keith had to head for home, so I headed up onto the bridge for a better angle. A small flock of Tree Sparrows flew past eastwards, which was a bit of a surprise. Black Tailed Godwit and Common Sandpiper were both noted as well as a calling Willow Warbler before I headed round towards the picnic tables for a better look with the sun on the birds rather than behind them.
This proved relatively productive with 2 Knot, a number of Sandwich Terns, 3 Goosander, Common Gull, Teal, Greenshank, Cormorant and a successful Osprey fishing attempt all noted. The Osprey perched briefly on the traffic cone in the bay before moving to the large rock where a few Carrion Crows attempted to harass the bird away from the fish over the course of the next hour or so, but to no avail. A Sparrowhawk and another Buzzard were both spotted before I wandered round towards the car park. A female Small Blue butterfly was a nice find and even settled once or twice which allowed me to get a few photos. Whitethroat and Pied Wagtail along with a young Reed Bunting, a flyover Yellowhammer, a couple of Linnets and some Long Tailed Tits were found around the rest of the western half of the park.
I had a chat with a Cypriot cyclist about photography for a while, then had a brief encounter with Ian Ford who was busy with a recently elected city councillor at the hill. The Osprey was still perched on the same rock even though it had by this time finished its meal. Another more distant Osprey was seen circling out to the west. A few more butterflies were noted as I headed for a better look at the eastern half. A Grey Wagtail passed over the car park, a Song Thrush and a calling Chiffchaff took the list for the park to a rather surprising 56 species. My walk home via Balgay Hill and the Law proved to be rather quiet though an Osprey with a flatfish being harassed by a Lesser Black Backed Gull was a surprise directly above the Law.
I finally made it home for around 1600. It had once again been a very productive day, even if the only additions on the bird front were a couple of new birds for my own 2022 Riverside Natue Park list. A total of 62 species of bird were noted made up of the overlap between the 56 species at the park and the 24 seen or heard outwith. 5 species of butterfly and 2 of mammal were also noted - with one of those being by far, the undoubted highlight of the day. It is just a pity the photos didn't quite do the encounter justice, as I am highly unlikely to ever see a Pine Marten at such close quarters while stood out in the open, especially in Dundee. I wonder what next Wednesday might bring....
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Pine Marten
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Pine Marten
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| Buzzard |
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Tree Sparrow
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Common Sandpiper
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Mallard & Black Headed Gull
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Black Tailed Godwit
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Redshank & Teal
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Grey Heron
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Common Blue
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| Osprey |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Moorhen |
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Red Admiral
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| Greenfinch |
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| Buzzard |
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Lesser Black Backed Gull & Osprey
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Nuthatch, Osprey, Peregrine, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Tree Pipit, Woodpigeon.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Pine Marten.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Common Blue, Green Veined White, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell.
Mammals - Grey Seal.
