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| Dunlin |
Although the easterly wind had swung round a bit since Saturday, I decided that I would make a return visit to the top of Dundee Law early on Monday morning. Saturday's Ring Ouzel and Sunday's even better Rose Coloured Starling had me wondering what else I might catch up with. I was hoping for a similar number of birds to be passing to Saturday's steady passage, though the change in wind direction did suggest there might be a bit of a difference. However, having not yet done enough vis-migging from the hill-top I'm not yet in tune with what to expect on any given morning based on weather conditions. My fingers were crossed for something good regardless....
I headed out at 0620 for the walk to the top of the hill. Nothing out of the ordinary was noted on the walk up. It took a few minutes at the top of the hill before the first birds began moving through. As with Saturday these were mostly Meadow Pipits, both singles and doubles. Pied Wagtail, House Martin and Swallow were also noted during the relatively quiet hour's worth of watching. I had very good views of one of the local Sparrowhawks and once again the Peregrine on Cox's Stack was tucking into some breakfast. Birds around in the trees included Bullfinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit and Goldcrest. Having only managed a total of 29 Meadow Pipits, 2 Pied Wagtails, 1 House Martin and 3 Swallows in an hour, I decided to try somewhere else.
I decided that it would be easier to walk to Riverside Nature Park in search of something new rather than walking out again to Balmossie to try to get better views of the Rose Coloured Starling which I suspected would likely be hanging round with the local Starling flock and would probably be seen feeding among the seaweed on the shore - where it had likely just taken off from when I saw it the previous morning. The walk to Riverside Nature Park took me past Balgay Hill where Nuthatch and Jay were noted as well as a Grey Squirrel. I reached the western end of the park at 0900. I had decided I would start at that end due to the tide state, and work my way back from there.
The Kingfisher was once again visible in the burn. Redshank, Lapwing, Black Headed, Lesser Black Backed and Herring Gulls were all nearby. Both Feral Pigeon and Woodpigeon were seen passing overhead in small groups. A Swallow did likewise. Heading back along the track into the park, I inadvertantly flushed a couple of small finches. Photos showed them to be Redpoll. Time of year suggested that they were likely to be migrants and the photos did look rather grey rather than brown, so I decided that they were likely Common/Mealy, which was a new bird for my Dundee140 list. However, after some consideration, I'm not comfortable with that choice, so have removed them from my Dundee 140 list, and recorded them as Lesser instead.
I added a Whitethroat among the bushes as I wandered round to check the bay. Black Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Mallard and Goosander were noted before a bird of prey off to my left caught me eye. It turned out to be a young Peregrine taking advantage of the relatively strong wind to eye up prospective breakfast without having to put in too much effort. Bullfinch and a flock of Siskin were noted as I scanned out across the bay and the river in search of more new species for the day. Teal, Grey Heron and Dunlin were found but most birds were a bit too far away to be able to get a definite ID. While checking the small pools I looked up to see a Sparrowhawk diving straight at me, though it did pull up and over the buddleia behind me. A couple of Sand Martins and a Stock Dove were spotted followed by Greenfinch and Pied Wagtail. I continued round to check the Lochan where a Mute Swan had returned.
Another circuit of the western half of the park added Blackcap, Yellowhammer, Song Thrush, Oystercatcher and Buzzard as well as a few of the more common species. I dropped in again at the Lochan where Snipe, Moorhen and the lingering Shoveler were now all visible. A Stock Dove visited for a very quick drink before flying off again. A Common Darter dragonfly was slightly unexpected due to the strength of the wind but it seemed little troubled by it. A party of Long Tailed Tits were seen in the lower half of the park and a few Small White butterflies were also around in some of the more sheltered spots. Another look from the top of the hill gave me further views of the Peregrine and added Cormorant to the list. As I was still a bit tired from the previous few days coupled with another early start I decided I would head for home. Great Tit, Jackdaw, Linnet, Magpie and Meadow Pipit were all noted as I made my way to the eastern exit.
The walk back home added Grey Wagtail plus Red Admiral and Small White butterflies but was otherwise rather unexciting. I hadn't been home too long when Ian messaged me to let me know Graham Smith had seen the Rosy Starling at Balmossie, where I'd predicted it would be refound, down on the seaweed. A few minutes later my mobile phone rang. It was Lainy. She asked if I wanted to join her as she was about to get a taxi down to Balmossie to try for the Starling. I said I thought the tide would not be in our favour but if she was going anyway, I'd join her. She arranged to pick me up on Clepington Road and I rather hurriedly got organised and headed out when she said she was about to get in the taxi.
As expected, the tide was already well in by the time we reached Balmossie. We scanned from the bridge and I spotted a small flock of Starlings with what looked like a far paler bird in amongst them. On the camera screen it looked like the bird. Unfortunately we couldn't see where the birds had landed. We went in search of Starlings on the nearby roofs and in the various trees dotted around. We spooked a Kingfisher down on the burn and a Sparrowhawk was seen flying over with a second seen off to the north a few minutes later. Collared Dove, Swallow, Pied Wagtail and even more Meadow Pipits were all noted as we searched. We decided to check the grassy area on the other side of the railway. This did give us a few waders - Dunlin, Redshank, Turnstone, Ringed Plover and a Knot. Mute Swan, Wigeon and a variety of gulls out on the water.
We ran into Gus Guthrie who was also searching for the bird - though he, not unexpectedly, didn't know I'd found it on Sunday. As we headed back along to check the houses again a young Peregrine headed over and we had brief views of a Wheatear again. We tried scanning from the bridge and found a flock of Starlings on a roof a quarter of a mile to the north (measured later on Google Earth). Among these birds were what looked like it might be the Rosy Starling, so we set off to find the roof. Thankfully there were enough clues in the photo I'd taken to ensure that we found the roof in question. Unfortunately there was no sign of the bird, or indeed any other Starlings. We were joined by Lainy's husband, Adam, as we hunted around the various nearby streets in search of Starling flocks.
We
found a few but there seemed to be no further sign of anything
resembling a Rosy Starling. Gus said he'd seen it on a roof we had
just checked 30 seconds or so previously. Some of the birds on that
roof had the sun directly behind them making viewing difficult but those
we'd seen were definitely just 'ordinary' Starlings. After a couple of
hours of searching we finally called it a day and Adam dropped me off on
their way home. With the exception of around half an hour in the house,
I'd been out birding all day and I was actually rather glad to be able to
just sit down and have my tea as well as look at the day's photographs.
Although it hadn't been quite as good as Saturday or Sunday, it had
still been a pretty decent Autumn day's birding in Dundee and I finshed
the day having noted a total of 68 species of bird, plus 2 of butterfly,
1 of dragonfly and 1 of mammal. Unfortunately, the Rose Coloured Starling turned out not to be among those.
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| Sparrowhawk |
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House Martin
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Herring Gull
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| Magpie |
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| Jay |
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| Kingfisher |
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Lesser Redpoll
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| Peregrine |
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Meadow Pipit
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Sand Martin
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| Wren |
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| Peregrine |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Shoveler |
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| Snipe |
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Stock Dove
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| Woodpigeon |
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Ringed Plover, Dunlin & Knot
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| Wheatear |
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| Peregrine |
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| Dunlin |
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| Eider |
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| Starling |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Nuthatch, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sand Martin, Shoveler, Siskin, Snipe, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Small White.
Dragonflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Common Darter.
Birds (to/from/at Balmossie) - Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Cormorant, Dunlin, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Turnstone, Wheatear, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
Butterflies (at Balmossie) - Red Admiral.
