 |
| Guillemot |
A bird I've yet to catch up with this year in Dundee is Grey Plover. There are often a few hanging around with the other waders at Balmossie, usually out by the edge of the water, during the winter months. Unfortunately disturbance by walkers, with or without dogs, does make trying to catch up with these birds very hit or miss. So when Keith managed to find one at Riverside Nature Park, in Invergowrie Bay while I was at work on Thursday, I had to hope it would linger until the weekend to give me a chance to see it. It was also a new bird for the park list (number 155) and Keith's second new wader for the park list in recent weeks following on from Sanderling. Keith let me know on Friday that he had failed to see the bird during a visit that morning, though the tide state did mean that birds were very widely dispersed at the time he had been there. So, I decided that I would return to Riverside Nature Park on Saturday morning, nice and early though with rather low expectations.
The really early start that I had considered, didn't actually materialise but with sunrise around 0700, it still felt quite early when I headed out just after 0730. As expected it was a very similar sort of list to my walks to work along a broadly similar route. The more interesting birds seen or heard included Grey Wagtail, Tree Sparrow, Long Tailed Tit, Bullfinch, Nuthatch and Jay. I reached the park just after 0835. A skein of Pink Footed Geese passed over as I entered the park and a Chiffchaff could still be heard singing. A small family group of Bullfinches were seen at Buzzard Wood. A couple of bizjets overhead caught my attention and I decided to head out of the park to photograph them landing next door at the airport.
After the detour I added Swallow, Meadow Pipit, Skylark and Song Thrush to the migrant species already noted. A few dark billed Blackbirds were feeding on Rowan berries. Grey Wagtail, Stock Dove and Linnet were seen before I wandered round to check the bay, where I found Keith also checking through the waders. Redshank, Teal, Black Headed Gull, Tree Sparrows, Cormorant, Siskin, Reed Bunting, Grey Heron, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Yellowhammer, Mallard, Feral Pigeon and Common Gull were all added to the day's list before Keith headed homewards and Iwandered round for a look at the Lochan. Mute Swan, Moorhen, Teal and Shoveler were all to be found there with a flock of Jackdaws off to the north.
A bit more wandering added a Sparrowhawk, Pied Wagtail, Oystercatcher and Blackcap. Back round scanning over the bay again, a Great Spotted Woodpecker headed over towards Invergowrie - another potential migrant. Dunnock and Wren were both heard calling while out in the bay I was able to pick out some Goosander as the tide pushed birds further in. Lapwings were seen over the far side near the gulls and the first Buzzard of the day put in an appearance. Dunlin, Black Tailed Godwit and the Kingfisher were down in the bay. Bar Tailed Godwits and a Great Black Backed Gull were also spotted and a Curlew Sandpiper was seen in flight with a flock of Dunlin. There was no sign of the Grey Plover though I scanned through the waders again and again, just in case.
I was joined by the newest member of the Fife Red Flanked Bluetail Finders 'club' - Mathieu Soetens, a Dundee based birder who found his bird down on the coastal path at Kilminning recently. I've crossed paths with Mathieu before but this was the first time we'd had a chance to actually chat. We scanned the birds below us as we did so. Mathieu spotted the cause of some panic among the waders - the young Peregrine. Once again it was an unsuccessful hunt and the bird flew off out of the bay in the direction of the airport. Mathieu and I wandered round to the hide to try to get a better view of the remaining waders from there. A small group of Long Tailed Tits gave us good views but we failed to find a Curlew Sandpiper among the remaining Dunlin and Redshanks.
We wandered back round towards the car park via the Lochan though we didn't add anything new there. A Great Spotted Woodpecker flew over as we were trying to see a possible Mistle Thrush. Mathieu had to head off shortly after, so I had another check of part of the top half and the whole of the bottom half of the park before I did likewise. Peacock, Red Admiral and Small White butterflies were all on the wing when the sun was out. I eventually called it a day around 1530. A chance encounter with a chatty cyclist while putting away my camera gear near the Botanic Gardens helped decide my route home for me, as she mentioned there seemed to be a lot of Guillemots in the Tay (and even at City Quay).
Sure enough, there were plenty of the birds (around 10 in total) on the water, mostly close in to the seawall as I walked back towards the city centre. Most looked healthy enough and there was even an adult and youngster pair near the railbridge - the youngster loudly calling repeatedly, though a few looked a little less healthy. I took my time slowly wandering back along Riverside Drive photographing each of the birds before heading in to City Quay where I added Cormorant and Grey Heron. I then bumped into Twitter 'friend' and fellow Dundee wildlife enthusiast Steven Neish ( @findinganeish ) who was waiting for a young Common Seal with what appears to be an eye problem to surface. We had a brief chat before another Guillemot, rather than the Seal popped up in front of us. I left Steven to his Seal search and headed home. I finished the day with a total of 65 species (60 at the park, 28 outwith) but unfortunately no Grey Plover. The species has been seen elsewhere over the past week or so which suggests my chances of catching up with one at Balmossie soon, should now have improved.
 |
| Bullfinch |
 |
| Magpie |
 |
| Blackbird |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
Grey Heron
|
 |
| Yellowhammer |
 |
| Rook |
 |
| Sparrowhawk |
 |
| Skylark |
 |
Pied Wagtail
|
 |
Great Spotted Woodpecker
|
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Oystercatcher |
 |
| Mallard |
 |
Curlew Sandpiper & Dunlin
|
 |
| Curlew |
 |
| Peregrine |
 |
Long Tailed Tit
|
 |
Black Tailed Godwit & Redshank
|
 |
| Blackbird |
 |
| Jackdaw |
 |
Carrion Crow
|
 |
Black Headed Gull
|
 |
Guillemot
|
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Cormorant, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Nuthatch, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Starling, Tree Sparrow.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Grey Squirrel.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Bacekd Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shoveler, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Peacock, Red Admiral, Small White.
