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| Fieldfare |
While I was at work on the last day of October, Keith messaged me to let me know he'd just found a Green Sandpiper at Riverside Nature Park. The bird was in Invergowrie Bay, and was a new, but overdue, addition to the park list (number 156). It was also a bird I've yet to see in Dundee - either at the park, or anywhere else. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to get to the park before my day off on Wednesday, so until then I would have to hope the bird stuck around. Keith messaged me on Tuesday evening to let me know he hadn't seen it on Tuesday morning, though the tide was further in than at the time of his Monday visit. There are plenty of potential spots for a Green Sandpiper to hang out at high tide, so I decided I would still make an effort to look for it. The weather forecast for Wednesday meant that I would likely need an early start and to be on my way home by around 1100, to avoid forecast heavy rain from around noon.
One slight plus was that I didn't have to leave the house in the middle of the night to make it to the park for sunrise, which was around 0725. Instead, I headed out just after 0620 for the hour's walk to the park. Naturally, the birds found along the way were very similar to those I would normally find on my walk to work. Robin, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Blackbird, Magpie, Redwing and Wren were all either seen or heard while there was very little light in the early morning sky. Thankfully there was enough available light to be able to pick out Common and Black Headed Gulls at the football pitches by the time I got there, with House Sparrows just waking up in their usual hedge across the road from the park.
Balgay Cemetery added Great Tit, Pied Wagtail, Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Woodpigeon, Blue Tit, Siskin and Long Tailed Tits. Just before I reached the park, a Lesser Redpoll flew along Riverside Avenue calling as it went. It was just before 0725 when I wandered into the eastern end of the park. The sun was just coming up and the sky was still relatively clear, which was a bit of a surprise given the forecast for later in the day. Carrion Crow, Redwing, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Pink Footed Goose, Bullfinch, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Wren, and Herring Gull were rapidly added to the list. There seemed to be lots of thrushes moving, mostly Fieldfares, but also some Redwings and Blackbirds too. An unexpected small skein of Greylags headed over eastwards.
I managed to get a better look at some of the Fieldfares in the bushes and trees by the access road. Unfortunately, these birds were very wary and flew off as soon as they noticed me, even though I was still some distance from them. Flock after flock of thrushes overflew as did a Meadow Pipit and a few Greenfinches. Black Headed Gull, Mistle Thrush, Siskin and Starling were all noted before a Goosander flew over eastwards. Feral Pigeons, Robin and Song Thrush joined the increasing number of species before Keith arrived. We headed off towards the bay. A Cormorant briefly had us wondering what it was as it flew towards us. A Sparrowhawk was spotted being harassed by a corvid well to the north of the park.
We made a brief stop at the Lochan where a number of Black Tailed Godwits were roosting along the far side. Mallard, Teal and Moorhen were on the water as usual. We reached the hide overlooking the bay around 0820 and found that the tide was a bit further in than we'd expected it to be. Jackdaws were down on the pipe and a few Wigeon were in the burn outflow with other ducks. A Great Black Backed Gull was a bit further out in the bay. To our right, the Buzzard was perched in its favoured small tree. With the water level already covering most of the mud there was no sign of Green Sandpiper by the reeds where Keith had seen it on Monday.
After a few minutes of scanning around I spotted a dark bird in flight with a very obvious white rear end. I said to Keith "I think I've got it" and gave him directions to get onto the bird as it flew around across the far side of the bay before it landed on the railway embankment near the eastern end of the reedbed. Sure enough, it was the Green Sandpiper - my 139th species seen or heard from within Dundee this year, leaving me just a single species still to add to reach my target figure of 140 for 2022. As there had been a bit of an unexpected influx of pallid Swifts down the east coast, I was hoping that I might spot one overhead, though I knew it was highly unlikely, though that didn't stop me from looking up and all around regularly throughout the morning.
A Grey Heron flew in and landed down in front of us. I had chosen to bring my 150-600mm lens with me for its reach, to allow me to get a record shot of the Green Sandpiper and it did help in that respect. However, it isn't the greatest lens for flight shots so when the Green Sandpiper took off and flew in our direction, I didn't even try to get a photo. The bird was last seen flying past us towards the south, though we quickly lost sight of it due to the bushes next to the hide. We both suspected it had gone to roost along the edge of the bay, hidden from our view by the bushes and trees, where the bulk of the bay's waders seem to congregate at high tide times.
We headed into the park again, noting Rabbit, Skylark, Curlew and Lesser Redpoll. Goldcrest and Long Tailed Tit were spotted in the bushes down from the picnic tables. Keith headed for home around 1000. I made another circuit of the top half of the park which gave me Pied Wagtail, Coal Tit and Yellowhammer. Unfortunately the sky had been clouding over as the morning had progressed and the sky out to the west didn't look particularly promising. I had just had another look at the Lochan when it began to rain. I hoped it would be a shower that would pass through quickly so I headed along to the hide again for a bit of shelter. This worked out relatively well and I was able to stay more or less dry.
One or two Common Gulls were picked out among the Black Headed Gulls on the water and as the tide had by this time began to recede the waders had returned to feed on the exposed mud. Most of them were Dunlin and Redshank with a few Curlews dotted around. As I scanned through them I found a bird that looked more like a Curlew Sandpiper but given that we were in November I talked myself out of it being one. The Dunlins nearby were in all sorts of plumage with some in almost full winter plumage and a few others still showing most of their black belly patch and it didn't look too different to the Dunlin it chose to stand next to. The light wasn't too great and the rain wasn't helping, so I took a few photos to have a better look at home. It turned that it actually was a later than usual Curlew Sandpiper - a decent bird for November.
Suddenly there was panic among the waders as a raptor shot through low across the bay. Amazingly, despite the shortcomings of the lens I managed to grab a few photos of the young Peregrine, likely the same bird seen recently around the bay. It took the waders a few minutes to all return and to relax enough to start feeding again. I checked the MetOffice app on my phone which showed that the forecast rain had arrived already and my hopes of it being a passing shower had already been washed away. I decided I should call it a day and head for home before the heavier stuff which was on its way for around noon arrived. I added Dunnock, Reed Bunting and Great Tit on my way out of the park, taking my total to 52 species at the park, which was a bit of a surprise given the time of year.
The walk home was much wetter than I'd hoped it would be with the heavy rain catching up with me around Byron Street. I did manage to add a Sparrowhawk and Jay to the day's birds taking the 'outside the park' list to 23 species and the cumulative total to 54 species of bird and 1 mammal. Although the Pallid Swift I was hoping for didn't appear, either before or after the rain began, it had been a productive few hours worth of birding. Thanks go once again to Keith for another welcome find and also for letting me know. Five of the last ten species added to the park's list have been found by Keith, filling in a few gaps and also adding unexpected birds. So, looking ahead, will Keith find something else good that I can catch up with to get me to my 140 target, or will the Waxwings show up somewhere closer to home before then, or will I finally manage to see a Grey Plover at Balmossie? Time will surely tell.....
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| Fieldfare |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Robin |
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| Fieldfare |
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Redshank, Dunlin & Black Tailed Godwit
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Green Sandpiper
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| Buzzard |
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Green Sandpiper
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| Skylark |
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Song Thrush
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Pied Wagtail
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Grey Heron
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Black Tailed Godwit
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Great Black Backed Gull
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Redshank & Dunlin
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| Cormorant |
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| Peregrine |
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Common Gull
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Curlew Sandpiper & Redshank
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Black Headed Gull, Curlew, Dunlin & Redshank
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jay, Lesser Redpoll, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common
Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Green Sandpiper, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull,
Jackdaw, Lesser Redpoll, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin,
Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Teal, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
