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| Chiffchaff |
Having managed to add an Osprey to my Dundee 140 list on Wednesday (number 96) from my bedroom window as it drifted north high over the city, I was keen to get out somewhere on Saturday to try to add something else to take me closer to the century of species in Dundee this year. With another long weekend on the cards I had a choice of 3 locations/routes planned to maximise my chances of adding something - Clatto Reservoir (& Ardler Pond, Trottick Ponds, Caird Park & Swannie Ponds), Balmossie (via Swannie Ponds, Dighty Burn, Eastern Cemetery & Baxter Park) and Riverside Nature Park (via Dundee Law, Balgay Hill & Ninewells Arboretum). With high tide times not being particularly favourable I settled on heading for Clatto on Saturday morning.
I had been talking to Lainy on Friday night and there was a provisional plan for her to join me if she felt like doing so. I headed out a little bit later than intended though I suspected it wasn't likely to impact too heavily on my chances of adding anything. The main reason for trying all the ponds was just in case there were any Garganey around as numbers around the UK have been relatively high this past week or so. I wasn't particularly confident I'd find any but I also knew that I certainly wouldn't find any if I didn't look at all. The walk towards Clatto proved to be fairly unexciting though a small flock of 7 Redwings headed north as I passed Kings Cross Hospital.
A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming at the Crematorium. Lainy messaged me to say she was just about to head out and we arranged to meet up at Ardler Pond. I added Chiffchaff and Black Headed Gull before I reached the Pond. Moorhen, Siskin, Coot and Reed Bunting were seen there, though it was very quiet overall. Lainy and I reached the western end of the pond at the same time. As there was nothing much to see we decided to continue on to Clatto. Another target species for the day was Blackcap and although it was still relatively early for the bulk of arrivals of the species, I felt Clatto and the surrounding area offered us a decent chance of catching up with one.
Greenfinch and Bullfinch were noted along the driveway to the reservoir. Things were relatively quiet on the water though Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck and Mute Swan were seen out on the water. I scanned around trying to find a Little Grebe but drew a blank. A large skein of Pink Footed Geese flew over as we wandered up the western side of the reservoir. We headed out along the track between the fields to the west in case a Wheatear had dropped in, but if one had, it certainly wasn't visible while we were looking. There were a few Roe Deer in one of the fields and a Buzzard and 2 Skylarks were seen in flight. Meadow Pipit and Yellowhammer were also noted before we wandered back to the reservoir.
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Jay |
We decided to check the small wood to the north next. I'd packed the thermal imager so we tried to find a Woodcock in among the trees but unsurprisingly we drew a blank on that one as well. We skirted along the field edges and found a mixed flock of Linnets and Yellowhammers sharing the wires above. Despite over an hour of wandering round the area to the north and east of the reservoir we didn't add much though there were plenty of vocal birds around, especially Bullfinches. A few Jays were seen. As we made our way back round the Reservoir we spotted a mixed flock of Pied Wagtails, Yellowhammers and a Reed Bunting on the cobbled edge of the reservoir near the toilets.
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Pied Wagtail
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I took advantage of the availability of the facilities while Lainy scanned for a Grey Wagtail we'd heard. A minute or so later as we discussed what to do next a singing bird from the trees behind us made us stop. Was that a Blackcap, or just a rather soundalike Robin song? We waited and eventually the bird sang again. It was a
Blackcap after all. We had a few poor views of the bird before it flew into another large conifer where only fleeting views were had meaning the rather poor initial record shots would just have to suffice. Things went quiet soon after so we tried the area around the playpark to see if the bird had relocated to there. A pair of Mistle Thrushes we were photographing were spooked by a father and son kicking a ball around and we watched them head off northwards over the trees (the birds, not the footballers!).
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| Blackcap |
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Great Crested Grebe
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| Siskin |
We had another go at seeing the Blackcap before deciding we'd seen all we were likely to at Clatto around 1100. Lainy headed for home and I headed for Trottick Ponds. Sparrowhawk was added at Trottick Ponds but it was rather quiet. The area of reeds where I found the Snipe earlier in the year has been set on fire, destroying much of it. I found a couple of ringed Dippers on the Dighty. I was distracted by a Roe Deer buck on the slope down to the burn on the opposite bank, and when I did try for a decent look at the second of the two Dipper it flew off. At Caird Park ponds the resident Grey Heron was perched on the branch of a tree over the lower pond and I was able to get some reasonable photos before continuing on to Swannie Ponds.
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Blue Tit
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House Sparrow
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Grey Heron
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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There were 3 Mallard ducklings there but a woman said there had actually been 9 that morning. Unfortunately the prospects for the remainder weren't great with the local drakes ganging up on the ducklings' mother meaning she was unable to protect them from the gulls. Another problem was that they were too small to get out of the water onto the island. (On a return visit on Sunday I didn't see any ducklings though I didn't venture all the way round but I suspect there were probably none left). As the conditions were still quite good I decided I might as well continue down to Baxter Park and to Spring Grove in particular.
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| Mallard |
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| Moorhen |
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Tufted Duck
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Things appeared quiet there to start with. House Sparrows and Chaffinches were soon joined by others such as Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Dunnock and Blackbird. A Treecreeper and a Chiffchaff both put in an appearance and the Bank Vole showed relatively well over an extended period. I added Stock Dove to the list for the day before finally heading for home around 1515. I had managed to see or hear a total of 56 species with a year-tick and Dundee tick (in bold) among the haul. It was still a bit too cold for any butterflies but I did manage to see 3 species of mammal. A fairly worthwhile exercise nonetheless.
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Bank Vole
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| Treecreeper |
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| Dunnock |
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| Blackbird |
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| Chaffinch |
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House Sparrow
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Birds - Blackbird,
Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Dipper, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals - Bank Vole, Rabbit, Roe Deer.
