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| Woodpigeon |
With Grasshopper Warblers being reported along with multiple other migrants from various spots around the country, it was an easy decision as to what would be my target species on Saturday morning. I would head for Clatto Reservoir as early as possible in the hope of catching up with an early returning bird to the local area. As Grasshopper Warblers are such skulking birds, even a 'singing' bird would suffice. Speaking to Lainy online on Friday evening it transpired she had the same idea, though with Clatto being her 'patch' she doesn't have to get up quite so early to get there. With a bit of luck I would also add a few more migrants to the Dundee 140 (and year) list. Once I'd spent enough time at Clatto I would head for Riverside Nature Park for another attempt at Greenshank.
I woke up around 45 minutes before the alarm was due to go off and decided there was little point in trying to get back to sleep so I got up and got organised, aiming to leave the house around 0500. I made it out just before 0510 and set off through the quiet streets towards Clatto. Blackbird and Herring Gull were noted in the pre-dawn gloom and a Fox was spotted trotting up Provost Road. As the sky lightened more birds could be heard and seen, including Pied Wagtail, Oystercatcher, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Goldcrest and Song Thrush. A Moorhen was heard and a Mute Swan was seen at Ardler Village Pond.
The closer I got to Clatto however, the worse the visibility was getting with mist looking like being an issue, not for the first time this year, nor for the first time at Clatto. I wandered round the 'invisible' reservoir anyway. Chiffchaff, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Blackcap were all heard and I managed to both hear and see my first 2022
Willow Warbler (number 99 for Dundee 140 list) in the wooded area just to the north of the reservoir. A few Common Toads were found in some of the wetter areas by the paths. Lainy messaged me to say she was also out and about and we met up a few minutes later. Lainy had also had no luck to this point in finding a Grasshopper Warbler so we checked out some of the locations where we'd had them in 2021. Unfortunately, if there were any around they were remaining silent and hidden.
We did find Jay, Linnet, Yellowhammer, Pheasant and a Buzzard. A Meadow Pipit lifted from the field to the north before we added Long Tailed Tit and Bullfinch. A pair of male Pheasants came running along the track towards us before realising we were there and retreating quickly. A pair of Roe Deer bucks appeared out of the mist in the field before spotting us and running off along the field edge westwards. The mist seemed to be lifting slightly and we added a singing Skylark to the list before returning for another look at the reservoir where it was now possible to see a few birds out on the water. As I was hoping to add Little Grebe I scanned but to no avail, though the Great Crested Grebe pair were seen.
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| Pheasant |
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Willow Warbler
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Roe Deer
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Mute Swan
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By about 0900 the mist had cleared further and a spot of exploring along the southern edges of the farm added Redwings and Mistle Thrush. Lainy told me there had been Fieldfares around in the same area recently but unfortunately there was no sign of any. Around 20 minutes or so later, near the empty kids' playpark we stumbled upon a few more thrushes and this time there were a couple of
Fieldfares, giving me my second year-tick of the day and my 100th species of 2022 for my Dundee 140 list. A Treecreeper was noted nearby. We wandered around slowly checking everywhere in the hope of adding something else new. A trio of Pink Footed Geese flew over a little while before we decided to give up on Clatto.
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| Redwing |
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Pied Wagtail
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Pink Footed Goose
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Great Crested Grebe
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I was hoping to make it to Riverside Nature Park for around 1230 or so, and had reckoned on it taking around an hour for me to walk there from Clatto. This turned out to not be too bad an estimate and I reached the park a little after 1230. I scanned first from the bridge over the railway and was rewarded with an Osprey fishing which settled briefly on a rock in the bay before being chased off by the local crows and gulls. More scanning from the hide added Shelduck and Redshanks but there seemed to be no sign of any Greenshanks. I wandered round to the raised banking overlooking the bay for a different angle on the birds in the bay but it was the same story from there. A group of 4 Black Tailed Godwits did add a spot of colour and a Willow Warbler sang from a nearby tree. As the tide pushed in further I headed back to the hide again.
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| Jay |
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| Osprey |
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| Blackcap |
One of the Godwits turned out to be ringed and I was able to get photos showing the colours (ringed asa juvenile at Montrose in 2015). A Blackcap sang briefly out in front of the hide while a Chiffchaff called from the trees behind me. An Orange Tip and a pair of Peacock butterflies were seen out in front though they proved impossible to get a photo of. When it became apparent there was to be no Greenshank to be had, I headed into the park for a look around. Yellowhammer and Meadow Pipit were noted along with Linnet and Reed Bunting. Surprisingly, there didn't seem to be any hirundines to be found despite much searching at the likely spots.
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Black Tailed Godwit
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| Skylark |
Pied Wagtail and Stock Dove were noted as I made my way to the lower half of the park. A bird flew off from the trees behind the car park but I didn't get a good view but having seen where it landed I headed in the general direction. It turned out to be another Fieldfare - my 73rd species at Riverside Nature Park this year. I've missed a few others seen by Keith and Ian Ford such as Marsh Harrier, Treecreeper and the aforementioned Greenshank but hopefully I will get another chance to catch up with all of those before the year is out. I left the park around 1510 for the long walk home.
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| Fieldfare |
I headed up through Balgay, hearing a Nuthatch in the area near the pavilion before finding a pair further to the east which gave me good views for a few minutes. My only other addition to the list for the day before reaching home was a Collared Dove on Kinghorne Road. I limped the final 15 minutes of just shy of 12 full hours out birding owing to what felt like the beginnings of a blister on the underside of my heel. Although I had failed to add either Greenshank or Grasshopper Warbler I had added 2 new birds (in bold) to both the year-list and Dundee 140 list among the 61 species recorded on the day - 42 at Riverside Nature Park and 51 outwith the park. In addition, 1 species of amphibian, 2 of butterfly and 3 mammal species were also noted during the day's birding. Using Google Earth to calculate the distance walked I reckon it was in the region of 17.5 miles. All in all, a decent day's birding, though the blister did mean no birding outing on Sunday.
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| Nuthatch |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Dunnock,
Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck,
Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Fox, Rabbit, Roe Deer.
Amphibians (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Common Toad.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow,
Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew,
Fieldfare,
Goldfinch, Great Tit,
Greenfinch, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Black
Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Stock Dove, Teal,
Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Orange Tip, Peacock.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
