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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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As Saturday had been quite successful, I was keen to get out and about again on Sunday. With Spring migration well underway there were still some species I could hope to run into. Having failed to find any Grasshopper Warblers at Clatto with Lainy the previous day, I decided I would try my back-up location for the species in Dundee. I had heard one 'reeling' last year on a bit of waste ground behind Sainsbury's and as I can count 'heard only' birds on my Dundee 140 list, if my luck was in then an unseen 'reeling' bird would suffice. Anything else would be a welcome bonus. As these birds are often active around dawn and dusk I decided on an early start, however there was an unexpected fly in the ointment first....
I woke up slightly before the alarm was due to go off and could hear what sounded like someone trying to get in my next door neighbour's front door. There was, but it turned out not to be my new neighbour. I called the police but the person who had been trying to get in, using the rather buckled letterbox as a rather poor lever, had gone when they arrived. The police phoned me around 0530 for more information and once they had, I got organised and headed out a bit later than planned at around 0615. It was a fairly typical selection of species noted on my walk to the Swannie Ponds with Chiffchaff and Collared Dove the best of the initial bunch. A Grey Squirrel was a slight surprise by the water storage building on Clepington Road.
The usual suspects were seen at the ponds before I continued on down the Kingsway and then down to the path along the Dighty Burn between Douglas and Whitfield. A Dipper flew low up the burn and a Blackcap sang from the opposite bank. Continuing on I added a Pheasant, Song Thrush and Willow Warbler before getting good views of a recently fledged Grey Heron on the other side of the burn. I found my first Roe Deer of the day in an area where I often find them not far from the small footbridge. Another one peered at me from among the reeds as I walked back to the path with a pair of Reed Buntings perched behind. Long Tailed Tit, Buzzard and both Grey and Pied Wagtails were noted a little further on.
Another pair of Roe Deer were seen on the other side of the fence and a Rabbit was also noted nearby. I crossed the dual carriageway and started along the small track that runs along to the south of West Pitkerro industrial estate. As I walked along I thought I could just make out the sound of a Grasshopper Warbler but I couldn't be certain. However, a little further on I had confirmation that it was indeed a
Grasshopper Warbler (103) as a bird reeled loudly from within a small stand of reeds. I couldn't see the bird at all but I caught a couple of glimpses as it flew to another stand of reeds before returning shortly afterwards. Not brilliant views by any manner of means but the main target bird was safely on the list. A couple of Common Gulls circled round overhead before I moved on again.
I wanted to check out the track north from behind Clearwater Park now that there was a chance of there being some warblers around as the habitat did appear quite promising for a variety of species on my previous visit. I found my way to the path I'd walked along previously to reach the track north. Yellowhammers and Linnets were seen, with the latter collecting nesting materials. A Skylark was heard and a few more Pheasants were seen along the edge of the field to the north. I scanned over the field to the south and picked up some distant hirundines hawking for insects in the general area of the Dighty. I eventually managed to get an ID on one of them - a very welcome
House Martin (104), my second tick of the day.
As I headed north along the track I wanted to investigate a Swallow zipped over rather low. The track did provide a few warblers but only the expected Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs. I'll have to make another visit to try for some of the others. I added Stock Dove and Rook as I walked back to West Pitkerro Industrial Estate where a Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen drumming. I added Goldcrest to the list along with Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies while I spent more time trying to catch a glimpse of the Grasshopper Warbler which was still reeling when I returned to where I'd (just) seen it earlier. It proved to be very adept at staying hidden. However, I discovered there was a second bird which answered the first bird's song and which turned out to be slightly more showy.
After a while I moved on again. Dipper and Blackcap were seen by the junction of the two burns and I had reasonably good views of a few other Dippers further on as well as a few other species, including another House Martin much closer than the earlier one. A warbler which looked very pale caught my attention and later at home when looking through the photos I thought it might be a Siberian Chiffchaff. However, being rather tired having walked a total of 30 miles and on less than 8 hours sleep in total over the course of the 2 days I focussed on just the apparent greyness of the bird rather than some of the more pertinent features. It turned out to be a 'northern'-like Willow Warbler. There was nothing new added along the rest of the Dighty stretch and I decided to head for Eastern Cemetery though I wasn't expecting to find anything out of the ordinary there, and I wasn't disappointed when that proved to be the case.
I continued on to Baxter Park and managed to add Siskin at Spring Grove. There was a reasonable mix of birds there but I didn't linger too long as the temperature had dropped as the sky had by this time clouded over. I headed for home and added a Sparrowhawk just as I entered my street taking my total number of species for the day to 49, including 2 new for the year/Dundee 140 lists (in bold). My Dundee 140 list is slowly edging upwards. There are still a few migrants I can reasonably expect to catch up with soon but after that things start to get trickier, though hopefully Autumn will also add a few more too. Although we aren't even into May yet, it feels like a lull is coming soon when there will be few new additions to my Dundee 140 list before things start to pick up again.
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| Mallard |
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Long Tailed Tit
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Roe Deer
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| Buzzard |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Swallow |
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Stock Dove
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Pied Wagtail
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Grasshopper Warbler
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Small Tortoiseshell
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Reed Bunting
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| Dipper |
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Willow Warbler
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Grey Heron
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House Martin
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| Blackcap |
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| Siskin |
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Dipper, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch,
Grasshopper Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull,
House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Tufted Duck, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies - Orange Tip, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit, Roe Deer.
