 |
Great Spotted Woodpecker
|
Keith messaged me while I was stuck at home dealing with 'stuff' on Tuesday the 6th of September to let me know he'd just found a couple of Sanderling with the Dunlin and at least 4 Curlew Sandpipers at Riverside Nature Park. Sanderling were a new species for the park list, the 154th since the park opened on June 18th 2011. As Sanderling have so far eluded me at Balmossie where they used to be regular with the Dunlin and Ringed Plover flock, I decided that I would head down there the following morning rather than sit at home awaiting a phone call. I would check when I got home to see if I'd missed the call I'd been waiting on for the previous 2 days, and then phone the number back...
I headed out at 0800 on Wednesday morning aiming to get to the park as the tide was on its way in. I was hoping that would give me a reasonable chance at both the Sanderling and the Curlew Sandpipers, both of which I needed for my Dundee 140 list. The walk to the park didn't prove to be too productive though I did manage to get some decent birds among those seen along the way, including Peregrine, Bullfinch, Long Tailed Tit and Meadow Pipit. I reached the park an hour after leaving home. A surprise just inside the park was not 1, but 2, Great Spotted Woodpeckers flying from the trees by the road in to the wooded area opposite Buzzard Wood on the north side.
I decided to head for the bay first and then work my way back from there. House Martins passed over as did more Meadow Pipits. The Lochan seemed rather quiet with just a Mallard and a few Moorhens seen there. I reached the bay around 0920 and started scanning. Grey Heron, Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Teal, Dunlin, Bar Tailed Godwit, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull and Black Headed Gull were all noted while a Chiffchaff sang from the bushes behind me. A Whitethroat showed briefly before I picked up the first Curlew of the day.
Curlew Sandpiper was soon picked out among the Dunlin, and it didn't take too long to find more of the species. This was number 123 for my Dundee 140 list.
Pied Wagtail and a Common Sandpiper were noted before the first Osprey of the day flew in for a spot of hunting over the outer half of the bay. Cormorant, Greenshank and a flock of Siskins joined the birds already on the list. A bit of a surprise was a pair of drake Tufted Ducks which flew off out of the bay in the direction of Kingoodie. The Little Egret which had eluded me recently put in an appearance flying in, towards the hide. A few Swallows zipped overhead before I was joined by Keith. I had seen no sign of the Sanderling but the Curlew Sandpipers were my 123rd species for my Dundee 140 list. A Skylark was heard passing overhead.
A Great Black Backed Gull and a couple of Sandwich Terns added to the growing list. I managed to spot a Turnstone in a flock of Dunlin. Another flock of small waders which flew past us were assumed to be Dunlin, but the photos showed them to be Ringed Plover - the largest flock of these (that I'm aware of), at the park with 8 of these small waders along with a Turnstone, all heading out of the bay a bit higher than the usual wader flocks tend to. Another 2 Ospreys arrived for a spot of fishing before Keith and I headed round to the hide, in the hope that the Sanderling would fly in from wherever they were to give me another Dundee 140 tick. From the hide we did add Goosander and Sparrowhawk, as well as a surprise appearance by a single Ruff.
A Buzzard and an Osprey were seen out over the bay before we decided that there appeared to be little likelihood of the Sanderling showing up, and headed into the park. Goldfinch were noted on the walk to the Lochan where the Shoveler had by this time reappeared. Yellowhammer, Blackcap and Greenfinch were noted before we reached the car park. Keith offered to drop me off somewhere to save me part of the walk home. However, there was no rush to head home as an email had arrived instead of the phone call, so I asked Keith to drop me off near Balgay Park and I would see what I could find there. A pair of Buzzards showed nicely, with one of them perching in view of the path.
A Sparrowhawk flew past and both Great Spotted Woodpecker and Nuthatch were heard. A Grey Squirrel was seen and House Martins were spotted high above the trees. I headed for home via the Law around 1400 but failed to add anything else on the walk home. Despite having dipped on the elusive Sanderling, the very fact there were Sanderling around gave me a bit of hope I might manage to catch up with them at Balmossie sooner rather than later. Rather surprisingly despite the slightly curtailed visit to the park, I managed a total of 57 species at the park and 30 outwith, for a combined total of 65 species, including 1 year tick (in bold).
 |
Bar Tailed Godwit
|
 |
| Greenshank |
 |
Common Sandpiper
|
 |
| Osprey |
 |
Ringed Plover
|
 |
Redshank, Dunlin, Lapwing & Curlew Sandpiper
|
 |
Little Egret
|
 |
Curlew Sandpiper
|
 |
Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin & Redshank
|
 |
Ruff, Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit & Lapwing
|
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Shoveler |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Buzzard |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Nuthatch, Peregrine, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterfly (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Small White.
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, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Ruff, Sandwich Tern, Shoveler, Siskin, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Swallow, Teal, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
