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| Woodpigeon |
I had been meaning to get up to the top of the Law for some vis-migging from around sunrise onwards, for the past few weeks but had never quite made it. With decent conditions forecast for Saturday, I finally had the prospective chance to catch up with a reasonable amount of migrant movement. At least that was how it looked, on paper. However, these things often don't quite go the way they are expected to. Good birds had been showing up elsewhere along the east coast, though Dundee is just in the 'wrong' place to catch much, or at least that is how it seems most of the time. I set my alarm for around 0530....
It was quite a nice morning when I headed out just a few minutes behind schedule for the walk to the top of the Law. A Grey Wagtail seemed to be the only obvious migrant passing over as I headed for the hill, which didn't really fill me with too much optimism. Otherwise it was a fairly typical mix of species noted. Another Grey Wagtail passed overhead as I reached the hill. A slight detour off the path to investigate some movement in the trees led to a bit of a disagreement with a fallen tree. Thankfully, other than bruising and a slight cut at the side of my knee, there was no real harm done, though it definitely could've been a lot worse than it actually was.
At the top of the hill there were a couple of guys with 2 dogs sat on one of the seats. I decided to keep my camera in the bag until I'd sussed out whether or not I should be concerned by them. Thankfully, they seemed friendly enough though I did keep the camera in the bag for a while, until they had left. Despite the lack of much obvious migration on the walk up things turned out to be almost constant movements with Meadow Pipits in particular heading over the hill from almost all directions. In addition to these Meadow Pipits, I heard a Pied Wagtail. A Peregrine was seen flying off towards the southeast around 0655. A group of 5 House Martins flew eastwards a few minutes later. One of the Sparrowhawks from the hill was seen in flight.
Around 0710 a trio of Song Thrushes went over eastwards and another Grey Wagtail went south a minute or two later. A quick check of Cox's Stack found a Peregrine perched there too, tucking into breakfast. A small flock of Swallows swept over northwards. Around 0725 there was a slight change from the stream of Meadow Pipits with a trio of Mistle Thrushes in company with a shorter tailed bird which I managed to get a single photo of. Given that I'd seen Song Thrushes earlier, I thought it would be one of these. I wasn't expecting it to be a Ring Ouzel, but that was what it turned out to be. Another Dundee 140 addition, and another rather good bird for the city.
A pair of the local Bullfinches flew round the hill before dropping back into the trees. Another Pied Wagtail was heard but not seen. I picked up a Curlew heading west a bit late but it was still identifiable. Another 3 Mistle Thrushes flew southwest at 0750. Siskins were heard at 0800 and there was a bit of Tree Pipit movement over the next 20 minutes or so. A single Sand Martin was a bit of a surprise - though not nearly as much as the earlier Ring Ouzel had been. More Swallows and a Kestrel broke the Meadow Pipit movement up a bit more. Around 0900 things started to tail off a little, though Meadow Pipits were still passing over every couple of minutes. More Swallows and Siskins were noted before I picked up 2 high flying Swifts circling above the hill. These birds even managed to squeeze in a short spell of 'screaming'. A Jay was seen in the trees on the east side of the hill.
House Martins were heard again and a single Starling went over west at 0935. A Black Headed Gull, another Grey Wagtail, some Siskins and many more Meadow Pipits filled the next 30 minutes or so. A Buzzard drifted over at 1015. Another Buzzard was mobbed furiously and persistently by a Chaffinch until it flew off to the east. Around 1045, a group of 4 Buzzards spiralled upwards on a thermal along with a Sparrowhawk which was harassing a 5th Buzzard. The movement finally looked to have mostly petered out with longer gaps between Meadow Pipits movements. I finally called it a day at 1135, 5 hours after I started. A slowish wander round the hill looking for any migrants stopping in for a bite to eat, or even just a rest added Long Tailed Tit, Blackcap and Treecreeper to the morning's list. All in all a worthwhile effort with a total of 41 species noted.
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Song Thrush
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Grey Wagtail
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Meadow Pipit
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House Martin
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| Chaffinch |
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Mistle Thrush
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Ring Ouzel
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| Curlew |
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Mistle Thrush
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Meadow Pipit
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Carrion Crow
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Meadow Pipit
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| Swallow |
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Blue Tit
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| Kestrel |
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| Peregrine |
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| Swallow |
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| Starling |
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Black Headed Gull
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| Buzzard |
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Chaffinch & Buzzard
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| Magpie |
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Buzzard & Sparrowhawk
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Meadow Pipit
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Blue Tit
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Long Tailed Tit
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Birds (with migrant totals in brackets) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Curlew (1), Dunnock, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail (4), Herring Gull, House Martin (6), Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit (149), Mistle Thrush (6), Peregrine, Pied Wagtail (2), Ring Ouzel (1), Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sand Martin (1), Siskin (7), Song Thrush (3), Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow (21), Swift (2), Tree Pipit (4), Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Red Admiral.
