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| Moorhen |
The weather forecast for Sunday wasn't particularly great with heavy rain due around mid-afternoon. I wanted to get out somewhere for some birding but wasn't sure where, or how far, I wanted to go. The light was pretty poor for photography and the threat of the rain arriving ahead of schedule was another consideration. I got organised and was ready to head out the door by around 1010, though with no real idea of where I was going to end up or via what route.
I decided I would head first to Swannie Ponds. Rather than my usual route via Clepington Road I decided to take the 'southern' route from home instead. A skein of Pink Footed Geese flew over towards the river as I stepped outside. Robin, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon and Starling were all expected, and all were noted. A few migrating Meadow Pipits passed overhead westwards. A Goldcrest was heard in the trees near the police station. Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Blue Tit and Dunnock were found around the Morgan Academy and Baxter Park area before I reached the ponds.
A quick look around there gave me Black Headed and Common Gulls, Mute Swans, Mallard, Coot and at last some returning Tufted Ducks. A Pied Wagtail was heard but went unseen. A Grey Heron was roosting on the island, but I kept my camera stayed in the bag. I weighed up my options for where to go next and decided to try Caird Park. I added Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Collared Dove and Magpie on the short walk down to the Kingsway. Once into the park I added Wren and a small group of overflying Mistle Thrush. In the trees I found Treecreeper, Jay, Blackbird and Redwing. A Buzzard was seen to the north as I headed for a look around the ponds.
Great Tit, Siskin, Long Tailed Tits, Coal Tit and Chiffchaff were all in the trees as was a Grey Squirrel while there were a few Mallards on the lower pond and Moorhens at the upper. The first of the day's Jackdaws flew over. I wandered into the old graveyard for a look there but it was very quiet. I heard a Buzzard mewing loudly as I neared the gates just before it appeared over the trees then disappeared back out of sight in the trees off to my right. I then heard another Buzzard calling from the same area where the original bird had been and a few seconds later, a pair of Buzzards appeared over the trees there. I briefly contemplated getting the camera out, but a combination of already having a lot of Buzzard photos, the poor lighting conditions and the likelihood of running into 'shady' folk meant I kept it in the bag. The 2 Buzzards drifted over in the direction of Mains Castle and a few seconds later the original bird followed them.
As I turned back from watching the third bird, some movement up to my right caught my eye and I looked up to see a chunky looking, relatively short tailed bird flying almost directly over my head. There was a white band just visible on the underwings and I heard a very faint and very short 'tic'-like call from the bird, which seemed to confirm my initial impression of the bird being a
Hawfinch. It disappeared over the trees in the direction of the ponds. I decided against looking for it, as they are never the easiest birds to see in amongst trees and the layout of the general area around the ponds would make it almost impossible to be able to see into a lot of the trees there, assuming that the bird had actually landed. I tried to talk myself out of it being a Hawfinch but once I confirmed via the internet that they do make the call I'd heard in flight (I was fairly certain that my very first Hawfinch sighting at Scone Palace back in 2010 had called similarly in flight), I posted the sighting on my Twitter feed in case anyone else fancied the needle in a haystack search and continued down to the main road.
I added a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the walk down the hill. Near the bottom I once again rued keeping my camera in the bag as a pair of Sparrowhawks briefly tussled above the trees by the burn. I continued on along the old road to Trottick Ponds for a look there. Song Thrush and Grey Wagtail were both seen as I wandered along the Dighty Burn. A Dipper was heard as I crossed the footbridge into the small local reserve. I failed to find anything I hadn't already seen elsewhere. I had taken the thermal imager with me and used it to check the reedbed for any sign of Snipe but failed to see anything. I decided I would continue on to Clatto Reservoir for a look around there. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was seen on the walk up the hill from Trottick. When I arrived there were birds coming down onto the dirt track up to the reservoir and I decided to finally get the camera out to try for at least some photos to use in this blog-post. Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Robin and Dunnock were coming down to drink and bathe in the few small puddles ahead of me but a car flushed the lot so I continued up the hill, though things were much quieter than they usually are earlier in the day, when I usually time my visits.
Scanning to the north, I spotted 2 birds rather distantly in flight, which photos showed to be Goosander. Rooks were spotted flying over the closer fields. I checked the wooded and open areas to the east of the reservoir where a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Jay were both photographed in flight. I then added Bullfinch to the day's sightings just to the north of the reservoir. A look over the 'Christmas Tree field' to the northwest, (and outside of the Dundee boundaries), gave me another Mistle Thrush and large flock of distant gulls behind a tractor ploughing one of the fields with another larger group in an adjacent field. These appeared to be a mix of 100s of Herring Gulls, Common Gulls and Black Headed Gulls and some flew to the reservoir when spooked by a quad bike while others quickly resettled where they had been previosuly.
A scan of the reservoir from various points added a single Great Crested Grebe and a Little Grebe youngster to the day's list. There was a small group of sleeping Tufted Ducks and a few Lesser Black Backed Gulls were still around on the raft. The sky was looking increasingly threatening so I decided I would head homewards just in case the rain did arrive early. I had a quick look at Ardler Pond on the way but the height of the reeds meant that the view was very limited. There was a large flock of around 100 or so Goldfinches nearby. The walk back home failed to add anything new and I arrived home at around 1445 having managed to record a total of 51 species, of which one (in bold) was a year-tick and a very welcome Dundee140 addition. The forecast rain didn't actually arrive, though I'm not sure going elsewhere on the way home would likely have added much else to the day's birds. It had however been a surprisingly productive 4 or 5 hours birding around a few of my less often visited sites.
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| Goldfinch |
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| Goosander |
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Pink Footed Goose
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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| Jay |
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Jay
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Mistle Thrush
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Black Headed Gull & Common Gull
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Black Headed Gull & Common Gull
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Herring Gull & Lesser Black Backed Gull
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Great Crested Grebe
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Tufted Duck & Mallard
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Black Headed Gull
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Little Grebe
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| Moorhen |
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Common Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Dipper, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail,
Hawfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel.
