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Mediterranean Gull
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For my last day off work on holiday for this Autumn, I had arranged to get out and about somewhere with Susan, though actual details had still to be decided. The weather forecast had gradually deteriorated as the day grew nearer with rain forecast in the latter half of the morning though clearing up afterwards. Sorting out details the previous evening, Susan arranged to meet me at 0930 though didn't want to do too much driving but did want to help me add something to my list if at all possible. I worked out a provisional plan to show Susan some of the better areas around the city of Dundee where she was unlikely to have been birding before.
It had started to rain quite heavily by the time I headed out to meet Susan at around 0915. I did manage to note a few birds regardless of the rain, with Feral Pigeon, Robin, Herring Gull, Starling, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, House Sparrow, Goldfinch and Magpie found before Susan arrived. The relatively heavy rain had arrived earlier than had been forecast which meant a bit of shuffling of the original plan. With Susan hoping to head for home between 1500 and 1600 this meant a few planned stops were dropped from the original plan too.
With the rain looking like it would be on for a while, I suggested we head up to the top of the Law to see if the rain would bring any migrants lower as they passed by the hill. It didn't really work out with only a few of the local Carrion Crows and Magpies around. Stop number 2 would be Clatto Reservoir where we could scan the reservoir from below the surrounding trees until the rain had abated. A Jay was noted on the way there. At the reservoir we were able to see Great Crested Grebe, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Tufted Ducks and Mallards out on the water. Goldcrest and Blackbird were in the trees around us along with a few Robins and a Grey Wagtail flew past us as we scanned out over the water.
A single Pink Footed Goose overflew before we set off through the trees to check some of the areas nearby. There were a few cock Pheasants in the field to the west, with Rooks and Woodpigeons in the stubble to the north. The area around the kid's playpark proved quite productive with a few Blackcaps feeding in an Elder bush as well as Song Thrush, Great Tit and Dunnocks. Redwings and Mistle Thrushes seemed to be stopping off in the trees surrounding us and a Siskin called as it flew over. My next idea was to try the roads out on the western edges of the city to see if we could find any feeding flocks of geese there. We didn't find any but did add Yellowhammer and Wren before continuing on to Riverside Nature Park for a quick look around.
The rain had more or less stopped by the time we reached the park. The plan was to do a quick loop of the top half which would give us a reasonable chance of adding a few more species we hadn't yet seen during the morning. Carrion Crow, Skylark, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Greenfinch, Blue Tit, Robin, Feral Pigeon and Black Headed Gull were seen or heard as we headed for the Lochan where Moorhen, Mallard and Teal were on the water. Blackbird, Goldfinch, Song Thrush, Yellowhammer, Chaffinch, Wren and Great Tit were around in the bushes and trees on the way to and from the hide. Not unexpectedly there wasn't much to be spotted from there given how far out the tide still was.
Scanning the bay from near the picnic tables gave us Herring Gull, Redshank, Grey Heron, Curlew, Great Black Backed Gull and Cormorant. As we headed back to the car park I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker calling and managed to see it in flight through the tree-tops. As it didn't appear on our side of the trees I suspected it had landed. We headed onto the slope of the hill for a look, and sure enough we found it hanging on at the top of a conifer. We were able to get some decent photos before deciding we might as well check some of the lower half of the park too. This did produce Long Tailed Tit and Dunnock while Coal Tit was noted while Susan grabbed some lunch back at the car.
As time was increasingly against us, I decided to give a quick once round of Balgay Hill a miss and just to head out to Balmossie for the tide bringing the waders in closer. I was hoping, again, for a Grey Plover, which I thought was likely my best bet as adding something to my Dundee140 list. We reached Balmossie at around 1310 and wandered down from the footbridge to check the beach. Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail were down on the sand. Further out towards the water's edge we found Oystercatchers and Bar Tailed Godwits as well as a few Turnstones and Redshanks. Ringed Plover and Dunlin didn't take long to find. Out on the water were a few Goosander and Red Breasted Merganser along with Eider and Wigeon.
A Rock Pipit landed nearby. I heard a familiar sounding call that I couldn't quite place. When the bird that was making the call took flight, I got a photo which showed the culprit to be a slightly out of place Reed Bunting which flew off to the west gaining height as it went. With no sign of any Grey Plover we wandered along to check through the gull roost. Neither of us had our 'good' scopes with us, so we were both reliant on binoculars. It didn't take too long to find a sleeping adult Mediterranean Gull and I got Susan onto the bird. I suspected it was likely to be Monday's bird. Susan said she thought she had a tern - and I naturally thought it would be the Arctic Tern from Monday. However, she corrected herself almost immediately and said that she thought it was actually a Little Gull. It was - a new bird for my Dundee 140 list (138) and one that I thought my chance of seeing this year was long gone.
I scanned through the gulls again and watched as the Little Gull wandered closer to the sleeping Mediterranean Gull. It woke the larger bird before taking flight a minute or so later. More scanning had me wondering if I'd somehow missed the Mediterranean Gull moving over to join the main part of the gull roost. I checked back to where it had been, only to find it was still there, still with bill tucked under the wing. There were actually 2 adult Mediterranean Gulls. This is the first time I'm aware of there having been 2 individuals together in Dundee. We've got a fair bit to go to catch up with East Wemyss in Fife but it is a start. Curlew, Great Black Backed Gull, and Curlew were all added to the list before we packed up at around 1440. I suggested we make 2 very quick stops on our way back to Dundee.
The first was at the Stannergate where an interesting looking gull which turned out just to be a Herring Gull was the main interest. We tried a very quiet City Quay before Susan dropped me off by the Apex Hotel and we both headed for home. We hadn't seen any raptors at all but as I turned into my street there was a rainbow to the north with a Sparrowhawk being harassed by a Carrion Crow above it. Not a bad way to round off a few hours enjoyable birding with Susan. We managed a total of 63 species around the city despite the rather hurried nature of our outing, with 54 around the city and 30 at Riverside Nature Park. We managed to see 7 species of gull, though a Kittiwake eluded us which could've taken that figure to 8. The Little Gull was a very welcome surprise and as always it was great to get out birding with Susan, even just for a relatively short while. Hopefully, I'll be able to show her some of the stops we had to miss out on, next time around.
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| Yellowhammer |
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Skylark
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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Reed Bunting
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Ringed Plover
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| Dunlin |
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Goosander & Red Breasted Merganser
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Little Gull
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Mediterranean Gull, Little Gull, Black Headed Gull, Bar Tailed Godwit & Common Gull
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Mediterranean Gull & Little Gull
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Little Gull
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Black Headed Gull, Common Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Great Black Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Turnstone & Redshank
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Herring Gull & Lesser Black Backed Gull
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Mediterranean Gull
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Herring Gull
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Herring Gull
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Tit, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen,
Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Skylark, Song Thrush, Teal, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
