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| Oystercatcher |
Following a chance conversation with one of my followers on Twitter - Dawn Erskine (a birder from Nottingham), I had agreed to sell my Nikon P900 bridge camera to her. As she was to be visiting Scotland for a few days, we agreed that she could collect it on her way north on the Wednesday, which suited me anyway as it is my midweek day off. I suggested Riverside Nature Park as the meeting place, as although it would likely require a detour off-route for Dawn it would be easy to find and also mean she'd be likely to avoid getting caught up in traffic. We agreed to sort out the specifics (time etc) nearer the time. As things worked out the weather forecast didn't look particularly helpful with strong winds forecast for most of the day with the chance of showers too.
As Dawn's plans were largely centred on what birds were likely to be around on her route up from a stop in Northumberland there was no actual time arranged the night before. With roughly a 3.5 hour journey from there to Dundee, I thought a late morning/lunchtime meeting time would be most likely. I had intended on a very early start but with rain forecast around my planned departure time, I spent a bit longer in my bed instead. I headed out at 0845 for the walk firstly to my work, where to save on carrying the additional weight along with my usual birding gear for another 3 miles or so, I had left the camera on Tuesday. Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Starling, Magpie and Jackdaw made for a relatively slow start compared to what I would expect had I made the earlier start. The strong wind clearly didn't help.
Dunnock, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Goldfinch, Carrion Crow and Pied Wagtail soon followed as I headed for Byron Street. Things quietened down to a bit of a trickle from there though I did still manage to add Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull, Robin, Great Tit, Feral Pigeon and Wren before I stopped off at work to collect the camera. I had considered leaving it at work until I knew Dawn was within an hour of Dundee but didn't really fancy walking the uphill stretch to get it, in addition to the walking I was likely to do around the park and then homewards later. The downside of picking it up en route however was the additional weight I would be carrying around with me until Dawn arrived.
I added Goldcrest to the list before I reached the Nature Park at 1005. I hadn't heard from Dawn yet with a rough idea of when they would reach Dundee which was slightly worrying, though if necessary I could always drop the camera off at work again on the way home, if for any reason she wasn't going to make it. It was very windy, as expected, but it was dry which was a bonus. I can easily spend 5 or 6 hours at the park when the weather is good. Windy weather isn't usually very productive though and it can be a struggle to do much more than a once around when you are being buffeted around and your eyes are streaming as you try to keep binoculars or camera steady to nail the ID of a distant dot. I started at the eastern end of the park noting Magpie, Great Tit, Chaffinch, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, Goldfinch and a flyover Grey Heron as well as a Rabbit which appeared to be showing signs of Myxomatosis.
Continuing into the park I found Blackbird, Jackdaw, Starling, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Bullfinch and Long Tailed Tit. Both Skylark and Meadow Pipit were seen and heard before the first Stock Dove flew over. Rook and Redwing were noted as I made my way to the Lochan for my first look there. Mallard and Oystercatcher were both seen but it was otherwise very quiet. I recieved a message from Dawn to say that they were on their way but were planning on stopping off at Dunbar for the Alpine Swifts with an ETA there of around lunchtime. With it being the best part of 3 hours from there to Dundee, it was looking like being around 1600 at the earliest before they would reach Dundee.
That meant I had at least 5 hours more to 'kill' either at the park or somewhere not too far away. With the additional weight of the P900 etc I didn't really want to walk any further than necessary. With high tide around 1300 I knew I would be able to fill an hour or so just hanging around at the hide scanning through the birds coming in on the tide. Either side of that I would just have to take my time and find places out of the wind to just see what I could find. My first look at the bay gave me Greylag Geese, Redshank, Dunlin, Curlew, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull and Lesser Black Backed Gull (as well as Herring Gull). A pair of Pink Footed Geese overflew. Dunnock, Song Thrush and Yellowhammer were also seen.
I then had a huge stroke of luck with regards how I was going to fill my time for the next few hours. On my way to check the small pools for Newts and Toads I met a woman who asked if I'd seen anything interesting. We started chatting but as we were more or less overlooking the bay it was rather uncomfortable standing in the wind. I suggested we move round the path a little and out of the wind where we could continue our chat. This worked out well and we stood and chatted for quite a while about various nature-based things. The lady, Tina, was an edaphic plant artist (I had to google that term....and had a look at her website - Tinascopa.com later at home). She had to change her plans for the day as the Botanic Gardens where she was meant to be meeting someone had been closed for a few hours due to the strong winds.
We continued our chat before deciding to wander round for a look out over the bay from the hide. We had a quick visit to the Lochan on the way, noting a distant Buzzard out to the east while Moorhen and Teal were both now visible on the water. Round at the hide we chatted about the birds in the bay amongst other things and I was able to add Shelduck and Black Tailed Godwit to the list for the park part of the day. It was good to be more or less out of the wind and we watched as the incoming tide brought the birds in closer. Eventually Tina had to head off to see if the Botanic Gardens had reopened but the time had flown past since we had started chatting. I got an update from Dawn around 1350 to say they'd managed to see the Alpine Swifts and would be likely to arrive in Dundee around 1700.
I wasn't sure if I'd manage to stick it out till then but said to Dawn to message me when they crossed the Forth and I'd arrange a meet-up location based on where I happened to be at that point. I added Sparrowhawk, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Wren and Blue Tit as well as both Pied and Grey Wagtail and a Buzzard with what appeared to be a Toad in its talons before eventually leaving the park around 1645 to meet Dawn and her partner, Mick, at the Riverside Inn where they were going to grab something to eat before continuing their journey northwards. Taking my time and loitering at various points out of the wind, I had somehow managed to see or hear a total of 46 species at the park, which was around 5-10 more than I had expected given the windy conditions.
There was a brief hail shower which coincided with the first part of my short walk along to where I had arranged to meet Dawn. I noted Skylark and Curlew around the airport while I waited. Once Dawn and Mick arrived we had a very brief chat and they collected the camera before I headed for home and they headed in for something to eat. I added Redwing, Song Thrush and Long Tailed Tit on what felt like a long walk home (though I took a rather direct route which was probably also the steepest possible - which probably wasn't a great idea given I'd been mostly on my feet for just under 10 hours). Outwith the park I'd managed to see or hear a total of 25 species, which gave me a combined total for the day of 47 species. It was good to finally meet Dawn, albeit briefly, and I had also enjoyed my time chatting to Tina earlier in the day also. So although it had been a rather long day, it had been quite a good one.
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| Starling |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Redwing |
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Shelduck, Mallard, Teal & Redshank
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Black Tailed Godwit, Redshank & Oystercatcher
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Lesser Black Backed Gull & Black Headed Gull
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| Mallard |
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| Teal |
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| Skylark |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Rabbit |
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| Buzzard |
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Dunlin & Redshank
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Moorhen, Teal, Dunlin, Redshank & Black Tailed Godwit
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Pink Footed Goose
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Stock Dove
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Buzzard (with Toad?)
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| Curlew |
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Herring Gull
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common
Gull, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Redwing,
Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
