STONEFACTION BIRDING: 1100 : Back In Time.

1100 : Back In Time.

Hoopoe

Somehow this is my 1100th birding blog-post and as any regular readers (the whole 3 or 4 of you) will know I do like to mark the milestone posts with something a little different from my usual posts about where I've been and what I've seen. I was trying to think of something I haven't done so far and decided to look back at old Angus & Dundee Bird Reports to see what birds of note were seen in Dundee 10, 20 and 30 years ago. If I get the time at some point in the future I may take a deeper dive into the bigger picture of what has, and maybe will again, turned up in Dundee and what else has changed over time.

Starting 10 years ago in 2013, I was doing a lot of birding with regular visits to Riverside Nature Park in particular as well as having one of my most productive years in general (especially in Fife around the Crail area). A Green Winged Teal was found by Ian Ford at Riverside Nature Park on the 20th of March which hung around for a few days which allowed others (including me) to catch up with it. A Crane made a brief visit there on the 2nd of May, being spotted by an English birder who happened to mention it to Gus Guthrie in the hide at Kinnordy a few days later (otherwise the record would have been missed). A Crane had been seen in the reedbeds near Errol over the preceding few days and the numbers of Cranes seen at Loch of Strathbeg had increased by one the following day, suggesting the RNP bird was just making a quick stop on its way north.

Charles Rough found a couple of really good birds at Riverside Nature Park during his visits in 2013. A cracking summer plumaged male Red Backed Shrike was found by him on the 20th of May, and despite dipping it on a flying visit at lunchtime I managed to catch up with it in the early evening. Ian Ford spotted a Marsh Harrier soaring high above the park as he twitched the Shrike which was also a first record. Less than a month later Charles Rough found what he thought was a Grey Wagtail at the Lochan, but his photos actually showed a Blue Headed (Yellow) Wagtail, a very nice bird which would have been a lifer for me, had it stuck around. (Thankfully, I found my own Yellow Wagtail not long afterwards at the Eden Estuary when I stumbled on a prospective breeder whose presence was known about but was being kept quiet to avoid disturbance).

Ian Ford also had a decent run of finds at Riverside Nature Park in 2013 with a Wood Sandpiper on the 8th of May, a Fulmar on the 30th of May, a Jack Snipe (with me) on the 23th of March and a Yellow Browed Warbler on the 6th of October. Alex Shepherd found a Green Woodpecker at the park on the 25th of March. Garden Warbler was added to the park list by sueveyors at the site over the summer. A Scaup was discovered on the Lochan on the 12th of October. My own sightings at the park in 2013 included 2 Pintail on the 23rd of February, a Little Egret on the 8th of June with a second sighting of the species on 5th of August. The Fife pair of White Tailed Eagles passed over northwards on the last day of March, upsetting everything in Invergowrie Bay. A Mealy Redpoll hung around for a few days in late April. Myself and Jon Cook watched a pair of Lesser Whitethroats making repeated visits to a particular bush on the 8th of June indicating the presence of youngsters being fed.

It was a good year for migrant waders on passage at the park with 2 Ruff in October, Curlew Sandpiper at the end of September, a Spotted Redshank on the 20th of August and a Greenshank in October. Woodcock was noted in late January and March at the park. Little Gulls were seen at the park in May and I had a Common Tern there in early August. Little Gulls were also noted at Broughty Ferry harbour in late March. Nearby on the beach, Whimbrel was spotted on the 20th of October. Ruff was also seen there on the 8th and 20th of October, and a Greenshank was there in November. Broughty Ferry also saw a flock of 60 Waxwings on the 6th of January. Two Pintail were offshore at nearby Balmossie on the 31st of January.

Other notable sightings in 2013 were a brood of 16 Mallard ducklings seen at Swannie Ponds on the very late date of 24th of October. A dozen Goldeneye were in Invergowrie Bay in January. Following a rather blustery visit to Fife on a bird club trip on the 23rd of March I dropped into City Quay where I found the injured Red Throated Diver (latterly known as Dave the Diver) I'd stumbled upon there on Christmas Day 2012 was still around. Even better though was a trio of Slavonian Grebes which at times gave amazingly close views. The light wasn't great that day but others had better luck over the next few days, and a 4th bird also put in an appearance on the 26th. Another re-discovery of a bird found a few months earlier was a Nuthatch in Camperdown Park which had been seen initially in September 2012 but hadn't been looked for much afterwards. A Wheatear was at Riverside Nature Park on the 16th of March. Two other sightings while not actually in Dundee were close enough to warrant a mention - a Spoonbill at Monifieth on the 23rd of June and a Quail at Muirhead the following day proving there is never really a 'quiet' period where birding is concerned.

Going back another 10 years to 2003, still a year or so before my interest in birding was rekindled a little, there were some fairly good birds seen around the city. Top of the list was probably a White Stork seen over Dundee University by Keith Edwards on the 13th of April - a very similar date to a White Stork which has been seen at Loch Leven and around Guardbridge on the 14th and 15th of April this Spring. A redhead Smew was off Dundee docks with a flock of Goldeneye on the 8th of February. A Great Skua was found in Hawkhill on the 27th of July but died in care a few days later. Interestingly the bird had been ringed in Orkney in July 1982.

A Mediterranean Gull was reported in Broughty Ferry in November. A satellite-tagged Osprey was tracked as having roosted overnight somewhere in Dundee. Two Spotted Redshanks were seen in Invergowrie Bay on the 27th of April. Garden Warbler was noted at Clatto in May (suggesting they've been around in that area for at least 20 years - a presence which may be threatened by the planting of thousands of trees recently by the council in the area used by these birds). Woodcock was noted at Templeton Woods and Clatto in 2003. Waxwings showed up in decent numbers at both ends of the year with 100 at Kintail Place in Broughty Ferry in April as they headed back north and 126 at Craigie Drive on November 10th.

Up to 715 Golden Plover were noted between Balmossie and Broughty Ferry in October. These days this species is very hard to see within the city. Even in the time I've been birding increasingly seriously (roughly the past 15 years) I've hardly ever seen more than a single bird within the city. A flock of 350 Greylags in Invergowrie Bay in late February dwarfs the currently expected numbers. A flock of 50+ Mistle Thrush at Elliot Road was seen on the 30th of November, and 8 Blackcaps were at feeders in a Broughty Ferry garden in February. A flock of 43 Swifts were seen over Broughty Ferry early in August. Across the city as a whole you'd be lucky to get a total of that figure on any particular day now, as nest sites have been blocked up by cladding, or the buildings used previously having been demolished.

Going back even further, 1993 had some very good birds within the city as well as numbers of some more 'common' species that we can now only dream of. Top of the list for 1993's birds was the Arctic duo of a Ross's Gull on the Tay between Barry Buddon and Broughty Ferry on December 31st and a King Eider in a similar area on February 21st. Although it is not impossible for either of these species to turn up again, they both seem to fall within the realm of 'wishful thinking' stuff. A Hoopoe lingered at Royal Victoria Hospital from sometime in late May until early July. A Hawfinch was also seen on June 26th in the same view as the Hoopoe. Given the number of mature trees at Balgay Hill and Royal Victoria I wouldn't be completely surprised to find a Hawfinch there at some point. Fingers crossed - even a migrant in early October there would be fine.

A Red Backed Shrike was found at Clatto on May 29th and as the thousands of newly planted trees grow larger over the next few years it may not be too fanciful for another to turn up there (or maybe even a Great Grey Shrike in winter). Coupled with the 2013 bird it suggests there may be a northbound route along the western edges of the city taken by some migrants. A Glaucous Gull was at 'Dundee Rubbish Dump' on January 12th. On December 27th a count of 5000 Herring Gulls was made there. 2000 Black Headed Gulls were counted in Invergowrie Bay in the winter. From a birding perspective the redevelopment of the old 'coup' site to become Riverside Nature Park has been a bit of double-edged sword with the loss of the huge numbers of gulls seen back then, but creating habitat which has brought in other species. Invergowrie Bay also had 386 Tufted Ducks and 48 Pochard on the 27th of December. Tufties are very rare there now, and Pochard are almost impossible to see locally now.

Further down river at the Stannergate on the same day there were 460 Tufties and 92 Pochard. 2 days later, there were 70 Goldeneye counted there. A trio of Little Gull were there on January 12th. A total of 900 Bar Tailed Godwits were between Balmossie and Broughty Ferry on August 22nd. 41 Grey Plover were at Balmossie on Hogmanay. 11 Grey Plover were in Invergowrie Bay on 27th of December (the bay must have been some spectacle with all the aforementioned gulls and ducks in attendance too). On September 19th there were 11 Curlew Sandpiper and a Little Stint in the bay. A flock of 12 Brambling were found at Broughty Ferry esplanade on the 13th of January. Just outside of Dundee but of some potential interest was the sighting of 2 Hen Harriers at Barry Buddon on the 8th of August, which is a very similar date to my Hen Harrier moving through Invergowrie Bay on the 10th last year, which suggests it may be worthwhile watching for the species around Broughty Ferry/Balmossie around that time in August.

Much has changed within the city in the past 30 years, some of which will have had an effect on the species (and numbers) to be seen, and climate change also will have (and will continue to) played a part. The treatment of sewage before it enters the Tay has put paid to the huge numbers of diving ducks in the Tay, just as the redevelopment of the 'coup' (or 'Tip') has drastically cut the numbers of gulls. The increase in dog ownership has also increased the levels of disturbance almost everywhere, from the city's parks to beaches. Even offshore in the Tay, there is now more disturbance from jet-skis and paddle boarders. A number of species have moved in to the city with Magpies the most 'hi-viz', though Goldfinch and Long Tailed Tits are now plentiful almost everywhere. Nuthatch, Raven, Red Kite, Little Egret and Mediterranean Gulls are all increasingly being seen too. Who knows what changes will come over the next 10, 20 or 30 years. Hopefully, I'll still be around to see them....