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Red Backed Shrike
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Saturday the 27th of May was one of those days when I couldn't decide where to go and my motivation to actually get out and go anywhere was rather low anyway. Nevertheless I decided I would actually go somewhere with a wander along the Dighty and possibly on to Clearwater Park the most likely option, after giving it some thought. The weather forecast wasn't particularly great for late May with relatively low temperatures and a bit of a cold wind. There was a possibility of it brightening up later but often that change for the better never quite materialises. I got organised and headed out at 0940.
Jackdaw, Starling, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon were all noted as I wandered up towards Clepington Road. As I neared the top end of Court Street I was rather surprised to hear a Whitethroat singing. It appeared to be coming from behind the tenements on the eastern side of the road. When I reached Clepington Road, I found the bird singing from the top of a tall conifer just behind the easternmost tenement block. I decided to get a photo but found the camera wouldn't focus (it had slipped to manual focus). A cyclist stopped to ask what I was photographing and we had a short chat. The cyclist was Ken Bambury, a local artist with an interest in nature, as both a subject for his art and as a general interest. As we were chatting I spotted a micro-moth on the wall in front of us. It turned out to be a Foxglove Pug, a new species for me.
After our chat, I added House Martins over the junction at Mains Loan before continuing on to Swannie Ponds. Lesser Black Backed Gull, Coot, Mallard, Mute Swan, a couple of Black Headed Gulls, Tufted Duck and Moorhen were all noted there. I had very good views of the Moorhen in particular as it foraged among the rocks just offshore. Goldfinch, Blackbird, Swift and Blue Tit were all seen in between spells of watching and photographing the aforementioned species. The Grey Heron dropped in and I managed to get close enough to have great views as it caught a number of snack-sized Sticklebacks. Chaffinch and Chiffchaff were both in the trees around the ponds.
I called it a day a little after 1215 and decided to head homewards rather than going anywhere else. I wanted photos of the Whitethroat though, and via my chat with Ken earlier I'd discovered there was actually a community garden behind Court Street, accessible from the end of Arklay Terrace. I decided I might as well take a look on my walk home. I found the Whitethroat which gave decent views, as well as a Dunnock and a few House Sparrows. A Green Veined White butterfly flitted around. I headed home having taken a surprisingly large number of photos despite only having found a total of 25 species. Not a classic morning's birding by any stretch of the imagination but some good photo opportunities and the discovery of a little hidden bit of habitat I'd been unaware of. A new species of moth for me, was also a plus.
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Black Headed Gull
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Lesser Black Backed Gull
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| Moorhen |
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House Martin
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Mute Swan
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| Swift |
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Mute Swan
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| Coot |
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Grey Heron
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Grey Heron & 3 Spined Stickleback
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Grey Heron & 3 Spined Stickleback
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Foxglove Pug
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| Whitethroat |
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House Sparrow
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Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coot, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Swift, Tufted Duck, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon.
Butterflies - Green Veined White.
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Having largely lacked motivation on Saturday, I made up for it on Sunday with a bit of determination to head for Riverside Nature Park relatively early. Late May can be a decent time for slightly more unusual migrants such as the Red Backed Shrike found by Charles Rough back on May 20th 2013. On Saturday evening I had been trying to remember when the Shrike had been seen and having looked it up I was a little disappointed to see that it had been a little earlier in the month. There had been some decent birds turning up at various locations across the country on the Saturday so my plan was to check the bay when I arrived then head round to the hill to see what might fly over. As usual, my expectation levels were rather low.
I headed out at a little after 0725 for the hour's walk to the park. Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Woodpigeon, Blue Tit, Wren, Blackbird, Magpie, Starling, Chaffinch, House Martin and Collared Dove provided a reasonably productive start to the day's birding. Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Robin and Feral Pigeon were all found as I cut down through Dudhope Park before I spooked a Great Spotted Woodpecker from the ground ahead of me. While looking for the tree it had landed in, a Grey Squirrel was spotted. Continuing onwards added Bullfinch, Pied Wagtail and the first Swift of the day. Goldcrest, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Whitethroat, Jackdaw, Blackcap, Greenfinch, Oystercatcher, Swallow, Skylark and Sedge Warbler provided a better than expected mix of species before I reached the park around 0840.
Wren, Swallow, Blackbird, Blackcap, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Long Tailed Tit, Robin, Starling, Song Thrush, Swift, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Carrion Crow, Blue Tit and Goldfinch were all quickly input into my BirdJournal app list as I wandered through the lower half of the park. There were also a number of Rabbits around as the dog walkers had mostly not arrived yet. Skylarks were seen ascending above the hill as I headed into the top half of the park. Willow Warbler, House Martin and Feral Pigeon were picked up as I continued on to the Lochan where a Moorhen was seen. In the bushes a little further on, a Reed Bunting showed relatively well. A Great Tit flew over as I neared the 3-way junction of the paths. My plan was to head to the hide and then return to work my way round the park, however, I decided I would visit the composting toilet first.
I turned left to head along the path and spotted a bird perched on a bare branch in the fenced off area. I lifted my binoculars to see a pale fronted bird with a black bandit mask and blue-grey forehead perched straight-on to me. I knew immediately what it was - a Red backed Shrike. Patch gold! I grabbed a few photos then started messaging everyone that I thought might be able to come and see the bird. Keith however was in Arbroath, Lainy was in Aberdeenshire, Ian was also in Aberdeenshire, Mathieu Soetens was back in Belgium, Mark Wilkinson was over in the Netherlands. Steph was at home but was getting ready to attend the Radio One Big Weekend and wasn't able to get along for the bird. I put word out on Twitter, and took more photos and video of the bird before it vanished from view.
Graham Smith phoned to see if it was worthwhile him and Keith coming back from Arborath to see the bird. As I answered the phone call, the bird reappeared. I said the bird appeared relatively settled but I couldn't say one way or another whether it would be worth heading back to Dundee or not. Around half an hour later, Keith and Graham arrived and I had to tell them the bird had vanished again. With 2 new pairs of eyes to watch for the bird, I took the opportunity to finally visit the composting toilet. When I returned, so had the Shrike. Word was put out on the ADBC grapevine and the bird was shown to a few curious passer-bys through Keith's scope.
While waiting for Keith and Graham to arrive I'd added Collared Dove, Shelduck, Sedge Warbler, a pair of Ospreys over the bay at the same time, a Buzzard, a Greenfinch and Yellowhammer. Graham and Keith decided to head off again after a while and I chose to hang around to show others where the bird was (it wasn't the clearest set of directions I'd put out on Twitter). I had a few more views of the Shrike but a Carrion Crow and a Magpie commandeered its favourite branch more than once, at which point it would go missing again. I heard the Pheasant and spotted Black Headed Gull and Stock Dove before realising the bird flying past me towards the hill was the Red Backed Shrike. It landed in one of the trees overlooking the 'bowl' to the north of the toilet where it was immediately mobbed by a Reed Bunting. Seconds later, a Carrion Crow replaced the Reed Bunting and the Shrike dived out of sight beyond the trees.
I hurried round to try to relocate the bird but drew a blank. With plenty of decent Shrike habitat around the park, it could realistically be almost anywhere - assuming it was even still in the park. I found Green Veined White and Orange Tip butterflies but there seemed to be absolutely no sign of the Shrike. I had a quick look at the bay where Grey Heron, Oystercatcher, Mute Swan and Cormorant were new for the day. A few Linnets dropped into the bushes. I wandered back to see if anyone else had arrived to try to see the Shrike and to make sure it hadn't returned to where it had previously been. There was no sign of the bird there either but Dan Burt and George Dunbar had just arrived. I told them where the bird had been seen last before heading back to check the rest of the park. I found my first Azure Damselflies at the park, in the 'newt' pond and Blue Tailed Damselfly, which was a new species for the park's list.
Curlew and Lesser Black Backed Gull were spotted down in the bay and a Kestrel flew past as I chatted with an Angus based birder whose name escaped me (but who knew mine). A wander round the rest of the park drew a blank and no-one else seemed to be having any luck either. It appeared to have gone with hardly anyone managing to see it. I returned to the original spot to find Jon Cook, Philip Cohen and another birder looking for it. Philip Cohen had missed out on seeing the 2013 bird by a few seconds and things weren't looking promising for the 2023 bird either. We all hung around for a while chatting before deciding to give up again. I had another wander to try to add a few more species to my list for the day. Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies were flitting around in the sunshine.
Sparrowhawk, Bullfinch and Dunnock were the only additions over the next hour and a half. I found Mallard at the Lochan just as Angus Duncan was coming along the path to try to see the Shrike. I told him he was out of luck but we wandered round to where it had been anyway. We were standing chatting when Angus turned round and noticed a bird on the bare branch. "What's that?" he asked. I lifted my binoculars. "That's it!". It was back again. I put word out again and Angus rattled off a number of photos. I added Pied Wagtail and Rook to my list for the day as we waited to see if anyone else would arrive. They did.
Lainy and Adam returned from their trip to the Ythan estuary and a few others turned up to successfully twitch the bird, including Jon Cook, Ian Ford and Gus Guthrie (who noticed it perched on the fenceline opposite where it had been hanging around previously, during what seemed to be a 'quiet period', as soon as he arrived). Angus, Lainy and Adam all headed off around 1730. I asked Jon if I could 'mooch' a lift from him to somewhere closer to home, as I knew he would be going in my general direction. Jon very kindly dropped me off on his way home for his tea and I headed home having managed to find a total of 54 species including a rather nice number 119 for my Dundee145 list (in bold), as well as a few new Damselflies for my park list. All in all a very good day out with 9 hours of it spent in the park.
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| Goldfinch |
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Reed Bunting
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Red Backed Shrike
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| Whitethroat |
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| Chaffinch |
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Red Backed Shrike
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Red Backed Shrike
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Song Thrush
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Large Narcissus Fly (Merodon Equestris - form equestris) |
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Blue Tailed Damselfly
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Azure Damselfly
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Xysticus cristatus
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| Kestrel |
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Red Backed Shrike
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Red Backed Shrike
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Red Backed Shrike
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sedge Warbler, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Grey Squirrel.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Red Backed Shrike, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Green Veined White, Orange Tip, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell.
Damselflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Azure Damselfly, Blue Tailed Damselfly.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
