1138 : Pelag-ish 2 (16/8/23)

Shag

Having enjoyed my first trip out on the Tay in many years recently, I was keen to get out again. I had originally booked 3 trips, 1 in July, 1 in August and 1 in September. After the first one, I had booked another to increase my chances of catching something interesting out on the river. My second trip was scheduled for 1445 on the 16th of August. My plan for the day was to head up the Law early for a spot of vis-migging then head home to get organised before walking out to Broughty Ferry where I would do a spot of (sort of) seawatching from Broughty Castle until it was time to get on the boat. Unfortunately rain first thing put paid to the vis-migging but I was organised and ready to go just after 1100.

I wanted to look for Holly Blue butterflies on the way down, though I wasn't even sure I had the right location. I was also aware that 1100 was potentially a bit too early meaning I'd have a few hours to kill once I reached Broughty Ferry. I would be joined on the boat by one of my colleagues from work, who had seen my photos of the Dolphins from my July trip and decided she quite fancied a boat trip. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon and Magpie made for a slow start when I left the house. House Martins and House Sparrows were noted as I neared the back of the Lidl supermarket as was a Blackbird. A few Swallows were hawking low over the grass at Baxter Park. Woodpigeon, Great Tit and Carrion Crow were also around.

Jackdaws and a Small White butterfly were added as I wandered along towards Eastern Cemetery. On the walk down to the Stannergate I got Wren and Starling. There were a couple of Guillemots close in to shore along the end of the docks and a Cormorant in the bay a wee bit further out. Distantly out across the river I could hear and see some Sandwich Terns. A Black Headed Gull flew past. On the shore were a number of Herring Gulls and Oystercatchers. Things proved rather quiet along the river though Lesser Black Backed Gull and Common Gull were noted on the walk along to Douglas Terrace. I diverted in to look for Holly Blues but drew a blank. A Curlew and a small flock of Turnstones were by the pipe at Douglas Terrace. Very distantly I could see an Osprey hunting over towards Tentsmuir. A skein of Canada Geese headed west upriver.

Near the lifeboat station there was a single Goosander on the water. A pair of Redshanks were stood on the pebbles on the other side. There were a few Sandwich Terns on the railings along with a few gulls. I wandered up into the Castle and found a suitable place to sit and scan out over the river with my small scope. This proved to be more productive than I could have hoped. There were now 2 distant Ospreys across towards the Fife side of the river. A Grey Heron flew past and I managed to pick out a quartet of Arctic Terns out over the river, my first Dundee145 tick of the day. My second didn't have to wait too long either, with a Fulmar seen scything through the air low over the water before gaining height and giving me a couple of relatively close fly-bys before heading upriver.

Pied Wagtail, Rock Pipit, Grey Seal, Eider and Goldfinch were all noted along with a couple of Razorbills before it was time to head for the boat. I was joined by my work colleague on board the boat and we were treated to decent views of Guillemots and Razorbills on the water as well as Sandwich Terns, a few gulls including Great Black Backed, some Eider and a very close flypast by a young Shag which came within arms' reach of the side of the boat at one point. There were no Dolphins seen this time out but the weather behaved and it turned out to be a very pleasant hour out on the water. The main highlight however was a bird I'd missed on my boat trip the month before, a relatively unexpected Puffin which I took to be a Razorbill at first, as I only spotted it after we'd passed it, and on the other side of the boat. Still, Dundee145 tick number 3 for the day, taking me to 137, just 8 short of my target figure.

The walk back home once back ashore added Blue Tit and Greenfinch to the list taking my total for the day to a relatively low 40 species of which 3 were new for my Dundee145 list - though none were new for my year-list. I was a bit tired by the time I made it home around 1715 but I almost immediately checked availability of more trips out on the boat and managed to get booked on a second sailing on one of the days I was already booked to get out. Hopefully next time I'll be lucky enough to see a 'feeding frenzy' from the boat with Roseate Tern, Black Tern, Cory's Shearwater and Great Skua all present..... Now that would be good (though highly unlikely)!

Hoverfly sp.
Mother Of Pearl Moth
Curlew
Canada Goose
Common Gull
Turnstone
Redshank
Oystercatcher
Osprey
Fulmar
Cormorant
Pied Wagtail
Guillemot
Sandwich Tern
Eider
Grey Seal
Herring Gull
Shag
Grey Seal
Puffin
Sandwich Tern
Razorbill
Guillemot
Razorbill
Herring Gull
Carrion Crow
Linnet
Turnstone
Rabbit



Birds - Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Fulmar, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Puffin, Razorbill, Redshank, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Starling, Swallow, Turnstone, Woodpigeon, Wren.

Butterflies - Small White.

Mammals - Grey Seal.

1137 : Magic At The Ness (13/8/23)

Merlin

This year, all but one of my birding outings have been within Dundee (bar a few minutes cutting a corner, a couple of times). Back in May, I spent a few hours down at Easthaven with Ian which proved to be quite productive with a Black Guillemot, 2 Yellow Wagtails and a Whimbrel being the main highlights. There have been some rather interesting seabirds around recently, with amazing numbers of Cory's Shearwaters in particular being spotted off southwest England. Ian messaged me on the 9th of August to see if I fancied a trip over to Fife Ness the following Sunday. Seawatching is something I really enjoy but which is nigh on impossible to do from within Dundee, so I was definitely up for a trip to Fife for the first time this year. You just never know what you might see while seawatching....

Ian arranged to pick me up at 0715 on Sunday. My list for the day started off with Carrion Crow, Swift, Herring Gull, House Sparrow and Feral Pigeon before Ian arrived, right on time. Once across the bridge into Fife, Woodpigeon was noted followed by Jackdaw and House Martin in Leuchars. A Grey Heron was on the Motray at Guardbridge and at the south end of the village a Little Egret was seen in flight as we drove over the bridge there. Swallow was noted as we neared St Andrews and Starling and Blackbird were spotted as we passed through the town. We reached Kilminning around 0805 where we saw/heard Blue Tit, Curlew, Dunnock and an unidentified warbler species, as well as a Rabbit.

We continued down across the golf course and got ourselves organised with our scope and tripods. There were Gannets and Sandwich Terns passing offshore while numerous Shags could be seen on the rocks off to the north. A couple of Redshanks flew past and a Collared Dove overflew as we wandered round towards the hide. An adult and juvenile Great Black Backed Gull were stood down on the rocks, the adult bird being ringed (yellow T:044). Rather than go inside the hide we positioned ourselves on the bench just at the northern end of the hide building. The sun was shining which wasn't great for birds passing by straight out, but did make for relatively comfortable birding. Having set up our scopes, Ian nipped back to the car for something he'd forgotten.

There were plenty of Gannets moving through and a couple of Oystercatchers flew past relatively close in. I picked up a large-ish bird going south, which was already past when I first spotted it. The only thing that it could be was a Cory's Shearwater (or a Scopoli's, I suppose) but the rear 3/4 view hid most of the features I would need for a description. Ian arrived back and I got him onto the bird quickly. He agreed that it looked good for a 'large Shearwater' and flew just like those Cory's he's seen around Tenerife on his holidays. However, it had to go on the list as just a 'probable' at best. A small group of Common Scoter went north and a pair of Razorbills did likewise. The first Kittiwakes of the day were soon noted and a few Swallows arrived in off the sea, did a spot of hawking over the rocks and hide, before continuing on their way.

A Guillemot was next onto the list before a small flock of Ringed Plover flew low over the sea just beyond the rocks.The first Manx Shearwater of the morning was picked up around 0905, heading north in characteristic flight. A pair of Whimbrel went southwards a few minutes later. More Sandwich Terns and another trio of Manxies and then a singleton were spotted before I picked out a Fulmar. A Pied Wagtail dropped in onto the rocks to our left. We had been joined by another birder, whose name I've forgotten in the intervening period (sorry!) who sat on the bench in front of the hide. A dark brown bird flew very low above the rocks just below the 3 of us as we sat there. I said "Sparrowhawk" just before the bird perched up on the rocks at the other end of the hide. I then rather quickly realised my mistake. It was a rather nice Merlin which perched for around 90 seconds or so before flying off again. Long enough for me to get a few photos and a 40 second video clip. - https://youtu.be/WIXVEMZkS1Q?si=fTETQpZMamT8iMJx

There were 3 Wall butterflies and a few Small Whites flitting around near us. Another pair of Manxies passed by before a small flock of Linnets landed in front of us. Some distant Common Terns were seen much further out. Sand Martin was the next addition for the morning, in a flock with around 20 more Swallows. A trio of Knots went south and what were likely Teal followed a similar track. More Kittiwakes, Sandwich Terns and Cormorants headed north and a couple of Curlews headed south. A Red Throated Diver and a Great Skua were spotted heading north, the former much closer than the latter.

An Arctic Skua headed southwards before swinging back northwards shortly afterwards. A few more Manxies, Ringed Plovers and another Arctic Skua were next. Common Gull, Turnstone, a Puffin and Arctic Tern were all noted as was another Red Throated Diver, another Bonxie and a further 2 Arctic Skuas as well as a flock of around 30 Golden Plover, and a few Dunlin were in a mixed flock of Ringed Plovers. We packed up around 1500 noting a Yellowhammer and a Magpie as we headed back up across the golf course. Rooks were in a field near St Andrews and a Sparrowhawk was seen over the inner ring road when we made it back to Dundee. Although my year-list is of minor importance this year I did manage 7 new birds (well, 6 and a probable) in bold) for my 2023 list.

Shag
Wall
Common Scoter
Merlin
Merlin
Gannet
Redshank & Oystercatcher
Curlew
Great Black Backed Gull
Shag
Kittiwake
Black Headed Gull
Cormorant & Shag
Common Gull
Sandwich Tern
Sandwich Tern
Ringed Plover & Turnstone
Common Tern
Golden Plover
Cormorant (Sinensis race?)
Razorbill
Red Throated Diver
Knot
Arctic Skua


Birds - Arctic Skua, Arctic Tern, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Common Tern, Cormorant, Cory's Shearwater (probable), Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Fulmar, Gannet, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Skua, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Knot, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Manx Shearwater, Merlin, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Puffin, Razorbill, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Whimbrel, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.

Butterflies - Peacock, Small White, Wall.

Mammals - Rabbit, Grey Seal.