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Long Tailed Duck
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On Tuesday the 7th of November, I had just begun my lunchbreak at work when a message came in from the Angus & Dundee Bird Club grapevine with news of 2 Long Tailed Ducks at Clatto Reservoir. Long Tailed Ducks are tricky enough to see in Dundee these days and are not even annual on my lists for birding in the city. Two together away from the estuary was even more unusual. Although I had the option of trying for them on Wednesday on my day off, I knew there was a chance they might not hang around. I had just enough flexitime accrued to be able to leave work at 1515. I knew I could probably walk to Clatto in less than an hour but as the time got closer I decided to take a taxi halfway (as far as Camperdown Park).
I only had pocket binoculars with me, and no camera, but as the important thing was seeing the birds, this didn't matter too much. I jumped in a taxi after work and we set off for Camperdown Park. Unfortunately it transpired that there were roadworks at Coupar Angus Road and the park was inaccessible from the Kingsway. This meant continuing on to the next junction and I ended up getting dropped off at McAlpine Road shops (only 2 miles in a straight line from work), £13 lighter! Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Robin, Woodpigeon, Goldcrest, Feral Pigeon, Bullfinch and Chaffinch were all noted on the walk to the reservoir. I was happy to see that Lainy was there, and so was a third Long Tailed Duck she had found, which was mostly keeping its distance from the original duo.
I managed to see all 3 birds, and thanks to Lainy lending me her binoculars I even managed a few very poor record shots via some relatively awkward attempts at 'digi-binning'. In addition to the Ducks, there were also Goldeneye, Cormorant, Common Gull, Black Headed Gull, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Goosander and Mute Swan on the water as well as a few more Herring Gulls. A small group of Lesser Redpoll flew over and a flock of 60+ Waxwings going to roost were also an unexpected bonus. A Great Spotted Woodpecker, a skein of Pink Footed Geese and a Grey Wagtail rounded off the sightings for the afternoon's 'twitch' taking my total to 26 species - with the #Dundee145 tick (in bold) taking my total to 152 - 7 more than what I thought would be a tricky total to reach - and with still 7 weeks to add to it.
For my day off on Wednesday I arranged to go birding with a non-birding friend to show them the variety of birds that can be seen relatively easily in the city. Her bird 'knowledge' is relatively limited but she is a bit 'bird-curious'. As I was heading out birding anyway, I invited her to join me. My main target for the day was a Golden Plover which had been seen by Barrie Hunter at Broughty Ferry/Balmossie on Monday while out checking for my possible Black Redstart from Sunday. Unfortunately there was no sign of anything resembling a Black Redstart but a Golden Plover is still a bird I need to see this year (Keith has had 2 singles at the Nature Park but both eluded me).
My pal picked me up a little earlier than originally planned and we headed up to Swannie Ponds for a look there. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Redwing, Woodpigeon and Jackdaw were all noted on the short drive up to the ponds. Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot, Black Headed Gull, Goosander, Grey Heron, Moorhen, Grey Wagtail, Mistle Thrush and Magpie were all pointed out at the ponds, with close views of some of the birds on the water that thought we might have food for them. A Waxwing was heard but not seen. We then headed for Kingsway East in search of some Waxwings. Unfortunately the trees were empty along the front of the houses but there was a single Waxwing perched in a tree by the side of the Kingsway by the small white church.
The Stannergate was our next stop. We got organised for a walk along to the castle and back again for the car, to then drive to Balmossie to check the birds there for the hoped for Golden Plover. I had brought along my 'good scope' and tripod as well as my camera, but as things turned out, I didn't even take the camera out of the bag, though the scope did get plenty of use. It does make a big difference for picking out distant birds but it is just too heavy to carry the distances involved on my visits to my usual haunts where it would be helpful to have. The walk along to the castle wasn't overly productive with Carrion Crow, a Grey Seal, Common Gull, Turnstone, Rock Pipit, Buzzard, House Sparrow, Starling, Oystercatcher, Cormorant, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Pied Wagtail and Siskin all added to the list for the day.
After walking back to the car we drove along to the end of the Esplanade where we scanned down along the shoreline which gave us Bar Tailed Godwits, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Knot, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Sanderling and a Little Egret. A Chaffinch, Blue Tit and a Robin were also noted along with a few Rooks when we headed along to scan from the footbridge over the railway line. The Tay seemed to be severely lacking in birds despite viewing conditions being very good with a glass-like surface to the water. I checked through the gulls but failed to find anything out of the ordinary. There were a few Grey Plovers and a few Wigeon but nothing else of note which eventually took our total for the day to 45 species before we called it a day and headed for home. Not the most productive of days but enjoyable nonetheless. All photos (except digi-binned Long Tailed Duck - which have been converted to black & white to remove severe chromatic abherration), are from other days as the camera stayed in the bag on the 8th.
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Long Tailed Duck
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Little Egret
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| Eider |
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House Sparrow
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| Curlew |
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Bar Tailed Godwit
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| Oystercatcher |
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Pied Wagtail
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Rock Pipit
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Grey Wagtail
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| Redwing |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Rook |
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| Buzzard |
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| Redshank |
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Pied Wagtail
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| Blackbird |
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| Waxwing |
Birds (7/11/23) - Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Cormorant, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Lesser Redpoll, Long Tailed Duck, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pink Footed Goose, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Tufted Duck, Waxwing, Woodpigeon.
Birds (8/11/23) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common
Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Knot, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Redwing, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sanderling, Shag, Siskin, Starling, Turnstone, Waxwing, Wigeon, Woodpigeon.
Mammals (8/11/23) - Grey Seal.
