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| Goosander |
Having spent all day at a rather overcast Swannie Ponds on Saturday watching and photographing the female Ring Necked Duck I'd had the good fortune to stumble upon, the chance of better lighting conditions on Sunday meant an early start for a chance at some better photos of the duck. Trying to get out of bed early enough to get out birding has been surprisingly difficult so far this year but I was determined to be out the door for around sunrise. Although there had been a few visitors on Saturday coming to see the duck I expected there to be more on Sunday, given how distant the female at Birnie Loch (likely the same bird) seemed to have been. Swannie Ponds size meant that much better photos could be had, assuming of course that the bird hadn't vanished overnight.
I headed out the door at 0750 for the relatively short walk to the ponds. I decided to take the 'low road' route instead of my more typical 'high road' route along Clepington Road. Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Magpie, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Pied Wagtail, Jackdaw, Goldfinch, Wren and Black Headed Gull provided a reasonably decent haul on the way there. Despite my early start I wasn't the first to arrive. Jacqui Herrington and Barry Forbes were already there, stood waiting by the small boat ramp from back long ago when you could hire a rowing boat for a small fee. After a quick chat about the bird - which was nowhere to be seen, I asked if they'd checked round the back of the island. They hadn't, so I set off for a look.
A skein of Pink Footed Geese overflew while out on the water were the expected mix of species - Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull, Common Gull, Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swan, Mallard and Tufted Duck. There was no sign of either the drake Wigeon or Ring Necked Duck however. This wasn't in the script. However, the light was pretty decent so I took some photos anyway while trying to decided where to go birding for the rest of the day. I was soon joined by Lainy, shortly before Jacqui and Barry headed off. Keith arrived with the local RSPB group and Shaz Skinner also put in a brief appearance though I wasn't certain it was her (having only recently met her for a few minutes when she collected some photography books I was giving away), and she didn't see me as I was talking to the RSPB crowd as she made her way around the top pond.
Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Oystercatcher, Goldcrest and Long Tailed Tit all put in appearances of varying lengths while Lainy and I discussed our options. We decided to head out along the Dighty Burn and then out to Clearwater Park in search (once again) of my first Tree Sparrow of the year. A Grey Wagtail flew over as we neared the burn and a Dipper was singing by the water's edge just by the bridge. We added a Blackbird in the trees as we wandered along the path. Yellowhammer and Siskin were found in the area opposite the football pitches at Drumgeith Park. Continuing on along the burn we added a pair of Jays near the first reedy area. A Song Thrush, a single Lesser Redpoll and a Coal Tit were also noted. A Buzzard was spotted in flight near the recycling area and a few Redwings were seen a bit further on.
Things livened up a bit where the 2 burns meet as 2 Treecreepers gave us decent views along with a Goldcrest, a Wren and a few Blue Tits. After watching them for a few minutes we headed north towards Drumsturdy Road adding Stock Dove in the large garden by the bend in the road. We cut out the slightly dangerous corner by detouring along the edge of the industrial estate. We emerged out onto the road by the gate into Pitkerro House. A flock of Long Tailed Tits were in the trees opposite so we crossed the road for a better look. A car stopped alongside us, and the lady driver asked us if we were looking for nature to photograph. When we answered in the affirmative, she said she lived in the big house and said if we wanted to, we could have a wander up the driveway to see what we could see, and if anyone asked what we were doing, just to say that she'd said it was ok.
We thanked her for her very unexpected offer before she drove off and decided that we might as well take up the offer (even if I was sure it was actually just outside Dundee). We managed to see a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and a Grey Squirrel as well as a few more smaller birds before heading back out onto the road and along to the track along to the 'crossroads' where I hoped to find a Tree Sparrow. Tree Sparrows however were notable by their absence once again. We did find a few Skylarks and Roe Deer and an unexpected Grey Heron flew past. We did a bit more exploring that was also probably just outside Dundee but didn't find anything new. Robin, Rook and Dunnock were noted near the new cemetery.
Surprisingly we failed to see the local Kestrel or any Pheasants in that area. Things were relatively quiet overall so we eventually headed back the way we'd came and back to the Dighty. An odd looking black bird overflew us and the photos I'd managed from below and behind only further confused things. My best guess is that the bird was a corvid carrying something 'square' in its beak, though Cormorant had been my initial thought when viewing the photos on the camera - though the front end looked completely wrong. A few Redwings and a couple of Dippers were photographed on our walk back along the burn. Lainy intended to catch a bus home but as she was going to have to wait quite a while for one to arrive she decided to join me on the walk back to Swannie Ponds instead.
Needless to say there was still no sign of the Ring Necked Duck though there were plenty of Tufted Ducks and still a few birders looking for it, including a gentleman who seemed convinced the bird was on the island despite me trying to assure him that if it was still around, someone would have seen it on the water at some point during the previous 7 hours of daylight given how active the bird had been the day before. He made a couple of circuits of the top pond while Lainy and I watched the birds while she waited for Adam to pick her up. I tried and failed to add anything new on the walk home. Despite the lack of the Ring Necked Duck and Tree Sparrow it had been a fairly enjoyable day's birding although the 13 miles or so we'd walked had rather taken its toll on our legs.
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Tufted Duck
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Pied Wagtail
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| Mallard |
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Black Headed Gull (White 2XJH)
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Robin |
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Lesser Redpoll
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Coal Tit
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| Buzzard |
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Long Tailed Tit
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| Unknown. |
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| Treecreeper |
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| Treecreeper |
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| Treecreeper |
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| Treecreeper |
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Roe Deer
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| Redwing |
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| Dipper |
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| Dipper |
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Tufted Duck
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Herring Gull (Argentatus ssp.?)
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Common Gull
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Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Dipper, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Redpoll, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel, Roe Deer.
