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Carrion Crow & Turnstone
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My visits to Balmossie tend to be more productive on weekdays, as there tends to be less disturbance by walkers and dog walkers than at the weekends. There is always a chance of something good turning up at Balmossie. In 2022, Rose Coloured Starling was the stand-out bird, though 2 Mediterranean Gulls together, a Little Gull, a Puffin and an Arctic Tern as well as numerous Ospreys all made visits there worthwhile. I keep hoping for an Iceland or Glaucous Gull, though Ivory Gull or Ross's Gull would be even better. The Tay has at one time or another hosted all of these species. Increasingly there is also the chance of a Caspian or Yellow Legged Gull turning up in the Balmossie roost. I'm going to keep looking.....
On Wednesday the 8th of August I decided I would take a wander down for a look. I headed out at 0850 with Swannie Ponds once again being my first intended port of call. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Jackdaw and a Lesser Black Backed Gull filled the journey to Clepington Road. Starling was added on the walk along from there to the ponds. Goldfinch and Chaffinch as well as a Magpie were in the trees around the ponds, while out on the water were (most of) the usual mix of species - Coot, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Mute Swan, Black Headed Gull, Common Gull and Herring Gull.
I headed for Eastern Cemetery next. Although the numbers of individual birds there were low there was a bit of variety and I managed to find Coal Tit, Robin, Pied Wagtail, Greenfinch, Bullfinch, Collared Dove, Great Tit, Song Thrush and Goldcrest. The first Rabbits of the day were also seen there. I made it to the Stannergate around 55 minutes after leaving the house. A Wren noisily protested about something unseen. Down on the shore I was able to pick out Redshank, Oystercatcher and a Grey Heron. Further on, a Curlew fed along the water's edge. A second Grey Heron chased off the first in the direction of the docks. A Rook flew over from the north and a few Linnets were seen, and heard, in flight.
A few Red Breasted Merganser and Eider were seen out on the rather calm river. An unexpected Shelduck flew past heading east. I found a few Turnstone down among the pebbles and seaweed near the pipe at Douglas Terrace. I failed to add anything else new between there and the Castle. As I walked along the edge of the fenced-off dunes to the east of the castle, I spotted another birder ahead of me and further down the beach. An unexpected Skylark flew in off the river and continued northwards over the houses. The other birder continued on along the beach, stopping every now and then to check the few birds that were around. I had an idea who it might be, despite never having met them previously.
A few months ago, my non-birding pal, Kenny had told me about someone he followed on Twitter who was a birder based in Broughty Ferry. I started following him on there and he reciprocated. I expected that our paths would cross eventually though I had already had one false alarm when I asked someone (who it turned out actually knew him AND also followed me on Twitter) if they were the person in question. I was almost certain that this time I had the correct person. I eventually caught up with him and we both asked each other if we were who we each thought. Barrie Hunter, an actor who was portraying Dundee United's legendary manager Jim McLean in 'Smile' at Dundee Rep was the other birder.
As we were both heading in the same direction and birding anyway, we teamed up and wandered along the beach chatting away about birds. We added Bar Tailed Godwits, Goldeneye, Wigeon, Dunlin, Great Black Backed Gull and Goosander over the next hour or so. As Barrie had to be at The Rep in the afternoon to prepare for the evening's performance, we wandered back along the waterfront, after scanning through the birds near the mouth of the Dighty, though things were relatively quiet there. I headed into the Nature Reserve for a look and Barrie headed home. No doubt our paths will cross again at some point. Long Tailed Tit and Redwing were both found in the nature reserve. Although the Dighty mouth had been rather quiet earlier I decided to wander back for another look as by this time, the tide should have brought birds much closer in. I added a Cormorant out on the river but rather disappointingly I failed to find anything new despite much scanning, other than a single Ringed Plover.
Something made me turn to look back along the beach and I saw a bit of rather unexpected action. I lifted the camera and rattled off a few photos. A Carrion Crow with a Turnstone held tightly by the wings was flying towards me. The crow landed and the Turnstone attempted to escape. It flew upwards pursued by a pair of crows. The Turnstone seemed to be lacking its tail and I suspect this was what allowed the crow to grab its wing with its beak before transferring the grip to its foot once again. I somehow managed to screw up the entire sequence of photos of the pursuit and subsequent capture as well as another escape bid which ended within a second or two when the birds landed again. The Turnstone was quickly despatched this time and became lunch for the crows (with the captor flying off to a nearby roof with the wader's head). - ***A few photos below may not be for the squeamish***
I got a message from Lainy telling me she'd found a pair of drake Gadwall at Clatto. I considered the possibility of extending my walk back home to there but knew that if I somehow did manage to make it there I would then be struggling to find the reqired energy to get home and would suffer for the additional effort on my walks to/from work on Thursday and Friday. My best bet would be to hope the birds would stick around long enough for me to get out to Clatto to see them. I added a flypast Stock Dove as I wandered back along towards the castle. Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Rock Pipit were seen near the dunes. There were a few more Turnstones around as well in various spots.
At the ramp down to the beach at Douglas Terrace, a very grey and flighty Rock Pipit caught my eye and I managed to get a few record shots which seemed to confirm my suspicion that it was a Scandinavian 'Littoralis' subspecies. I suspect it will be the same bird I've seen in the same general area a few times recently, without getting a really good (or even complete) view. My already tired legs grew heavier as I headed up the hill from the Stannergate. I decided to check Swannie Ponds again, just in case there were any Gadwall there. Not unexpectedly, there weren't. I did manage to add a Moorhen to the list taking my total for the day to 55 species. Once home, I did contemplate switching to a much lighter pack and heading to Clatto for a look, but despite my mind being willing, my legs were saying "you've NO chance!". Despite the lack of Gadwall (or anything else too unusual - other than the Crow vs Turnstone episode) it had been another enjoyable day's birding.
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Herring Gull
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Collared Dove
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| Bullfinch |
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| Rook |
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| Shelduck |
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| Eider |
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| Curlew |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Skylark |
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Pied Wagtail
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| Redshank |
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| Wigeon |
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Ringed Plover
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Carrion Crow & Turnstone
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Carrion Crow & Turnstone
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Carrion Crow & Turnstone
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Carrion Crow (& Turnstone)
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Carrion Crow (& Turnstone)
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Carrion Crow (& Turnstone)
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| Goosander |
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Rock Pipit (Petrosus? ssp.)
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Rock Pipit (Petrosus? ssp.)
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Rock Pipit (Littoralis ssp.)
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Rock Pipit (Littoralis ssp.)
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Rock Pipit (Littoralis ssp.)
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| Turnstone |
Birds - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Rabbit.
