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| Jay |
I was about to have my lunch at work on Friday the 2nd of June when I realised that I had received a text message from Ian Ford. It began with "Strange warbler singing north of RNP west entrance." and a description of the location where he had found the bird, followed by a brief description of its song. I replied saying that I would pop down though I didn't have a camera with me. I grabbed my hoodie and set off in the direction of where Ian had said the bird was. As I hurried down to try to see the bird I was trying to make sense of Ian's directions which seemed a bit contradictory. I tried where I thought he meant first but things were rather quiet except for a singing Song Thrush that Ian's message had mentioned. I went through the underpass to check along the other side of the road. Other than the traffic noise it was quiet there too. I spotted Ian on the other side of the road and crossed back over to talk to him.
He explained where the bird had been (back across the road!) and we moved away from the road so he could let me hear a recording he had made. It was definitely something 'rare'. Ian has more experience of 'rare' warblers than I do (I've seen/heard one Marsh Warbler, found by Mark Wilkinson at Kilminning). It seemed to be a choice between either a Marsh Warbler or a Blyth's Reed Warbler. I thought it sounded a bit different to my memory of Mark's Marsh Warbler but I couldn't be sure. I made a recording of Ian's recording with my phone before we crossed back to see if we could relocate the bird. We didn't hear or see the bird before I more or less ran out of time and had to head back to work. I said I would pop back down after work to try again. I would also upload the recording to Twitter to try to get a consensus on the ID. This proved tricky as I'd recorded it as audio - which Twitter doesn't have a facility to upload. I got a colleague to record it being played back as a video then sent it to me via WhatsApp.
Ian messaged me around 1435 to say the bird was singing again. By the time of my tea-break the consensus on twitter was that the bird was a Blyth's Reed Warbler, which would be a lifer for me. I asked if I could finish up a little earlier than usual and got an answer in the affirmative so I was on my way back down to look for the warbler around 25 minutes earlier than I would usually have been. Rather than go via the underpass I decided to cross the road, which was marginally more direct. As I waited to cross I thought I could hear a song I didn't recognise but which sounded very 'warbler-like'. Once across, I found that the bird was indeed singing loudly from deep in cover. I had my Blyth's Reed Warbler (if the ID was confirmed). Number 120 for my Dundee145 list. Although the bird was on the Invergowrie side of the road it was still east of the burn which marks the border of Dundee and Perthshire at that point. I videoed the song on my phone and uploaded it to Twitter. I messaged Lainy and hoped for a view of the bird. After another bout of singing, I managed to catch a very brief side-view of the bird which was 'Acro' Warbler-esque in shape before it vanished once again into the depths of the bushes along the banking below the road.
While waiting for others to arrive I noted Bullfinch, Swallow, Black Headed Gull, Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Herring Gull, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Starling, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Swift, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Robin and Magpie. I was joined by Ian then Lainy and Adam and eventually the bird began singing again, though it proved almost impossible to see. Great Tit, House Martin, Jay and Long Tailed Tit all put in appearances before Lainy finally succeeded in getting a blurry photo of the bird. Unfortunately, she was unable to get a better photo as other birders who had arrived a little later crowded in to the same very small bit of space she was in, to try to see the bird through a small 'window' in the vegetation. A bit of phone video of the bird singing was captured by Dan Burt as the bird skulked low among the branches which should go some way to getting the bird accepted, along with the numerous sound recordings which were taken. I eventually called it a night around 2000 and a lift back to the city centre from Adam and Lainy was very much appreciated.
(2nd June)
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Blyth's Reed Warbler, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jay, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Woodpigeon, Wren.
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I decided that although I very much suspected the bird would move on overnight I would make a very early start in the morning and head back down with my camera in the hope that I might manage to get a photo of some sort if the bird had somehow decided it liked the area it had lingered in enough to spend a bit more time there. I was out the door at 0450 on Saturday morning. Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Dunnock, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Goldfinch, Starling, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Pied Wagtail, Magpie, Jay and Robin were all noted as I hurried along my route to work around 2 hours earlier than I usually do on most weekdays. Peregrine, Wren and Lesser Black Backed Gull were found as I headed down Loons Road.
Great Tit, Goldcrest and Blackcap were all singing in Balgay Cemetery and Oystercatcher, Greenfinch, and Rook were noted as I cut through Ninewells Hospital grounds on the way to what I knew was going to be an unsuccessful 'twitch'. If the bird wasn't there I could put out word to save others the journey from further afield to try to see (or more likely hear) the bird. There were a few Rabbits around as I walked down past the Carseview centre. Chiffchaff was heard as I crossed the road to where the warbler had been seen last the previous evening. Things were otherwise relatively quiet. I decided to check the bay, just in case something else interesting had decided to drop in overnight.
Curlew, Dunnock, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Mallard, Mute Swan, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Woodpigeon, Oystercatcher, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Collared Dove, Skylark, Magpie and Garden Warbler provided a very productive start to my Riverside Nature Park list for the day. I headed into the park a little further adding Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Yellowhammer, Long Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Goldcrest, Shelduck, Sedge Warbler, Greenfinch, Bullfinch and Linnet. I was joined by another birder (Ian Currie - if I remember correctly, from Montrose), who was on his way to try to twitch the Blyth's. I wandered back with him and showed him where the bird had been seen (and mostly heard) on Friday. It was still very quiet with not even a hint of the bird still being about.
We hung around, chatting and watching what birds were around. A quartet of geese which I hoped might be Canada Geese turned out to be Greylags instead. A few Swallows zipped around, a Reed Bunting showed nearby, a few Linnets were in the bushes near the underpass while both Swift and House Martins hawked overhead for insects. We were joined by another few birders but nobody was particularly optimistic that they were going to 'get' the bird, and as the morning progressed it seemed clear that the bird had indeed departed overnight. I wandered up and down the cycle path a few times when I heard snatches of promising sounding song, only for it to be something else heard badly. By 0940 only another birder from Montrose, Darren, and myself were still hanging around. A Sparrowhawk and a Jay were seen before I decided to head back into the park to see what else I might find in there.
The temperature was creeping upwards and the three hours sleep I'd had was beginning to have an effect on my enthusiasm and energy levels. I had a very slow wander noting Buzzard, Orange Tip butterfly, Stock Dove, Osprey, Kestrel and another Sparrowhawk in a productive 15 minutes or so. I had a look at the 'newt' pool and found that as well as the Azure and Blue Tailed Damselflies there was also at least one Common Blue Damselfly. A Green Veined White butterfly flitted around the edges. A Common Gull flew over as I headed for the exit around 1100. I had somehow managed a total of 51 species of bird at the park which was pretty good for early June, especially given how few wader species were around. An Orange Tip butterfly was seen as I walked back along Riverside Avenue.
A wander over Balgay Hill proved relatively quiet with no sign of any of the hoped for Nuthatches though I didn't linger near any of the known nest sites. I took a different route down off the hill, via a small dirt track to Pentland Crescent. A Roe Deer ran off from among the vegetation there as I wandered down to the street. A few Green Veined White butterflies were seen around the plants on the banking below the allotments at Kinghorne Road but there were no more additions to the day's bird list before I arrived home, rather tired around 1220. In all, I had managed to see or hear a total of 54 species of bird, 2 species of butterflies, 3 of damselflies and 2 of mammals. Despite the not unexpected no-show from the Blyth's Reed Warbler it had been just about worth the early start.
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Blyth's Reed Warbler (photo by Lainy McCormack)
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Song Thrush
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| Curlew |
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Willow Warbler
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Whitethroat |
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| Shelduck |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Woodpigeon |
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Mute Swan
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Collared Dove
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| Rabbit |
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Greylag Goose
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Micro Moth sp.
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Silver Ground Carpet
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| Buzzard |
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| Kestrel |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Common Blue Damselfly
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Azure Damselfly
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Blue Tailed Damselfly
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| Osprey |
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| Swift |
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Fly sp.
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Hoverfly sp.
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(3rd June)
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Dunnock,Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Song Thrush, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Green Veined White, Orange Tip.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit, Roe Deer.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Curlew, Dunnock, Garden Warbler, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, 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.
Damselflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Azure Damselfly, Blue Tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly.
