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Spotted Flycatcher
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As the Autumn proper draws ever closer, the sunrises get later and later. One of the benefits of this from a birding point of view is that I can be somewhere in time for sunrise without having to leave the house in the middle of the night. However, as it is still August as I type this, getting to Riverside Nature Park for sunrise at 0600 still means heading out into the pre-dawn gloaming at about 0500, which in turn means being out of my bed sometime around 0400. It can take a few days to get the body clock back to something like normal when I do something like that though, which isn't great. Following on from my vis-migging at the top of the Law on the previous Sunday, I wanted to see what the difference between there and Riverside Nature Park was likely to be at the latter location.
I headed out at 0450 to the sounds of some of the seemingly always awake local Herring Gulls. These birds were the only ones heard for the first 10 minutes until the first Robin was heard singing in the early morning stillness. Once one starts, a chain reaction seems to take place with another responding, then another respondingto that one and so on. A Fox ran across Strathmore Avenue in front of me, and a second was seen near the Loons Road/Logie Street/Ancrum Road junctions. Bird-wise, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Wren and Woodpigeon were all noted as the sky brightened up a little more minute after minute. Dunnock was noted at Balgay Cemetery before I cut down through Ninewells Arboretum where a 'kewick'-ing Tawny Owl was heard not far from the eastern entrance to the wood. A second bird hooted once from near the houses to the south a few minutes later. Jackdaw, Blackcap, Magpie and Great Tit were found before I made it to the park.
My target species at the park was the Ruff which Keith had found 2 days earlier. I started at the western end once again. Carrion Crow, Mallard, Redshank, Teal, Herring Gull, Blue Tit, and Grey Wagtail got things started. It didn't take too long to find the Ruff (on the outflow pipe) which was a bit of a relief. Knot, Black Tailed Godwit, Curlew and Common Sandpiper were all picked out over the first half hour or so. The first Tree Pipits of the morning passed overhead, their slightly 'buzzy' calls ringing out in the early morning's relative quiet. Blackbird, Blackcap and Greenfinch were spotted among the trees and bushes in front of the hide. Meadow Pipit and Swallow were next to pass through westwards. Stock Dove, Feral Pigeon and Woodpigeon all flew past as I scanned through all the birds I could see.
Black Headed Gull and Lesser Black backed Gulls were dotted around with the Herring Gulls in the bay and a Grey Heron was noted down on the pipe. Goldfinch, Chiffchaff, Wren and Robin added to the selection of smaller birds which were around when I headed into the park proper. A Sparrowhawk swooped through, upsetting some of the smaller birds. A large flock of Lapwings took the sky across the far side of the bay. A small flock of vocal Siskins passed overhead. A quick look at the Lochan added Moorhen to the morning's list. I wandered round to the picnic tables to scan out over the bay from there. A pair of Linnets flew past and I spotted an unexpected Guillemot down beyond the pipe. A Sandwich Tern flew in to land on the rocks across the far side of the bay.
A Cormorant appeared on the outer section of the pipe. I headed up to the top of the hill for an hour's vis-migging. There had been Tree Pipits, Meadow Pipits, Grey Wagtails and a few Siskins going over from the time I'd reached the park but I wasn't sure how things were likely to go with other migrants moving. As it turned out there was a relatively steady passage of birds over the course of the next hour with more Tree Pipits, as well as Pied Wagtails, Siskins, Chaffinches, Grey Wagtails, Meadow Pipits and Swallows. In addition there were a couple of Ospreys seen out over the river, as well as one which overflew just to the north of the hill, a few Starlings, a Great Black Backed Gull, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and Song Thrush also noted.
After the hour atop the hill, I went for a wander round the upper half of the park. A flash of white low over the long grass just beyond the banking caught my eye as I was about to leave the hilltop but I couldn't find the bird in question and nothing immediately sprang to mind as to what it might have been. The wander added Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, House Sparrow, House Martin and Long Tailed Tits to the list. The first butterfly of the day was a Red Admiral and a Meadow Brown and Small White were added around 30 minutes later as was a Common Darter dragonfly and a pair of Bullfinches. A Swift was seen over the hill and Lochan. I chatted to 2 ladies who had been collecting brambles about birds for 10 minutes or so and managed to show one of them a Great Spotted Woodpecker as it flew off (she's been taunted by the species for a few years but hadn't yet managed to see one).
I headed back to the hide where I was soon joined by Keith. There were now 2 Ruff together by the water's edge and they were soon joined by many more waders, especially Redshanks and Curlew. Common Gull, Oystercatcher and a Speckled Wood butterfly were noted in the sunshine before we wandered back round to the area by the picnic tables. Keith mentioned he'd seen a Wheatear up near the top of the hill earlier as we scanned out over the bay, where we added Goosander to the list. We decided to check the trees in the 'toilet bowl' (the area with the 2 ponds just to the north of the toilet with bushes around most of it). A Reed Bunting was noted before Keith spotted another bird along towards the far end. It was a very welcome new bird for both of us at the park (though not a 1st, with another being seen 11 years ago) - a Spotted Flycatcher, not an easy bird to catch up with in Dundee and increasingly tricky elsewhere also.
We watched it for a few minutes before Keith had to head off homewards. I wandered back up the hill to look for the Wheatear and then realised I'd actually seen it earlier (the 'white flash'). Needless to say I failed to refind it. Although it was only 1025, I had a feeling that the previous day record of 63 species might be under threat if I took things slowly and spent as much time as I could to try to find more species. A flyover Sand Martin was next before a few Whitethroats were finally added. A surprise was a single Turnstone which flew out across the bay from the shore near the southwestern 'corner'. A Buzzard glided over following the shoreline, upsetting some of the birds in the bay as it headed in the direction of the hide. A couple of very distant Mute Swans were picked out around Kingoodie.
I added a Peacock butterfly to the day's sightings. There were still a few species I hadn't yet seen or heard including Dunlin (which was looking unlikely as the tide receded further and further out and despite lots of methodical checking), as well as Little Egret and Little Grebe (both seen recently) and Jackdaw, Great Tit, Dunnock and Coal Tit. It took almost 2.5 hours to get 3 of those last 4 with only the Coal Tit eluding me before I finally called it a day at the park. The number of birds seen or heard was a new record with 66 species being my final total. I think 70 might be possible, though a LOT of luck would be required to get there - late August does appear to be the best time to try for it (perhaps a 'big day' can be arranged for some time next year).
I was pretty tired by this time and the walk home was a bit of a blur. Needless to say Coal Tits were rather plentiful once I left the park with birds noted in at least 3 locations between there and Balgay Cemetery. I found a dead Wood Mouse on a path in Balgay Cemetery. Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Starling and Goldfinch took the list for outwith the park to 21 and the combined total for the day to 69 species - which is probably my highest total for a day birding in Dundee. I had also managed 5 species of butterfly, 1 of dragonfly and 2 of mammals (even if one was dead). When I got home, I was absolutely drained and actually had a bit of a nap for an hour followed by a cup of coffee to try to waken myself up immediately afterwards. Still, it had been a rather good day's birding with 2 new Dundee145 ticks (both also year-ticks - in bold), as well as a new record total for the park. It will be interesting to see how long that one lasts (the previous record was from August 31st 2014).
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Lapwing |
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| Osprey |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Cormorant |
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Grey Wagtail
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House Martin
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| Blackbird |
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Common Darter
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| Whitethroat |
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Speckled Wood
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| Ruff |
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Spotted Flycatcher
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Spotted Flycatcher
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Meadow Pipit
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| Buzzard |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Magpie |
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| Peacock |
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Wood Mouse
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Robin, Starling, Tawny Owl, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals (ouwith Riverside Nature Park) - Fox (2), Wood Mouse (dead) .
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow,
Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring
Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Ruff, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Tree Pipit, Turnstone, Wheatear, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Meadow Brown, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small White, Speckled Wood.
Dragonflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Common Darter.
