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Bar Tailed Godwit
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Although I fully expected my legs to be rather heavy on Sunday morning following Saturday's 17 mile walk I was determined to get out birding again. The weather forecast was reasonably decent so I decided on another trip to Balmossie and Broughty Ferry in the hope of maybe a Great Northern Diver or an Iceland Gull (though neither felt particularly likely). Since the clocks went back, there is less daylight to play with, so I was hoping to get out before sunrise. However, it didn't quite work out and I headed out more or less as the sun was clearing the horizon.
House Sparrows, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon and Carrion Crow made for a relatively slow start. I had decided to try Dura Street car park to see if there might be some Waxwings there. I heard a Redwing as I got closer and then saw 2 flying over. I thought I could hear Waxwings and sure enough a flock of around 20 flew over towards Lidl. Black Headed Gull, Starling and Pied Wagtail were also noted in the same general area. I detoured into Baxter Park again on the walk up towards Swannie Ponds. I heard more Waxwing calls but failed to see the source this time. Long Tailed Tit, Goldcrest, Magpie, Goldfinch, Blue Tit and Coal Tit were all found within the park.
At Swannie Ponds, a Mistle Thrush flew over while on the water were a number of Goosander, Mallard, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Coot and Moorhen. Robin and Siskin were both heard and just as I was about to leave I heard the prehistoric sounding call of a Grey Heron and turned to see one being pursued by gulls before it landed on the fallen tree at the island on the top pond. I crossed the Kingsway to look for more Waxwings in front of the houses at Kingsway East. I quickly found a flock of around 50 in a tree not far from the pub. They flew off towards the cemetery as I watched them. A single Fieldfare was guarding the next tree down. I continued on down the Kingsway. As I reached the top of Pitairlie Road the flock returned but it had doubled in size to over 100 birds and I watched them perch in the tall trees in front of the shops.
Blackbird was next onto the list as I wandered down towards the Stannergate. To avoid having to return home again, I very carefully cleaned my specs(!). A skein of Pink Footed Geese overflew as I reached the river and I heard some Linnets. On the shore there was a single Redshank and a Curlew. A Red Throated Diver was spotted as I continued on along the waterfront. Dunnock, Wren and Woodpigeon joined the birds already on the list as I left the car park behind. Things were rather quiet however and I almost missed a flock of around 100 Waxwings which passed me heading west along the railway line before swinging north towards Craigie Drive - which used to be a regular spot for finding them. A Grey Seal was seen out on the river.
As I walked on towards Douglas Terrace I added Common Gull, Red Breasted Merganser and a couple of very tame Turnstones feeding by the edge of the path near the sailing club sheds. A Cormorant flew downriver. Going in the opposite direction was a Goldeneye. A flock of 8 Waxwings headed west as I reached Fisher Street. Nearing the castle I added Rock Pipit to the list for the day. From the east side of the castle I scanned out across the river. Unlike a few days previously there were hundreds of Eider visible between Tentsmuir Point and Broughty Ferry, though mostly rather distant. I continued on along the edge of the dunes. A few Greenfinches flew up from the strandline - an uexpected species on the beach. A Meadow Pipit briefly perched up on the wooden fence as did a lone Wren, though I only managed to photograph the latter.
Further on again, the first Bar Tailed Godwits of the day were spotted and as I neared Balmossie I picked out a few distant Wigeon. Down on the beach were a nice mix of waders - Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Knot, Redshank and Turnstone as well as a few more distant Grey Plover. I headed on along to the bridge over the railway line to check the gulls but I was a bit later than intended and a lot of them had moved on as the tide was by this time already quite far in. A Great Black Backed Gull was spotted. After scanning for a while and trying to ID 2 distant divers (they were Red Throated) I started to head back towards Broughty Ferry. Having paid over the odds to see Long Tailed Duck during the week it was almost inevitable that I would run into one at the Tay. There was one offshore near the end of the Esplanade which flew off upriver after 30 seconds or so.
The sky was looking increasingly threatening so I decided to pre-emptively head for the brick shelter a little further on before the now very much expected rain began. I had only been in the shelter for a minute or two when it began to rain rather heavily. I waited until it eventually stopped and then wandered down to talk to a birder (whose name escapes me) who was doing a WEBS count. By this time the tide was quite high and with the likelihood of adding anything more diminishing rapidly I headed in to check the local nature reserve where Chaffinch and Song Thrush were the only new for the day finds. The walk back home only added a single new species with a Shag very close in to the seawall off Douglas Terrace. I ended the day's birding with a total of 57 species. Although it wasn't a classic day there was plenty to see, even if the weather didn't quite behave as it was supposed to.
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| Waxwing |
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Common Gull
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| Oystercatcher |
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Grey Heron
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| Turnstone |
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| Turnstone |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Redshank |
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| Wren |
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Pied Wagtail
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Dunlin & Ringed Plover
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Bar Tailed Godwit
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| Sanderling |
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Red Throated Diver
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Long Tailed Tit
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Long Tailed Duck
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Long Tailed Duck
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| Wigeon |
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| Robin |
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| Mallard |
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Common Gull
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| Shag |
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| Shag |
Birds - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Plover, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Knot, Linnet, Long Tailed Duck, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Red Throated Diver, Redwing, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sanderling, Shag, Siskin, Song Thrush, Starling, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Waxwing, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Seal.
