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| Sparrowhawk |
Although I haven't done a lot of birding in December, Riverside Nature Park has been missing from my list of birding locations visited since the 19th of November. Although the park tends to be rather quiet in winter, there have been unconfirmed sightings of possible Merlins there around this time of year in the past, but the views have always been fleeting and the species has still to make it onto the list. Although the chances of seeing one, or anything else new for the year, was pretty slim, I decided to make the most of what was forecast to be a rather nice mid-winter day with blue sky and sunshine with a visit to the park. An early start once again was planned.
I had forgotten just how quiet things can be at Riverside Nature Park in the winter when I decided to set myself a target of finding 40 species at the park. I thought 30 didn't seem too hard so rather than go for 35, 40 it was. I headed out at 0800, slightly later than intended, meaning it would be about 15 minutes after sunrise when I reached the park. In the grand scheme of things this wasn't likely to be a big deal. Herring Gull, Carrion Crow and Robin were the first birds onto the list with Venus shining brightly in the clear southern sky. Goldcrest and Siskin were a bit less expected as I passed the open area between the football grounds, and the first Woodpigeon flew out from one of the trees there.
Magpie, Dunnock, Wren, Blue Tit and House Sparrow were all noted as I wandered up to the Law and through the trees bordering the road on the north side. Heading down from the hill again, I had brief views of 2 different Sparrowhawks on their search for a take-away breakfast. A Blackbird was also added near the bottom of the Law Steps. As I was leaving City Road onto Pentland Avenue, an unexpected Cormorant flew overhead heading northwest. Redwing and Starling were in the trees further on. Balgay Hill added Coal Tit, Bullfinch, Stock Dove and Chaffinch. Long Tailed Tits were added at the bottom of Glamis Road and Great Tit was spotted as I neared the entrance to the park just after 0900.
There was a flock of Siskins in the trees by the entrance though a Blackbird, Great Tit and Dunnock were flushed by an early morning runner leaving the park before I managed to get photos of any of them. Coal Tit, Magpie, Chaffinch and Carrion Crow didn't take long to make it onto the list. Things did seem fairly quiet with hardly any birds seen in flight. I had a search among the saplings for Woodcock but drew a blank. Herring Gull, Greenfinch and the first Bullfinches of the morning were found though. There was no sign of any Snipe or Jack Snipe around in front of Buzzard Wood either. I spotted a male Sparrowhawk perched out in the early morning sunshine in the hedge bordering the top half of the park.
I met Keith and we had a bit of a catch-up before he headed homewards and I decided to use the layout of the trees to the northwest of the car park and the strong glare of the low winter sun to try to get closer to the Sparrowhawk. This worked better than expected and despite being stood just a short distance in front of the bird I managed frame filling views of the bird for a whole 2 minutes before it eventually flew off to terrorise the few birds that actually were around in the park. I checked the flooded area in front for Snipe but again drew a blank. Wren, Blue Tit, Jackdaw, Black Headed Gull, Redwing, Robin and Feral Pigeon were next onto the list as I began to explore the top half of the park. The first Rabbit of the morning was spotted using the thermal imager and confirmed by binoculars as it peered back at me, completely still and rather well camouflaged tucked in below the bushes.
A Stock Dove overflew as I headed round to check the extended and mostly frozen Lochan. A single Black Headed Gull, a number of Teal and a handful of Mallard were found there before I headed round for a look at the bay. Redshank, Common Gull, Curlew, Bar Tailed Godwit, and Dunlin were new for the day's park list along with 4 Red Breasted Mergansers on the pipe but it still felt very quiet overall despite the good conditions. I had nice close views of a male Bullfinch in the Buddleia near the picnic tables before heading along to the hide. I had a pleasant bird-filled chat to a younger couple there and we were treated to views of another Sparrowhawk and mobbing corvid crowd in the trees by the hide as well as the Siskin flock. Things were still relatively quiet in front of the hide but the enjoyable conversation helped to pass the time.
When they headed off to visit relatives, I wandered back round to the picnic tables trying to add a few more species. My target figure was increasingly looking like being almost impossible. I did finally manage to add Woodpigeon - not a bird that is usually hard to get at the park. Looking back into the bay from the picnic tables I could see a Grey Heron on the railway embankment above the waders. There were a lot of families (and dogs) around by this time so I set off back to the hide to check through the roosting waders from there. Keith had mentioned having had Knot and Grey Plover recently, so there was potential to add something. I did manage to find a couple of Knot and a group of 4 Turnstones. I was really struggling to get anything at all new for the list with even Buzzard proving to be elusive. Thankfully, a pair did carry out a flypast over the fields that runs along the northern edge of the park with a Carrion Crow in pursuit but around 1400 I decided that I should call it a day and head homewards having only managed a total of 34 species at the park.
My list for the whole day was still only at 39 species. As I wandered up the road from the Botanic Gardens on my walk home, a dark bird flew fast and low from the direction of the Invercarse Hotel or maybe one of the large gardens in that area. An unexpected, but very welcome, Woodcock which took the day's combined total to 40 species. I did add one final species to the day's list with a high flying, though silent, skein of Pink Footed Geese as I neared Dens Park. These took the 'outwith the park' list to 24 and coupled with the 34 at the park gave me a final total of 41 species. While not a classic visit to the park, the male Sparrowhawk photos in particular had made it well worth the effort. If the weather behaves at the weekend, I may manage one final visit for 2023. After New Year, with everything 'new' again, I'll definitely be back again in search of something I've been unable to catch up with elsewhere.
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| Siskin |
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Herring Gull
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Mallard |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Redwing |
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Red Breasted Merganser
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| Dunlin |
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| Bullfinch |
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Turnstone & Knot
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Redshank & Dunlin
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| Curlew |
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| Teal |
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| Teal |
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| Buzzard |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Cormorant, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Long tailed Tit, Magpie, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Woodcock, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit,
Common Gull, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw,
Knot, Magpie, Mallard, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin,
Sparrowhawk, Stock Dove, Teal, Turnstone, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
