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| Linnet |
My original plan for Saturday was to head to Riverside Nature Park to meet Steph for a few hours, and hopefully to find a couple of new species for my Dundee150 list. However, I messaged Steph on Friday evening and with no reply before I went to my bed on Friday night I decided I would try to add a few species along some of the route from the previous day that I had to miss out due to the later than ideal start. I debated whether or not to start at Trottick Ponds in search of Jack Snipe but decided I would instead head out to the back of Fintry in search of Linnets and Grey Partridge, potentially continuing out to Clearwater Park for Tree Sparrow (and Linnets, if I failed to get any at the back of Fintry). With nothing particularly set in stone I would just play things by ear and see where I ended up.
With sunrise still around 0840, I headed out around half an hour before that, en route to Swannie Ponds for a quick look there first. Herring Gull, Carrion Crow and Feral Pigeons were the first birds seen on what was a rather frosty (and a bit slippy underfoot in places) morning. Robin, Starling, Woodpigeon and Siskin were all noted as I headed up to the ponds along the 'low route'. As I got the camera out of the bag at the southeastern corner a Buzzard flew low overhead towards the old tram (/bus) depot sheds. On the ponds I quickly found the usual suspects - Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Goosander, Herring Gull and Black Headed Gull. A Pied Wagtail appeared as I was just leaving and a skein of Pink Footed Geese headed over northwards.
I continued on down Pitkerro Road adding House Sparrow, Long Tailed Tit and Coal Tit on the downhill stretch. Blackbird, Collared Dove and a number of Common Gulls were around the Longhaugh Road area, with the gulls on the grass next to Longhaugh Primary School. I was headed for the Middleton Woods area as I thought there might be the chance of finding a Jack Snipe in some of the rather wet open areas by the small burn that runs through that area. Goldcrest and Wren were near the entrance from The Elms. As I wandered along the small muddy track, a Roe Deer ran up the slope just a few feet in front of me, while another on the other side beyond the burn also set off at a gallop.
Other than a few more Roe Deer and some smaller birds of species I'd already seen elsewhere that morning, things seemed quiet at the wood. I added Magpie by the road and there seemed to be a number of Redwing also in the general area. Jackdaw, Goldfinch and a Great Spotted Woodpecker made it onto the list as I walked down towards the pond by the junction. There were at least 10 Wigeon, a number of Mallard and a pair of Moorhens there. The Wigeon in particular were a surprise, especially so many on such a small pond. I had discovered on Google Earth that there was another way into the pond from the other side and wandered round for a look with the low sun behind me but I failed to add anything else from that direction. What sounded a lot like a Meadow Pipit was heard but I decided against it going on the list as I'd only heard a single call and wasn't 100% sure.
I checked the gulls (mostly Common and Herring Gulls) in the ploughed field that ran up towards Powrie Castle. I heard but didn't see a calling Jay. Things seemed relatively quiet though I noticed there appeared to be a rather large flock of finches of some sort wheeling around at the weedy field to the west with at least some of the hundreds of birds settling in the trees between there and the castle and farm buildings just to the north. As I got closer and traipsed up through the rather muddy field I discovered the flock was the biggest flock of Linnets I can recall ever seeing anywhere. There didn't appear to be anything else among the flock but there were a few Yellowhammers and Redwings around nearby. Not unexpectedly, the flock had also attracted the hungry eyes of a predator - a Sparrowhawk which tried a sneak attack, though the Linnets seemed to spot it early and the attack failed.
I wandered up Powrie Brae finding a Buzzard perched in one of the trees near the bend in the road about halfway up, which flew to a larger tree near the junction I was headed for. The walk along from the farm to just before Duntrune was relatively quiet though the birds I did manage to find weren't too bad. A couple of young Pheasants' heads viewed against the light did a passable impression of Grey Partridges until they moved and more detail could be seen. Further on there was a large gathering of Rooks and Jackdaws in a field while a Collared Dove picked around the edges by the road. A few minutes later I heard my first Skylark of 2024 calling and looked up to see the bird more or less overhead. I then added another 4 or 5 more around the same field. I had a very brief view of a quartet of gamebirds dropping into a weedy area at the back of another farm. They looked Partridge-like but the view was the half second before they landed and immediately disappeared into the vegetation. Having not seen enough to be absolutely sure of the ID, they too stayed off the list.
I wandered down through Balumbie and out to check the area behind Clearwater Park. I did find a Sparrowhawk drying off after a bath by a trackside tree but the camera refused to focus through the branches before the bird flew up inta a taller tree behind where I was able to get more photos as the bird held its wings open for the weak winter sun to help dry them off. Continuing on again, another Buzzard was seen, being harassed by crows before landing on a pole by the crossroads for a few seconds before once again flying off to where it had started. Great Tit, Blue Tit, Chaffinch and a Mistle Thrush were all encountered as I wandered up the side of the cemetery site. There were a few Pink Footed Geese flying around to the north so I suspected there might be a flock in the fields beyond the road which is the Dundee boundary. As the rule is that I, not necessarily the birds, have to be within Dundee (or I can be outside as long as the bird is definitely within Dundee), I scanned through the flock searching for something that wasn't a Pink Footed Goose but I was out of luck.
Tree Sparrows were my next target and I checked the area around the stables at the bottom end of the track but only found a few Redwings and Blackbirds but no Tree Sparrows. As the paths were very icy I decided to move on again. Where the Dighty had overflowed recently there was still a few large-ish pools with mostly crows around one and Oystercatchers and Curlews around the other. I weighed up my options for the rest of the day. My legs were getting tired but it was a nice day so I decided I would head for the river to try to add a few more species (potentially Red Throated Diver or maybe something unexpected). Balmossie would add too much extra distance to my walk, so I decided to head for Douglas Terrace but I changed my plan a little en route, heading down Forthill Road instead, which resulted in me ending up at the lifeboat station.
This did add both Rock Pipit and Turnstone for the day around the building itself and a Grey Heron which was roosting on the lifeboat pier along with a few Redshanks. I had a slow walk along to the Stannergate noting Red Breasted Merganser and Cormorant but there was no sign of Eider or anything new. A Grey Seal was spotted out on the river. I met a friend at the Stannergate who gave me a lift home for which I was rather grateful, saving my rather heavy legs from another couple of miles of effort. I ended the day having found a total of 50 species of which 2 (in bold) were new for my 2024 Dundee150 list. These 2 additions took my total for the year to 81, leaving me with another 3 species to get on the Sunday, as I had set myself a target of 84 species before returning to work on Monday. I knew I would have to come up with a plan to give myself the best chance of reaching that target, but there weren't too many likely birds left that were reliable enough which made my options much more limited...
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| Goldfinch |
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Great Spotted Woodpecker
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Roe Deer
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| Buzzard |
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| Linnet |
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| Linnet |
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| Buzzard |
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| Pheasant |
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Collared Dove
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| Rook |
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| Rook |
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| Skylark |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Great Tit
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| Buzzard |
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Pink Footed Goose
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Pink Footed Goose
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Rock Pipit
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Pied Wagtail
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| Oystercatcher |
Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral PIgeon, Rock Pipir, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Roe Deer.
