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| Dunnock |
The weather forecast for my day off on Wednesday had looked reasonable for the morning at least, when I went to bed on Tuesday night. However, when I checked the weather when I woke up, I discovered that the rain was coming in much earlier, pretty much writing off the whole day for me getting out birding. With a back-log of blog-posts and photos aplenty to be edited, I figured I could try to make some use of being stuck at home. I enjoyed a bit of a lie-in for a few extra hours but there was no sign of the rain when I did eventually get out of bed. It was overcast but it wasn't raining. The sun even made a half-hearted attempt to burn through the clouds. I decided I should head out somewhere after all. If things looked reasonably promising I would maybe head out to Balmossie or Clearwater Park. If not quite so promising I would stay a bit closer to home...
It was 1050 by the time I made it outside. Swannie Ponds, via the 'high road' was my initial destination. Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Starling, Feral Pigeon and Carrion Crow got my list for the day underway. Magpie, Woodpigeon and Robin were seen on the walk up towards Clepington Road. I added a singing Dunnock at Clive Street and a Blue Tit overflew towards Martin Street as I neared the ponds. Descending down the steps I could see a Grey Heron towards the far end of the island. There appeared to be more Tufted Ducks around than anything else, though it turned out that a lot of the Mallards were asleep on the island. There were Black Headed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Coot, Goosander, and Moorhens on the top pond. The Mute Swan pair were stood on the grass between the 2 ponds.
A Greenfinch flew over from the island as I wandered round to check the rear of the island. The Shoveler pair were roosting on the small area of grass at the end of the island alongside a number of Mallards and the Grey Heron had relocated to the fallen tree. An Oystercatcher flew over calling loudly as I was waiting to cross the road. Rather than continue on to Eastern Cemetery I chose to pay a visit to Spring Grove in Baxter Park. There were Goldfinches and Siskins in the trees near the bowling green and a number of Blackbirds were seen feeding down on the ground behind the bushes as I headed for the steps down to the 'grove'. Although things weren't particularly busy I did manage to add Chaffinch, a pair of Bullfinches, Great Tit and Long Tailed Tits to the list as well as seeing a few Dunnocks, Blackbirds and Blue Tits close by.
A single Stock Dove flew over to the trees to the east and there were a few Woodpigeons and Magpies perched up in some of the other trees. A small flock of Redwings were feeding down on the grass behind the pavillion, and as I watched them I spotted movement around the roots of one of the trees beside them. This turned out to be a Treecreeper which promptly vanished round the other side of the trunk before I got anywhere near it. I did have reasonably close views of one of the Redwings as it found and quickly swallowed an earthworm. City Quay was my next choice of destination. A Song Thrush was heard singing as I walked down Dalkeith Road.
A Grey Wagtail called as I wandered alongpast the Nynas office building but I failed to pick it up, despite it sounding very close. A little further on, I spotted a distant raptor flying away from me northwards towards Arbroath Road. I rattled off a few photos which confirmed the ID as a female Sparrowhawk, despite the distance. The outer part of the quay area seemed empty of birds until I reached the northwestern corner from where I spotted a single Cormorant and a Red Breasted Merganser drake fishing. Things were otherwise rather quiet in the quay so I wandered to the river for a look. The tide was well out and the two rocky islets looked much larger than I recall ever seeing them. There were a few Cormorants stood atop them as well as a single Oystercatcher. A female Red Breasted Merganser and a trio of Eider were around the end of one of the islets.
I could see a flock of Red Breasted Mergansers between the bridges. As I checked them out, I spotted a flock of 9 swans heading east between the bridges. I was sure they would be Mute Swans but had to rule out Whooper Swan so I took a number of photos which were far from clear but later at home showed that the birds were indeed the expected Mute Swans. Interestingly the flock gained height to go over the Fife end of the bridge rather than pass underneath before continuing on towards Tayport. A few minutes later another Mute Swan flew over much closer to the Dundee end. I headed along towards the V&A but didn't add anything new on the way, before walking up through the Overgate for a look at the Howff, though a flock of Goldfinches was the only thing seen there. I headed home from there having noted a total of 37 species over the course of a couple of hour's worth of walking.
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Grey Heron
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Shoveler & Mallard
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| Shoveler |
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| Siskin |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Dunnock |
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| Blackbird |
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| Dunnock |
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing |
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| Redwing |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Cormorant |
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Mute Swan
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Mute Swan
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Mute Swan
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| Red Breasted Merganser |
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Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coot, Cormorant, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Red Breasted Merganser, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Shoveler, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon.
