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Pied Wagtail
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The weather forecast for Wednesday the 17th of April was far better than the previous Wednesday which meant that it would actually be possible to get out birding with my birding buddy, Susan, who I've not seen since last year. I wasn't sure how much time we would have, so I decided to head out early down to Riverside Nature Park, and to meet Susan there at 0900, her preferred meeting time. My plan for the day was to roughly mirror the recent ADBC outing and to see how the 2 birding days compared - with better weather and tide times in our favour this time. I wanted to be at the Nature Park as early as I possibly could, but I fell back to sleep after the very early alarm went off.
I did still make it out for 0550, which was still around sunrise. The first birds on the day's list were fairly standard fayre - Starling, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Blackbird, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow and Woodpigeon. Singing Chaffinch and Song Thrush provided an aural backdrop as I crossed Dens Road. Blue Tit was noted on Canning Street with Magpie and Goldfinch in Harcourt Street. A detour up to the north side of the Law got me Collared Dove en route. Dunnock, Wren, Great Tit, Blackcap, a pair of drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a pair of Jays and a singing Chiffchaff made the visit fairly worthwhile. I continued on to Balgay Hill where Siskin, Robin, Willow Warbler, Treecreeper, Stock Dove and Nuthatch were added to the morning's expanding list. Greenfinch and Coal Tit (plus a Rabbit) were the final species found before I reached the Nature Park around 0710.
The park visit got underway with a selection of species I'd already seen or heard on the walk down - Chiffchaff, Greenfinch, Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch and Herring Gull. Oystercatcher was a new species for the day, though Dunnock, Wren, Robin and Blackcap were also already on the day's list. Both Rook and Jackdaw were soon noted and the walk round towards the bay added Song Thrush, Reed Bunting, Goldfinch and a Sparrowhawk. A Grey Heron flew over, as did a Common Gull a few minutes later. The first Skylark of the morning was picked out against the sky as it spiralled up singing over the hill. A quartet of Moorhens and the Mute Swan pair were noted at the Lochan. A Meadow Pipit overflew as I wandered on to check the bay.
Mallard, Magpie, Redshank, Teal, Black Headed Gull and Lesser Black Backed Gull were picked out as I scanned out over the bay as the rising tide covered some of the visible mud. I wandered on round the back of the hill finding a passing Sand Martin, hearing the 'invisible' Pheasant and noting Blue Tit and Willow Warbler before heading up to the top of the hill to try to scan from there. It was still relatively cold and although the wind was slightly lighter than of late, it wasn't great for attempting to find birds from the rather exposed spot. This didn't stop me from adding Siskin, Starling, Shelduck, Linnet, Black Tailed Godwit (a species Susan was hoping to see), Yellowhammer and a Cormorant. A few Dunlin flew in with a flock of Redshanks before I headed down to the car park to wait for Susan to arrive. There were a few Rabbits around including a youngster which gave me very close views under the Buddleias bordering the path. Great Tit was seen in the bushes at the car park and while waiting for Susan (who got slightly delayed in traffic at the bridge) I managed to get decent views of a Coal Tit and a pair of Stock Doves while a skein of Pink Footed Geese made it onto the list of species for the morning.
Once Susan arrived we headed round to try to get the Black Tailed Godwits for her year-list, only to find they weren't where I'd left them. Thankfully, they had moved a lot closer and we managed reasonably good views from the raised banking before getting better views round at the hide. We bumped into Keith as he too arrived at the hide, as we were watching Susan's first Osprey of the year over the bay being harassed by gulls and Oystercatchers. Despite plenty of scanning we failed to add anything else. However as we wandered back from the hide, I heard a Tree Pipit call from close by, and as we stopped to try to locate the source, a bird flew up from the lone Willow near the wooden gate not far from the path junctions. It called a couple more times as it gained height and flew off to the north. An unexpected bonus bird for both of us. A Pied Wagtail flew over as we wandered back to the car taking my total for the park visit to 50 species (including a Dundee150 tick - in bold).
We decided against a quick visit to Balgay Hill, and instead headed off to Broughty Ferry to see what we could find there. We arrived at the castle around 1030, quickly noting Eider though Rock Pipit took a bit more effort. We ended up having a quick look inside the Castle museum as Susan had never been there before. We then headed out to Balmossie where the tide state meant there wasn't a huge selection though we did still add Bar Tailed Godwit, Redshank, Knot, Oystercatcher, Wigeon, Jackdaw, Mute Swan, Turnstone, Mallard, Goosander and Dunlin as well as a Sparrowhawk hunting over the gardens to the north of the railway line. Our next destination was the Dighty Burn. A quick walk along the Sainsbury's section failed to add anything. The main section of the walk added Buzzard, Long Tailed Tit, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Bullfinch, Dipper, Grey Heron, another Pink Footed Goose skein and Grey Wagtail, as well as a couple of Roe Deer and a few Small Tortoiseshell butterflies sunning themselves while a Dark Edged Bee-Fly was spotted by Susan close to the butterflies.
Unfortunately it began to rain as we returned to the car. I had suggested we head up to the Pitkerro Grove Cemetery to check the walk down to the crossroads for warblers. Susan was hoping to be headed homewards for around 1400, which meant that the heavy rain put paid to potentially adding anything new there. Susan dropped me off at Swannie Ponds, just as the sun reappeared. There was a pair of Sand Martins whizzing around overhead and I added Coot and Tufted Duck to the day's list at the ponds. I had a quick look at Spring Grove in Baxter Park before heading homewards having found a total of 57 species outwith the park, taking the combined total to 71. Had we had the extra time for a visit to Clatto and Templeton Woods we would likely have added another 3 or 4 species, at least, to take my total for the day to 75. It was a very worthwhile and enjoyable exercise being out birding with Susan, as always though it was over all too quickly. However provisional plans were put in place for a re-run sometime soon.
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Rook |
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| Blackcap |
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| Rabbit |
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| Shelduck |
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Meadow Pipit
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| Chaffinch |
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Coal Tit
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Oystercatcher & Osprey
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Lesser Black Backed Gull, Oystercatcher & Osprey
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Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit (& Dunlin)
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Pink Footed Goose
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| Eider |
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| Eider |
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Carrion Crow & Buzzard
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Grey Heron
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Roe Deer
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| Magpie |
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Small Tortoiseshell
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Dark Edged Bee-Fly
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| Dipper |
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Coot & Herring Gull
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| Moorhen |
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Tufted Duck
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Sand Martin
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| Woodpigeon |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird,
Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard,
Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Coot,
Dipper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch,
Goosander, Great Spotted
Woodpecker, Great
Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull,
House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Jay, Knot, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit,
Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Nuthatch,
Oystercatcher,
Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sand
Martin, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk,
Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon,
Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Small Tortoiseshell.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit, Roe Deer.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap,
Black Headed Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull,
Cormorant, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great
Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron,
Herring Gull,
Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull,
Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher,
Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon,
Rook, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark,
Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren,
Yellowhammer.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
