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Scaup & Tufted Duck
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With Spring migration underway, I had taken a few days off work on holiday to hopefully catch up with some of the birds passing through local skies and Dundee birding sites. Overall things had seemed rather slow though latterly things had started to look a bit more like they should with more and more migrant species shwoing up across the country. One of the species that had appeared over the weekend was Grasshopper Warbler - which is never particularly easy to see, though it is usually easier to find a 'reeling' bird as their insect-like sound can carry over quite a distance, though seeing even these can often still be very tricky with the bird staying well hideen in cover. My first ever one was faintly heard over the sound of the waves at Bamburgh Castle in England at dusk, and I was able to track it down, and get glimpses of the bird in the fading light, just below the castle around 100 metres or so away. Over the past few years I've ran into a few Grasshopper Warblers in the city, though rarely more than once in any location (though likely the birds are still around, silent and skulking).
I wanted to get out around 0500 to be able to get to the 'back' of Fintry in time for sunrise. With a bit of luck I might find a Grasshopper Warbler, and perhaps even a hunting Barn Owl before the sun had cleared the horizon. Unfortunately, I dozed off again when the alarm went off at around 0345, only waking up about an hour later. I still managed to get out the door for just after 0540 and set off for Caird Park. Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Woodpigeon, Dunnock, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Lesser Black Backed Gull and Pied Wagtail all made for a productive start betwene home and Clepington Road. Greenfinch, Robin and Wren were noted on mains Loan.
Caird Park added a few more species - Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Blackcap, Blue Tit and Great Tit before I reached the steps down to the Gelly Burn and Claverhouse Road. A Great Spotted Woodpecker, a pair of Mallard, a Song Thrush, a pair of Roe Deer and a Rabbit were all found in the general area. Being a Monday, traffic on Forfar Road was already quite busy despite the early hour and I managed to hear a Siskin over the traffic noise. There were a few Magpies around by the back of the 'closies' as I headed up towards Fintry Drive and beyond. At Jack Martin Way, the first of many Willow Warblers was spotted, and Yellowhammer, Meadow Pipit, Black Headed Gull, and a small flock of Linnets were all found.
As is often the case with Grasshopper Warblers, the 'reeling' sound seeps slowly into your head as part of the background noise before your brain suddenly registers its presence. Monday's first Grasshopper Warbler was another of these situations. There was a line of brambles and stuff separating 2 fields and I suspected the bird was in amongst this cover. I wandered up the hill slowly trying to pinpoint the bird's location. It turned out to be beyond the fenceline below Powrie Castle, at the top of the slope. I took a short video of the reeling sound and managed a few glimpses of the skulky bird but failed to get anything resembling a photo. However, it was still "mission accomplished" and at my first planned stop. I contemplated heading back home rather than continuing on. It wasn't particularly warm but it did appear to be set to be the first 'nice' (and dry) day for a while. There were more birds to be found - with Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler in particular being the likeliest (or maybe even a Wheatear).
I added Skylark, Rook, a Reed Bunting and a surprise Jay before reaching the small pond between Berwick Drive and the Burnside of Duntrune road. This proved to be very quiet with only a single Little Grebe noted. A Pheasant was heard calling from somewhere to the east. A Collared Dove landed on the roof of one of the houses backing onto the path along to Middleton Woods. Starling and Stock Dove were noted as I checked the area where I found Grasshopper Warbler last year around this time, but drew a blank. I cut down through Whitfield to Drumgeith Road, noting a pair of very vocal Oystercatchers on the football pitches there, before heading east along the Dighty. It didn't take too long before I found the first Dipper of the day, singing from an undercut section of banking. Things were rather quiet overall however and it took around half an hour before the next new addition to the day's list - a Goosander. A Moorhen was heard but not seen. Long Tailed Tits and Bullfinch were found before I crossed the main road to check the area by West Pitkerro Industrial Estate.
Over the fields between there and Clearwater Park were a few Sand Martins hawking for insects. There were a few Oystercatchers and some Jackdaws and Rooks in the field and a Skylark lifted from the grass and gained height, drifting northwards. A Grey Heron flew over. A Grey Squirrel was spotted among the trees to the north of Barlow Avenue. There was a Tree Sparrow in a bush on the north side of Drumsturdy Road opposite the small row of cottages. Stock Doves seemed to be the commonest bird as I wandered slowly along to the 'crossroads', though Blue Tit, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer, Starling and Pheasant were also apparent. A Kestrel flew past heading towards where I'd just been. I wandered up to the Pitkerro Grove Cemetery. Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were singing on the walk up but the dog walking business I've seen there often was very much in evidence, so most of the birds were keeping a low profile.
I don't usually do much wandering at the cemetery but the faint sound of another reeling Grasshopper Warbler persuaded me to try and pinpoint the bird. A second Kestrel was in one of the trees just to the south. A White Wagtail perched up on the fence in front of me for a very brief moment, a few Linnets flitted around, Sand Martins zipped around overhead and a single Mistle Thrush was feeding down among the grass by one of the paths. A pair of Roe Deer were resting up in the scrubby area south of the cemetery and watched me rather warily. Unfortunately the Grasshopper Warbler went silent and I failed to work out exactly where it was before heading down the track to the crossroads and on down to the Linlathen Iron Bridge. A Goldcrest was in the trees near the burn giving me another new species for the day and a Swallow hawking for insects nearby was a second. Rather than my usual route out to Balmossie I decided instead to head down to Broughty Castle to scan from there.
The walk down added nothing new. When I finally reached the river at the lifeboat station, there was an immature Eider on the water just offshore. At Beach Crescent, a Turnstone skimmed low over the water past me and a Rock Pipit flew across the harbour by the castle. I wandered up into the castle to combine a bit of a welcome rest with some 'riverwatching'. A Pied Wagtail was perched on the wall as I entered the castle grounds. Conditions were very calm out on the Tay and I could see that there were lots of birds visible, mostly Eiders, dotted around. Among them I found a small group of Razorbills, and a single Red Throated Diver. A bit of a pleasant surprise was a small group of 4 Scaup on the water not too far from the old wooden lighthouse. Mark Wilkinson had seen 2 off Tayport on Saturday, so they weren't a complete surprise, but they are not a common bird on the Tay at all, so were a good bird to catch up with for my Dundee150 list.
I had decent close views of the resident Rock Pipits as they fed on the grass nearby. I kept hoping for a Wheatear to drop in, but it didn't happen. Just after noon, I spotted a very distant Bottlenose Dolphin breaking the surface out to the east. There were at least 3 individuals so I messaged locals Barrie Hunter and Steven Neish to let them know they were about. Barrie caught up with them off the Glass Pavillion a little later but Steven had to go to work and missed out on the opportunity. My views were always distant but I pointed them out to a few visitors to the castle, including a party of French tourists who didn't appear to speak any English but who still managed to get reasonable views with a shared set of binoculars.
Around 1230, I picked up a flock of ducks flying upriver towards me, and thought they would likely be Wigeon. They weren't though. They turned out to be a rather unexpected flock of 21 Scaup and 2 Tufted Ducks and I had good views as they passed close to the castle and flew onwards up the Tay towards Dundee and the bridges. I continued to watch the dolphins interspersed with bouts of scanning out over the river to see what I could find. Black Headed and Common Gulls flew past and a pair of distant Mute Swans were noted swimming up the Tay. After 90 minutes or so of activity the Dolphins headed over towards Tentsmuir Point and weren't seen again. A Red Throated Diver popped up not too far off the castle and a second bird was visible much further away towards the south side of the river.
A couple of Cormorants were seen distantly as they flew downriver. Before I left the castle, a flock of Siskins flew past (I've had Siskins from the castle regularly of late, though usually only a single bird rather than the small flock seen this time). A Red Breasted Merganser put in an appearance before I left the castle at around 1430 for the long walk home. A pair of Pink Footed Geese overflew silently as I headed along Douglas Terrace. Another Swallow was noted as I wandered back towards the Stannergate and a number of individual Rooks were spotted flying north across the Tay from Fife. I pondered whether or not to walk along to City Quay, in the hope of perhaps getting a singing Whitethroat from across the railway line. I chose instead to route up to Swannie Ponds to try to add a few more species for the day.
A Sparrowhawk was seen high to the north as I crossed Arbroath Road and what might've been the same bird was seen a little lower down over the cemetery not long afterwards. I had reasonably good views of some of the local Rabbits among the gravestones. The sun which had been resolutely hidden behind the grey clouds all day, decided to finally put in an appearance as I reached the top end of the cemetery. The additional heat it provided I could probably have done without though, for the last mile or so of my walk home. I added Coot and Tufted Duck at Swannie Ponds (I only found the Tufted Ducks among the Scaup flock later, when checking the photos, so hadn't previously 'counted' them on the day's list). A Buzzard drifted over the ponds and surprisingly there were still a few Goosander around, despite the rather late date. I finished the day's wanders with a total of 68 species of bird, including 2 new for the year (in bold) and 4 of mammal. A surprisingly decent day's birding even with the early start and the long walk.
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| Linnet |
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Reed Bunting
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| Dipper |
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| Goosander |
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Sand Martin
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Tree Sparrow
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Kestrel |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Pheasant |
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Stock Dove
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Roe Deer
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Common Gull
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| Swallow |
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| Rook |
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| Turnstone |
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| Razorbill |
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| Scaup |
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| Eider |
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Black Headed Gull
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Rock Pipit
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Pied Wagtail
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Red Throated Diver
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| Siskin |
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| Rook |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Rabbit |
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| Coot |
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| Sparrowhawk |
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit,
Bullfinch, Buzzard,
Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot,
Cormorant, Dipper, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch,
Goosander, Grasshopper Warbler, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great
Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet,
Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit,
Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher,
Pheasant, Pied Wagtail (& White Wagtail), Pink Footed Goose, Razorbill, Red Breasted Merganser, Red Throated Diver, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock
Pipit, Rook, Sand Martin, Scaup, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk,
Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Turnstone,
Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren,
Yellowhammer.
Mammals - Bottlenose Dolphin, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit, Roe Deer.
