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| Crossbill |
With just 2 days of my 8 day holiday off work left to go, I decided to revisit Riverside Nature Park on the first of those 2 days. I was hoping I might find something - most likely a Swift, to add to my #Dundee150 list, which would take me to within touching distance of an unexpected 130 species from within Dundee, despite it still being relatively early in the year. On the 7th of May 2023 my list had reached 118, 10 species short of where my 2024 list was before I headed out birding. The weather forecast for Tuesday was better than Monday's wet beginning to the day but my plans for an early start fell by the wayside and it was just before 0725 before I was ready to head out for the hour's walk to the park.
Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Carrion Crow, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Blackbird, Jackdaw and Dunnock made for an unspectacular but steady sort of start to the day's list. Woodpigeon, Magpie and Starling were noted as I passed Dens Park, home of Dundee FC. Great Tit was added on Byron Street with Wren, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Lesser Black Backed Gull found just minutes later. As I headed down towards Logie Street an Oystercatcher flew over, calling loudly, in typical Oystercatcher fashion. A Goldcrest sang from the trees by the junction at Coupar Street. Blue Tit was seen by the football pitches at Lochee Park while Greenfinch was heard near the western extremes of Balgay Cemetery. Long Tailed Tit was the final find before I reached Riverside Nature Park.
There was a fair bit of activity around the eastern end of the park with Bullfinch, Blackbird, Blackcap, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, Magpie, Goldfinch, Rabbit, Starling, Oystercatcher, Jackdaw, Chaffinch, Song Thrush and Dunnock all noted within the first 2 minutes of the morning's visit. Whitethroat, Blue Tit, Yellowhammer, Greenfinch, Skylark and Wren found their way onto the list for the visit as I checked the sapling field to the south of Buzzard Wood. Robin, Rook, Feral Pigeon and a calling Pheasant were all noted before I wandered up through the car park and into the top half of the park.
As I headed round the paths towards the Lochan I stopped to check out a male Reed Bunting seen in flight. Moorhen, Mute Swan and a Sedge Warbler in the hedge above me were all found as I checked the Lochan. I spotted a flock of 6 Tufted Ducks in flight just before seeing a bird fly out of the hedge in front of me, towards the trees beyond the wooden gate, which turned out to be a Whitethroat. I added a Chiffchaff before finding Keith trying to track down a Lesser Whitethroat, which he'd heard singing in brief bursts just before I'd arrived. We searched for it, hearing snatches of song from various points west of the Lochan and finally both managed to get fairly poor but conclusive views of the bird. Unfortunately, I failed to get a photo and the bird promptly vanished before anyone else arrived to try to see it.
With the very unexpected Lesser Whitethroat added to my #Dundee150 list, Keith and I wandered round to check the bay. A Swallow swept over, while down in the bay Common Gull, Dunlin, Turnstone, Redshank, Cormorant, Knot and Mallard were all easily found. A skein of Pink Footed Goose were a bit of a surprise for early May. More scanning added Bar Tailed Godwit, Shelduck, Lesser Black Backed Gull and a dozen Ringed Plover in a flock with Dunlin. Both the 6 Tufted Duck and the 12 Ringed Plover were (I believe) record counts for the park. I later counted 39 Knot in flight, which also may be a record count at the park. Great Black Backed Gull, Grey Heron, Red Breasted Merganser, Black Headed Gull and Long Tailed Tit all joined the other species on the list before Keith headed homewards. I accompanied him back to the eastern end, just in case he found anything else 'good' but my luck dind't stretch quite far enough.
More wandering found House Martin, Sand Martin, Goosander, Sparrowhawk, a fishing Osprey and a distant Buzzard. I was conserving energy by choosing to stand or sit around for a while at various spots rather than make continuous loops around bits of the park. A surprise Collared Dove flew over near where we'd seen the Lesser Whitethroat earlier. I headed back up to the top of the hill for a spot of lunch and some more scanning. As I was eating a packet of crisps, some movement off to my left caught my eye and I turned to see my first Swift of the summer heading out over the bay towards Invergowrie. I was able to grab a few record shots of my 2nd #Dundee150 tick of the day, and my 130th of the year, meaning I only need another 20 to reach my target. Of course that won't be easy, even with almost 7 months left to try, and nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to birding - other than the birds will always seemingly find new ways to surprise me.
Having managed a very decent 59 species at the park I finally headed for the exit around 1430. A Skylark was heard singing from the direction of the airport as I wandered up towards the Botanic Gardens. A Chaffinch was in the roadside trees on Glamis Road. Siskin, Jay, Treecreeper, Grey Squirrel, Nuthatch, and Stock Dove, made for a surprisingly productive slow wander around Balgay Cemetery and observatory halves of Balgay Hill. As I was in no hurry to get home and seemed to be on a bit of a roll, I decided to continue on up to the top of the Law for a look from there. I knew there was a good chance of encountering the resident young male Kestrel and so it proved. From the top of the hill I was pleasantly surprised to see a flock of 10 Crossbill feeding in the conifers on the eastern side. I was able to get plenty of reasonably good photos. I had a chat with Billy, the Glaswegian photographer who I've met previously during early morning vis-mig visits to the top of the hill.
I eventually called it a day around 1730 and headed homewards. Common Gull near Tannadice Park was the final addition to the day's list. I'd managed a combined total of 68 species, made up of 59 at the Nature Park and 31 outwith. This total included the 2 new additions to my #Dundee150 list (in bold). Having reached my hoped for 130 species before the end of my holiday meant I could more or less afford to have a relatively relaxing day's birding on Wednesday before going back to work, rather than walking miles in the hope of adding something else new....though anything new found wherever I happened to go, would obviously still be most welcome. Over the course of my 2 short Spring birding holidays from work I had somehow managed to add 5 new species in 5 days in April and 7 in 8 days in May. Pretty good going....
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| Rabbit |
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| Robin |
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| Moorhen |
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Reed Bunting
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Tufted Duck
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| Whitethroat |
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Pink Footed Goose
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Dunlin & Ringed Plover
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Mute Swan
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| Dunlin |
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Bar Tailed Godwit & Knot
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| Osprey |
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Osprey & Carrion Crow
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| Osprey |
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Redshank, Dunlin & Knot
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Common Gull & Black Headed Gull
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| Goldfinch |
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Yellowhammer
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| Swift |
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| Pheasant |
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| Skylark |
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| Goldfinch |
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Stock Dove
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue
Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch,
Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Crossbill, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit,
Greenfinch, Herring Gull,
House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit,
Magpie, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Skylark, Starling, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Grey Squirrel.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blackcap,
Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit,
Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Gull,
Cormorant, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit,
Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Knot,
Lesser
Black Backed Gull, Lesser Whitethroat, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard,
Moorhen,
Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Reed
Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sedge Warbler,
Shelduck, Skylark, Song
Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler,
Woodpigeon,
Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
