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| Skylark |
Ian had messaged me in midweek to say he was free on Saturday afternoon for some birding, if I fancied a change of scenery for a few hours. With it being June, there's not a huge amount of variety to be had anywhere in particular. I came up with a few suggestions in case nothing interesting cropped up between the original message and pick-up time on Saturday. Seawatching at Fife Ness, or Arbroath was my preferred option. Others were a walk out along the beach at Tentsmuir from Tayport to Tentsmuir Point, or a walk at Easthaven to hatton, or even Westhaven to the Craigmill Burn mouth, a trip up one of the closer Angus glens, or a visit to the Tay reedbeds.
I was tempted to do some birding somewhere on Saturday morning but was a bit too tired and the weather was a bit too warm to walk anywhere too far away so I stayed at home instead. Ian messaged me late morning to say he was running a bit late but that he'd message me when he was a few minutes away. Rather than our noon departure it was around 1215 when Ian messaged me and I headed out to meet him. A female Sparrowhawk glided over upsetting the local Feral Pigeons and Herring Gulls as I stepped outside. A Woodpigeon was seen just around the corner and I added Jackdaw to the list before Ian arrived. I'd been reconsidering our options while waiting for Ian to arrive and suggested heading for Tayport, as it was relatively close and there was a reasonable chance of a mix of species.
We headed in the direction of the Tay roadbridge but found a lengthy tailback as we got closer. I suggested we head for Arbroath instead, so we set off in that direction. As we left Dundee, I wondered about the army firing ranges at Barry Buddon as a closer option. A quick check online to see if the range was active confirmed it wasn't, meaning it was open to the public, so we decided to save a bit of time and head there instead as Ian had never actually visited before. We added a small flock of Rooks by the roadside on the way to Monifieth. It was 1305 when we reached the car park just at the eastern end of Barry Buddon. As we wandered in there were a number of smaller birds noted - Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Wren, Yellowhammer, Linnet and Reed Bunting. A distant Kestrel was noted out to the east being harassed by a couple of corvids. There seemed to be a lot of Meadow Pipits around, mostly carrying food back to hidden nest sites. A Swallow overflew, a Magpie appeared in a tree by the cycle path and a pair of Goldfinches were also seen.
A small group of Black Headed Gulls headed inland over our heads. Both Pied and Grey Wagtails were seen as we reached what I thought was the right junction to take us out towards the lighthouse. Although it turned out not to be, it did prove to be a relatively productive route anyway. An Oystercatcher flew over and the first of the day's Skylarks were spotted hovering over the long grass by the road we were walking out along. A couple of Swallows and a Sand Martin were hunting insects low over the grassy areas off to either side of us. As we left the road to continue on along a dirt track, a male Common Blue butterfly flitted up from the trackside and vanished into the long grass before I could get a photo. Ian picked out a few House Martins zipping around out of the wind behind some conifers. A Fulmar glided and flapped its way over us, despite us being a bit back from the estuary.
We almost stood on a couple of Small Copper butterflies sunning themselves on the track. Ian spotted a Buzzard over the golf course to the north of us, which drew some unwanted attention from a Carrion Crow and a Kestrel. A Starling flew into a small tree before the behaviour of a vocal Carrion Crow grabbed my attention. The reason for its constant calling turned out to be a Fox in the long grass - the top of its head just being visible when it stopped to watch the crow. We reached a couple of signs which indicated we could go no further - as it was a grenade range. Although it wasn't clear whether the 'keep out' only applied to the longer grass where the signs were, and not the open track through the middle, we decided not to take any chances and instead headed back the way we'd came. A pair of Stock Doves were spotted, as were a few House Sparrows aon the walk back. A probable Fritilary butterfly was glimpsed in flight. Chaffinch, Bullfinch, Dunnock and Lesser Redpoll were all noted as we neared the western end of the range complex and the car park beyond. We had a scan from the edge of the football pitches but Eider and Lesser Black Backed Gull were all we could see.
I suggested we head along to Balmossie in the hope of a bit more variety. This did actually work out in our favour with 3 Goosander, a lone Canada Goose and a large flock of Mute Swans all off the mouth of the Dighty Burn. A Greenfinch flew past us before we moved back to the more 'out of the wind' sheltered spot by the footbridge. From here, Ian picked out a distant Sandwich Tern and I spotted a small-ish flock of Common Scoters. With time now very much against us, we headed homewards. Ian dropped me off at Swannie Ponds, so I could (hopefully) add a few more species for the day's total. Mallard, Coot, Tufted Duck and Moorhen took the list for the afternoon to 48 species of bird, 2 of butterfly and 1 of mammal. Although I had only really ventured 3 miles outside of Dundee, it had still been an enjoyable afternoon's worth of birding and, as always, it was good to catch up with Ian (our last planned outing had to be cancelled at short notice due to Ian being unwell). It would seem I do need to work on my navigation though - in my defence, it is very difficult to see small detail on an iPhone screen in bright sunshine, but it did result in exploring a new bit of the range complex for me anyway.
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Meadow Pipit
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| Skylark |
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| Fulmar |
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| Fulmar |
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| Fulmar |
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Small Copper
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| Buzzard |
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Carrion Crow, Buzzard & Kestrel
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Bumblebee sp.
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Pied Wagtail
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| Dung-Fly |
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7-Spot Ladybird
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Linnet & Yellowhammer
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Lesser Redpoll
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Lesser Redpoll
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| Goldfinch |
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Meadow Pipit
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Lesser Black Backed Gull
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Mute Swan & Canada Goose
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Common Scoter
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Sandwich Tern
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Birds - Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Scoter, Coot, Dunnock, Eider, Fulmar, Goldfinch, Goosander, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Skylark, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Tufted Duck, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies - Common Blue, (Fritilary sp.), Small Copper.
Mammals - Fox.
