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| Kestrel |
I had originally planned on an early start and a walk out to Broughty Ferry to catch the tide receding before the dog walkers made it out 'en masse'. However, I woke up before the alarm was due to go off and felt a little 'under the weather', so I cancelled the alarm and went back to sleep. I still wasn't feeling too great when I did get out of bed but decided to head for the top of the Law for an hour or so. It was after 0830 before I managed to get organised. The weather forecast looked decent, if a little warm. There was a fair bit of cloud too, which did offer potential for spotting distant birds a little easier.
House Sparrow was first onto the list for the day, as soon as I stepped outside. Herring Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Dunnock and Swift all followed in rapid succession. Woodpigeon, Jackdaw, Magpie, Goldfinch and Starling were noted as I headed for the top of the Hilltown area. Feral Pigeon, Robin and House Martin were all spotted on the final uphill stretch. Coal Tit, Great Tit and Long Tailed Tits were in the trees by the steps up to the hill-top. I made it to the top of the hill for 0900 and settled in my usual spot, up by the trig point. Things did appear to be rather quiet both from the slopes and overhead, which didn't particularly bode well.
Chiffchaff and Wren were both heard quite early on and a Dunnock landed on a bin down by the rather empty car park a few minutes later. Swift, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow and Magpie were the main 'locals' throughout my time at the top, with at least one of the quartet almost constantly in view, though not always close. Blackbird and a singing Blaccap were heard from the western side of the hill, with a Chaffinch also noted a few minutes later from the north side. I spotted a Peregrine perched on Cox's Stack, though it would have been very easy to overlook. Just before 0955 the first Sparrowhawk (other than one seen from my living room before I'd set off) - a male, glided over towards the northeast. A Black Headed Gull glided past to the south around the same time. Although I had intended on a fairly short visit, I decided to stick around, despite things being relatively quiet.
A couple of Lesser Black Backed Gulls were seen circling out to the west just after 1000. A House Martin circled overhead around 1010. Ten minutes later I looked up to see a Kestrel approaching from the northeast. It passed overhead before circling up for a minute or so before continuing on out to the southwest. A Buzzard and a female Sparrowhawk circled up out to the west around 1040 and a second Buzzard was noted around 1050 heading in the direction of Balgay Hill from the northwest. Another Sparrowhawk sighting off to the south and a very distant Buzzard out to the west kept things ticking over as I pondered heading for home around noon. I heard a couple of Bullfinches in among the trees towards the back of the hill but failed to see them.
Another Black Headed Gull, a Sparrowhawk and a heard only Siskin rounded things off before I called it a day around 1330, much later than expected. As I reached the car park at the foot of the steps, the local Kestrel flew into view from the east and began hunting over the long grass just above the car park. I spent the next five minutes or so, grabbing plenty of photos of the hovering bird as it worked its way slowly west along the access road, before a Magpie chased it off and I headed homewards. While it hadn't been a classic morning's birding at the top of the hill, it had been interesting enough to sustain 4 and a half hours worth of birding. A total of 30 species of birds were noted, though only really Kestrel, Herring Gull and Magpie gave particularly close views.
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| Dunnock |
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| Swift |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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House Martin
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Lesser Black Backed Gull
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| Kestrel |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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Sparrowhawk & Buzzard
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Herring Gull
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Black Headed Gull
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House Martin
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House Martin
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| Magpie |
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| Peregrine |
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| Magpie |
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| Magpie |
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| Swift |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
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| Kestrel |
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Peregrine, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swift, Woodpigeon, Wren.
