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| Goosander |
Following on from Friday's successful Spotted Flycatcher hunt at Clatto with Lainy, my original plan for Saturday had been to head for Riverside Nature Park to try to connect with the Mediterranean Gull which has been seen by Keith, Mark and Lainy recently but which has seemingly managed to elude me. I did have a good candidate for the bird on one visit but the details visible on the photos of the sleeping bird were inconclusive due largely to distance and 'heat shimmer'. Due to the times of the tides I surmised that Sunday appeared to be the slightly better option. I decided to walk out to Balmossie and Broughty Ferry instead. There would be a chance of getting Mediterranean Gull there though a lot would depend on the levels of disturbance on the beach where the gulls attempt to roost.
I was out the door for 0810 and immediately found Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie and Feral Pigeon. A few minutes later Dunnock, House Sparrow, Robin and Blue Tit joined them on the list. Great Tit and House Martin were both noted as I wandered out along Clepington Road towards Swannie Ponds. Black Headed Gull, Mallard, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Coot and Lesser Black Backed Gulls were all added at the ponds. The walk from there to Eastern Cemetery saw Collared Dove, Starling and Blackbird being found en route. Woodpigeon, Long Tailed Tit, Wren, Swift and a trio of Jays kept things interesting and there were also plenty of Rabbits around.
As I walked down Craigie Avenue a Grey Wagtail flew over westwards. There were Goldfinches in the trees beyond the industrial units. Having seen the odd dog walker in the area beyond the brambles, I decided to do a spot of exploring. Although there wasn't much to be seen, there is certainly potential for early morning migrant finds in what is a largely undisturbed area. The walk out to Broughty Ferry proved to be fairly quiet though Curlew, Goosander, Grey Heron, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Cormorant and Eider were all seen. A Turnstone was roosting with a few Redshanks on the lifeboat jetty. I wandered up into the castle for a spot of scanning from there though the wind made it tricky and I didn't linger long before continuing round to the shelter of the eastern side of the castle walls.
Pied Wagtails, a pair of Linnets, more Goldfinches and a few of the resident House Sparrows were in the area, though once again Rock Pipits were oddly lacking. The first Osprey of the day was seen distantly as it fished off Tentsmuir. After 20 minutes or so, I continued on eastwards. There were a few Bar Tailed Godwits down by the water though the number of dog walkers around - even on the 'dog free' beach, despite the signs, did suggest that they wouldn't get peace to feed for very much longer. A Great Black Backed Gull was also in the same general area. I checked to see if the prospective Dune Stinkhorn fungus that I'd found the previous weekend was still standing and was rather surprised to find that it was. I took a few more photos, and at home later, noticed pink around the base, where the 'egg' that it grows from should be. As this is apparently a distinctive feature for Dune Stinkhorn it would seem to indicate that it was indeed the much less common species of Stinkhorn after all.
Moving on again towards Balmossie, I added Common Gull and a few passing Sand Martins. A small mixed flock of waders were flushed from the beach by dog walkers and landed just beyond the steps where most walkers leave the sand. I spent a while watching the mixed group of Dunlin, Sanderling and Ringed Plover before leaving them to their feeding. While watching from the edge of the car park, a dog walker pushed past me and headed down onto the beach, flushing the lot. Carrying on along the final stretch to Balmossie I noticed that the sky was looking rather threatening and it appeared that rain was looking imminent. There were hundreds of gulls in the burn and on the seaweed covered shore. I checked through the waders first, knowing that it would take a while to check the gulls properly.
It started to rain so I headed for the shelter of the path below the railway footbridge. I spotted an Osprey fishing while it rained. Thnkfully, due to the strong winds, the rain didn't last long and I headed back to scan through the gulls. Just as I reached the edge of the vegetation at the top of the rock armour a small ball arced its way through the air from the shore just below me. A Labrador type dog rushed out after it, scattering the 100s of gulls and other birds in all directions. The gulls circled round but the dog refused to return to the walkers for 5 minutes or so, meaning that the vast majority of birds chose to move off elsewhere instead of returning to the same bit of beach where they had been. Fairly typical, but very frustrating.
I scanned through what was left adding Rook to the list but another shower of rain interrupted things again. I picked up a distant Gannet heading upriver. I decided to head back in the direction of the castle and home as there appeared to be very little happening offshore and with the reduced numbers of birds on the shore, there was little point in lingering longer than necessary. There wasn't much to see on the walk back but as the sun was out I decided to have a look for Holly Blue butterflies at the original Dundee site where the species turned up last year. I managed to find at least 4 and even got some resting shots of a few of them. There was also a Green Veined White flitting about in the same area. There was a Peacock butterfly on the ground on the other side of the railway line.
A Sparrowhawk was seen in hunting mode when I reached the Stannergate and a Chaffinch was found on the way up through Eastern Cemetery taking the list for the day to a final total of 50 species of birds, 3 of butterflies and 1 of mammal. Overall a relatively disappointing day's birding, though the Holly Blues showing nicely made up for some of that sense of slight disappointment. Given the windy conditions, I'm not sure my luck would have been much better had I stuck with my original plan and gone to Riverside Nature Park instead. There was no report of any Mediterranean Gull (or anything else) from there, so I don't feel like I missed out on a good opportunity. Hopefully, there's still time to catch up with Mediterranean Gull at both ends of the city, as well as Skuas in the Tay, so fingers crossed for future success with both.
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| Rabbit |
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| Swift |
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| Jay |
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| Curlew |
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| Redshank |
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| Cormorant |
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| Oystercatcher |
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Hering Gull
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Grey Wagtail
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| Linnet |
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Pied Wagtail
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| Goldfinch |
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Bar Tailed Godwit & Common Gull
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Ringed Plover
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| Sanderling |
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| Dunlin |
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Ringed Plover
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Black Headed Gull
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Common Gull & Osprey
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| Osprey |
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Holly Blue
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Holly Blue
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Hoverfly sp.
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Hoverfly spp.
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Hoverfly sp.
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| Peacock |
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Grey Heron
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Birds - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion
Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin,
Dunnock, Eider, Gannet, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull,
Great Tit, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House
Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit,
Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher,
Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook,
Sand Martin, Sanderling, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift,
Turnstone, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Green Veined White, Holly Blue, Peacock.
Mammals - Rabbit.
