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| Osprey |
Having 'done' Broughty Ferry and Balmossie on Thursday it was back to Riverside Nature Park for me on Friday. Although there were no particularly obvious species for my #Dundee150 list to be looked for, winds from the east meant there was still a chance of something unexpected turning up. The weather forecast was for rather warm sunshine and blue skies. With temperatures of around 20°C being forecast I wasn't especially looking forward to spending all day out in it, but an early start would mean that I could still squeeze in a lot of birding before it got too warm for me. Dropping in to Western Cemetery on the way home to see if I could find a Wall butterfly which had been photographed the previous weekend, and which would be a new Dundee butterfly for me, was an option, as was the more shaded option of searching the trees on Balgay Hill for something interesting there.
With sunrise and high tide somewhere around 0625 I wanted to be at the park as early as I could. As usual, the very early start fell by the wayside though getting out the door for 0605 didn't feel like it would hamper my chances of finding something good, too much. Pre-sunrise, Herring Gull, Robin, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Magpie, Great Tit and Wren were all noted. Feral Pigeon, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Starling, Jackdaw, Goldfinch and House Sparrow made for an equally 'normal' haul once the sun had cleared the horizon (even if I couldn't see it at any point along the route I was taking). Black Headed Gulls, Common Gulls and 4 Oystercatchers were at the football pitches at Lochee Park, and the sun was seen climbing out from behind the Law. Balgay Cemetery added Bullfinch, as well as migrant Meadow Pipit and Swallows passing overhead. Coal Tit and Dunnock were seen before I reached the Nature Park.
At the eastern end of the park things were relatively quiet though Herring Gull, Starling, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Woodpigeon, Great Tit, Bullfinch, Robin, Chaffinch and Wren were all noted within the first 5 minutes. Song Thrush, Jackdaw, Grey Wagtail and Dunnock soon followed as I made my way to the Lochan. Moorhens were the only birds there though a Reed Bunting called from the hedge above me and a flock of Feral Pigeons overflew. I spent a while checking the bushes at the junction of paths at the western end of the Lochan path which did produce Whitethroat and Blackbird as well as Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blue Tit. A Buzzard glided past at the same time as a Sparrowhawk headed out across the bay. Sand Martin, Meadow Pipit and a surprise pair of Mistle Thrush provided evidence of migrants on the move above.
I had a quick look of the bay from the raised banking which showed I'd spent a bit too much time focused on the bushes as there was already quite a lot of exposed mud. Black Headed Gull, Cormorant and Redshank were quickly noted before I hurried round to the hide. From the hide I was able to add Dunlin, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Black Tailed Godwit and Curlew. I spotted one of the local Kingfishers flying along the front of the reedbed passing the aforementioned Curlew which was tucked in at the very edge of the reeds. Beside it was a smaller darker bird which was seen as the Kingfisher passed. This turned out to be the first sighting of Water Rail from the park - though the species was heard by Mark Wilkinson previously and was on the list as a result. It was a patch tick for me, however. A pair of Sedge Warblers were in the same general area at the front of the reedbed.
There were Long Tailed Tits in the trees around the hide. With the majority of birds on the mud hidden by the vegetation I decided to head back round to the raised banking again. I ran into Lainy with her 'big' scope at the end of the long straight path to the hide. We both wandered back round for a better look at the birds down in the bay. With the benefit of Lainy's scope we were able to find a trio of Sanderling and to get confirmation of a Curlew Sandpiper I'd picked up in flight with a flock of Dunlin. The calm conditions and time of the year meant Ospreys were a certainty and so it proved with at least 3 or 4 birds visiting the bay over the couse of the next hour or so. Pied Wagtail, Stock Dove and Collared Dove were all seen in flight along with more Meadow Pipits and hirundines.
Down in the bushes we had lots of activity with Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Blackbirds, Song Thrushes, Robins, Bullfinches, Chiffchaffs, Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Dunnocks and Wrens all feeding among the bushes. It felt that there should be something interesting amongst them but if there was we failed to see or hear it. Bar Tailed Godwit, Knot, Great Black Backed Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Mallard, Sandwich Tern and Teal were all found down in the bay. A Willow Warbler put in an appearance with a short burst of song. I spotted a flock of around 20 small birds just after hearing calls approaching. They were Tree Sparrows that would've been a bit too high had I not seen them through binoculars first. Keith had joined us by this time and he thought he'd seen a possible Redstart down on the path by the row of bushes to the north. I went round the back while Lainy and Keith watched from the path side.
There was plenty of activity round on the sunny side where I was, though nothing particularly uncommon was seen. A few Skylarks flew over and there were a few small groups over the next hour or so. Peacock, Speckled Wood and Red Admiral butterflies were all new for the day in the sunny, sheltered spot where I was watching. I was joined by Keith and Lainy who had also drawn a blank on the possible Redstart before Keith headed off homewards. Lainy and I got a few more photos before taking her scope back to her car and doing a circuit of the park to see what else we could find. This turned out to be mostly insects with Small White and Green Veined White butterflies plus Common Blue Damselfly and a few mating pairs of Common Darter dragonflies, one of which posed nicely for us, near the Lochan. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was also heard but not seen while we were at the Lochan, taking the total for the park visit to 62 species without even trying too hard.
With the tide already well out, we decided to head up to Western Cemetery to see if we could find a Wall butterfly, our first in Dundee. Our expectations were rather low as the butterfly had been quite a worn looking individual when it was seen 6 days previously. We reached the Cemetery around noon and headed up to the area at the top where we had seen Holly Blues on our previous visit together via the area where the Wall had been seen. Not surprisingly we were out of luck with the Wall and we found a distinct lack of Holly Blues along the Ivy covered wall where I'd seen them on my own recent visits. A Sparrowhawk flew over and seconds later I spotted a Buzzard circling to the southwest. There were House Martins hawking for insects high overhead.
A Holly Blue flew past us but refused to settle before we headed up to check the Buddleia bush between the top two sections of the Cemetery. This was covered with Peacock butterflies and to Lainy's delight a rather pristine Painted Lady. A few minutes later I spotted a tussling pair of Speckled Woods circling up among the trees at the top section. A Red Admiral dropped in to the Buddleia as did a Large White. A bit more searching produced another Speckled Wood sighting before we went to look for more Holly Blues. We were in luck at the eastern wall with at least 2 individuals active around the small area of Ivy there. Lainy found a Wasp eating a hoverfly which I grabbed a bit of video of, and I had decent views of a (probable Pimpla rufipes female) Ichneumon Wasp as it hunted along the same section of wall. We had another wander up to the back of the cemetery before calling it a day and this added a very brief sighting of a Comma.
Lainy kindly gave me a very welcome lift home to round off what had been another fairly successful day out without producing anything 'new' other than the Water Rail patch tick, though there were plenty of 'good' birds (and butterflies) to be seen and heard. I finished the day with a total of 68 species of bird (Keith and Lainy also saw a Red Breasted Merganser while I was watching the birds behind the hedge, that I didn't) made up of 64 species at the park and 28 outwith. In addition, 9 species of butterflies was a decent haul for September, and 2 of Odonata (Dragonflies/Damselflies) was also nice to get at the park at this time of year.
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| Whitethroat |
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| Buzzard |
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Mistle Thrush
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Meadow Pipit
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Curlew & Water Rail
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| Osprey |
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| Blackcap |
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| Dunlin |
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Little Egret
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Herring Gull & Osprey
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Tree Sparrow
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| Skylark |
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| Blackcap |
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| Chiffchaff |
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Reed Bunting
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| Blackcap |
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| Robin |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Whitethroat |
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Small White
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Common Darter
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Common Darter
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| Sparrowhawk |
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Painted Lady
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Pimpla Rufipes (Ichneumon Wasp)
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Wasp sp. & Hoverfly sp.
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Holly Blue
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Holly Blue
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Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Dunnock,
Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black
Backed
Gull, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Comma, Holly Blue, Large White, Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blackcap,
Black Headed
Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common
Gull, Cormorant, Curlew,
Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch,
Grey Heron,
Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Knot,
Lapwing, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Little Egret, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie,
Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail,
Redshank, Reed Bunting, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sand Martin, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Sedge Warbler, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove,
Swallow, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Water Rail, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Green Veined White, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small White, Speckled Wood.
Dragonflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Common Blue Damselfly, Common Darter.
