 |
Grey Heron
|
Although the Hawfinch found on the 5th of November gave me a bit of a
lift, there were still no really obvious target birds to try for.
Although there were a couple of geese flocks around the western edges of
the city, as well as plenty overflying Riverside Nature Park in the mornings, so far
there had only been a few Barnacle Geese and a Greylag Goose among them,
and I had managed to miss out on the Barnacle Goose at Clatto which
Lainy had found. With no clear target species, I decided to try a walk
around a few of the less visited sites within a mile or two of home for
my birding on Sunday the 10th, having spent Saturday afternoon in Fife with Ian seeing the Spotted Sandpiper and a few other birds that had so far eluded me in Dundee this year. My expectation levels for the walk were obviously
rather low but at least by getting out somewhere, I was increasing my chances of
potentially finding something.
The sky was rather overcast, though
thankfully not quite as driech as the previous day's trip over to Fife, as I
headed out at 1110. A Chaffinch calling got things underway followed by
the far more typical Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow and
Robin combination. A Dunnock was noted on the walk up Arklay Street and the day's Magpie was
seen on Clepington Road. The walk down to the Kingsway added Grey
Wagtail, Blue Tit, House Sparrow, Goldfinch and Redwing. Caird Park was
my first actual destination for the day and although things were relatively
quiet, I was able to get Wren and Blackbird at the golf course and
Mallard, Moorhen, Grey Heron and Siskin around the ponds.
I was
headed to the wasteground at Mains Terrace next and then onwards to Swannie Ponds after that. Coal Tit, Jackdaw
and Black Headed Gull were seen as I headed up past Mains Castle and on
to the RPC stadiums. There was a flock of 50 Oystercatchers, in company
with a single Curlew feeding on the grass within the velodrome circuit.
Goldcrest and Long Tailed Tits were in the trees as I wandered up
towards the Kingsway again, along with at least one Great Tit and a Treecreeper. There
was next to nothing to be found at Mains Terrace, though I did get a
Collared Dove just after crossing the Kingsway. Swannie Ponds
held familiar fayre with Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Goosander, Mute Swan,
Tufted Duck, Herring Gull, Black Headed Gull and a single Common Gull. I failed to find any ringed birds among the lower than usual gull numbers. A Mistle Thrush flew in, as if to land on the island but instead carried on towards the north. An
overflying Kestrel almost went over unnoticed and a Pied Wagtail flew past as
I continued on down towards Baxter Park.
Spring Grove was my main
point of interest within the park. Although there were birds coming down
to bathe and drink, they were mostly species I had already seen on my
walk. One exception was Greenfinch and a Grey Squirrel was also spotted nearby,
though the dog being encoraged to chase it by its owner, was much less
welcome (even if I'd much rather there were no Greys around). My next spot on my wander was to be Eastern Cemetery and with
little happening at Spring Grove I didn't spend too much time in Baxter
Park. I stopped to photograph a lot of small toadstools at the base of
the wall by the Mormon church in Bingham Terrace. This turned out to be
quite a fortunate decision as I encountered a couple who were actually
looking for fungi, in among the trees at the cemetery. The fungi I had
seen were identified as Fairy Inkcaps, from my photos. I had added Woodpigeon as I
entered the cemetery and as we were discussing fungi, a skein of Pink
Footed Geese and a low flying flock of Whooper Swans passed overhead.
Some
more wandering around the cemetery resulted in Rabbit and a solitary
Fieldfare being found. I continued on my way down to the Stannergate. I
contemplated continuing on out to Broughty Castle, but after spotting
Cormorant, Turnstone and Grey Seal I decided instead to head along to
City Quay for a look there, and with a bit of luck I might find
something on the walk along the Docks Way cycle path. The walk along got
me my first Linnets of the day, and a couple of Buzzards, one perched
atop a large shed and the other much closer to the fence-line, which I
suspect was a youngster giving the almost constant mewing, before it flew
off. As I neared the Sea Cadets buildings at the quay, a Sparrowhawk whizzed low
over in the direction of the river, upsetting numerous Feral Pigeons, scattering them skywards.
Despite plenty of looking, my only addition at the quay was Starling. I
headed home as the light was beginning to fade having managed to record a total
of 47 species of bird, and 3 of mammals. Not a classic outing, but I'd almost always much rather be out birding than stuck indoors.
 |
Grey Heron
|
 |
| Moorhen |
 |
Black Headed Gull
|
 |
Curlew & Oystercatcher
|
 |
Mistle Thrush
|
 |
| Goosander |
 |
| Goosander |
 |
| Chaffinch |
 |
Magpie
|
 |
| Magpie |
 |
| Magpie |
 |
| Goldfinch |
 |
| Rabbit |
 |
| Oystercatcher |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Buzzard |
 |
| Dunnock |
 |
Pink Footed Goose
|
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
Pink Footed Goose
|
 |
| Cormorant |
 |
| Goldfinch |
Birds - Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Whooper Swan, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
