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| Magpie |
The early start on Saturday morning had taken its toll on me meaning I spent longer in my bed on Sunday morning than I had originally intended to. Unlike Saturday the weather on Sunday morning was a bit murkier. Visibilty was somewhere around a mile in each direction. With not much energy or even enthusiasm, despite the previous day's successes, I decided to head for the top of the Law to see what, if anything, might be passing by. I was hoping for quality over quantity, though my expectations were for not very much of either quantity or quality. I headed out the door at 0801 into a rather grey looking, but thankfully not particularly cold, morning.
Woodpigeon, House Sparrow and Herring Gull were noted in my street with Blackbird, Dunnock and Feral Pigeon just around the corner. The walk up past Tannadice and Dens got Starling, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Carrion Crow and Blue Tit. Magpie and Chaffinch were spotted on Canning Street. Heading up Bruce Street added Goldfinch to the morning's rather underwhelming list. Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and Greenfinch were around in the trees as I reached the junction between Law Road and Law Crescent. A Blackcap was heard singing as I made the climb up the stairs to a very quiet top of the hill at 0825.
I somehow managed to last an hour at the top. Visibility was poor with the south side of the Tay barely visible and a similar story was played out to the north, west and east as well. It was not much of a surprise to find there was next to no activity around in the skies above the hill. A small flock of racing pigeons circled round, coming and going in the low cloud. A pair of Lesser Black Backed Gulls headed north at 0847 and a Sparrowhawk went west at 0853. The majority of birds that made it onto the list were 'heard only' - Oystercatcher, Great Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Song Thrush, Coal Tit and Robin. As I headed for home, a Grey Squirrel was seen on the allotment fence. Collared Dove and House Martin over Law Road, Jackdaws on Main Street and Swifts over Tannadice Street rounded off the morning's excursion taking my total number of birds noted to 28.
Once home, I decided to see how many species I could get from my living room over the course of an hour. The visibility was maginally better by 1015 when I started the 'experiment'. A Great Tit was a relatively uncommon first bird as it flew across the road. There were a few of the local Swifts zipping around above. Herring Gulls were perched on a few of the visible roofs nearby. Blackbird, Jackdaw and Feral Pigeons were soon added to the 'at home' list for the day. A few Carrion Crows were upsetting the local Starlings which had were attempting to take food to youngsters in the nests unseen by the watchful eyes of the larger corvids.
I could hear House Sparrows chirping away from one of the few bushes I can see from my window, with the odd bird putting in brief appearances as they flew to and from the locations of likely nests. Blue Tit and Goldfinch were both 'heard only' birds. Lesser Black Backed Gull, Woodpigeon and Magpie took my haul for the hour to 14 species, all of which had been seen earlier either at the Law, or on my way there, or on the way back again. Definitely not a classic morning's birding. The visibility did end up improving and blue skies like the previous day's did eventually put in more prolonged spells, though my tiredness from the day before meant I couldn't even get motivated for a walk to Swannie Ponds to try to add roughly another half a dozen species.
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Carrion Crow
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Carrion Crow
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| Magpie |
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| Magpie |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Magpie |
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| Magpie |
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| Robin |
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Robin
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Grey Squirrel
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House Martin
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Despite Sunday's distinct lack of success I decided to head back to the top of the Law on Wednesday the 22nd of May. The visibility was to be better than Sunday's - which wasn't particularly difficult given just how poor it had been on Sunday. Unfortunately, I was running a little later than even Sunday, so it was already around 0820 before I was organised and ready to leave the house.
Woodpigeon, Blackbird, Starling, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Herring Gull and House Sparrow made for a fairly slow first 5 minutes on my way to the hill. I spotted a couple of Swifts to the west of Dens Park and a Chaffinch was heard singing as I walked down Provost Road. A Lesser Black Backed Gull was perched atop a lamp post on Dens Road. I added a couple of House Martins over Bruce Street. Surprisingly, what was the first Carrion Crow of the morning was found near the top of Hill Street. There were a few Magpies wandering around on the road up past the allotments. A Willow Warbler was heard singing from the trees that bordered the grassy area to the east of the same allotments. A Bullfinch flew across the road as I continued on up towards the hill.
I made it to the top of the hill for just before 0845 and got organised. The visibility was better though still not brilliant and it was a bit more overcast than I had hoped it might be. On the plus side, cloud can make it easier to spot high flying birds. A Chiffchaff was heard calling from the trees near the steps and a Blackcap was added around 10 minutes later. Around 0905 I thought I could just make out the calls of a Crossbill from somewhere out to the west. Sure enough, a single Crossbill flew into view and past the south side of the hill. That made it already much better than Sunday's time at the top had been.
A Coal Tit could be heard among the trees on the north side of the hill. Robin, Great Tit and Wren also put in appearances over the next half hour or so. A pair of Lesser Black Backed Gulls headed north past the hill. I heard another possible Crossbill, though the calls were very faint, at around 0930. An Oystercatcher was faintly audible from somewhere around Loon's Road. I photographed the local Magpies and Carrion Crows to help pass the time, managing to get a few interesting photos of one of the Magpies as it grabbed St Mark's Flies on the top of the mast shed. The first of a few Swallows was noted around 1015 heading westwards.
Jackdaw, Feral Pigeon and Goldfinch all made it onto the morning's list as I scanned around. Things were still a bit quieter than ideal, but they were still miles better than Sunday morning's visit. A pair of Bullfinches were seen in the trees on the slope to the west of the mast shed. The local Kestrel finally put in a brief appearance around 1040 though it flew off to the east rather than hunting around the hill. Another 3 Swallows went over around 1105 and a House Martin headed out to the north-east at 1130, and joined up with a small group of the same species as they hawked for insects quite high in the sky.
After 3 hours of watching for birds, I decided to see what else I could find. There were a few insects and spiders around, including an Orange Tip butterfly, and a Nettle Tap micro-moth. I found a few beetles that went unidentified as did a couple of spider species. With nothing too exciting or exotic found among the vegetation by the access road, I tried by the allotments before heading home. The Kestrel put in another brief appearance as it hovered above the allotments before flying off towards the hill again. I finished the day's birding with a total of 28 species, which despite the better visibility and conditions overall, was actually exactly the same total as Sunday's visit which had felt more disappointing. There was definitely more variety among the insects and there had been more activity in general, which helped to pass the time.
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| Crossbill |
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| Crossbill |
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| Swift |
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Herring Gull
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| Magpie |
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| Starling |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Magpie |
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| Magpie |
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| Magpie |
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Bee sp.
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Beetle sp.
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Beetle sp.
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Beetle sp.
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Click Beetle sp.
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Nettle Tap
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Spider sp.
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Fly sp.
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Bumblebee sp.
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Bumblebee sp.
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Kestrel (& Racing Pigeon)
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| Kestrel |
Birds (19/5/24) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swift, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon.
Mammals (19/5/24) - Grey Squirrel.
Birds (22/5/24) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal
Tit, Crossbill, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great
Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw,
Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Magpie, Oystercatcher, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (22/5/24) - Orange Tip.
