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Pied Wagtail
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It was a bit of a coin toss to decide where to go on Wednesday the 24th of July. Having been to Riverside Nature Park on Monday, and Broughty Ferry/Balmossie on Sunday, both were rather fresh in my mind as were the species I could realistically expect to see. The tide times were far from ideal however. An early start was planned to catch the tide as it receded but I went back to sleep which then meant that there was little point in trying to see waders etc. Riverside Nature Park offered the possibility of a mixture of butterfly species but having seen Pomarine and Arctic Skua together a year ago or so from Broughty Ferry, I decided to take that option, though I wasn't really expecting lightning to strike twice in such a spectacularly unexpected way. Another downside of Broughty Ferry was that the beaches would be very busy as warm sunshine was forecast.
I messaged Lainy to see if she fancied joining me before I set off. I was out the door at 0925 for the walk down to the river. Rather than head for Swannie Ponds and Eastern Cemetery I headed instead for the Docks Way cycle path. Feral Pigeon, Swift, Herring Gull, Magpie, Grey Wagtail, House Sparrow, House Martin, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon and Goldfinch made for a steady, if unexciting, start to the day's proceedings. I added Blue Tit to the list on Eden Street, followed quickly by Jackdaw and Chaffinch. A Blackbird was seen as I wandered down the steps to cross East Dock Street. As I headed out along the Docks Way, I spotted a Sparrowhawk circling off to the north and grabbed a few records shots. A Pied Wagtail flew past and a Small White butterfly flitted along the railway line behind the fence.
A young Buzzard was heard mewing from within the trees to the north and an adult bird drew the attention of some of the local corvids as it flew in the direction of the calling youngster. A Lesser Black Backed Gull flew over the railway line towards the river and a small group of Swallows hawked for insects by the old closed-off bridge over the railway line. Lainy messaged me back to say she'd join me at the castle around lunchtime once she'd seen to a few non-birding tasks. I added a Rabbit at the Stannergate as well as a couple of Pied Wagtails. There were a couple of Black Headed Gulls and an Oystercatcher in with the Herring Gull roost and the first of around half a dozen Grey Herons I would encounter between the Stannergate and Broughty Castle, was tucked in by the outflow pipe. I chanced upon a few Turnstones in summer plumage when I stopped to check out a Black Headed Gull by the water a bit further on.
A Cormorant landed on the glassy calm water, not far offshore. What were likely the same 2 Eider ducks seen on recent visits were spotted on the river just beyond the sailing club sheds. I nipped over the bridge to look for Holly Blue butterflies but wasn't surprised to draw a blank. I did find Robin, Wren and Dunnock there but a distinct lack of insects (there may be a link). There were a couple of Redshanks near the outflow pipe at Douglas Terrace and a Goosander resting on top. A Common Gull and a Curlew were among the pebbles halfway between the pipe and the lifeboat station. There was a young Pied Wagtail, a few House Sparrows and a small flock of Starlings on the shingle beach next to the lifeboat station. I reached the castle around 1135 and sat at my usual spot to scan out over the river.
I could see the assembled flock of Mute Swans at Balmossie thanks to the tide state and the scope. The first of only a handful of Sandwich Terns flew upriver. I picked out a very distant Osprey hovering out at Tentsmuir Point and some very distant Bottlenose Dolphin activity not long after. It didn't take too long before the Dolphins had moved further upriver to hunt fish almost directly opposite the castle. I was joined soon after by Lainy, and we had a brief visit from Steven Neish, while also pointing out the rather active Dolphins to tourists and other assorted visitors to the castle. A Herring Gull and a Pied Wagtail gave us very close views while we were sat at the castle. A Grey Seal popped up offshore while we were watching the breaching Dolphins.Unfortunately, it then clouded over and the wind had a bit too much 'chill' to it, for my choice of clothing, so despite there still being activity offshore, we set off for Balmossie.
On the walk along the 'new' path we saw Ringlet, Green Veined White, Small White and Small Tortoiseshell butterflies. At Balmossie we scanned through the birds before a 'zero fieldcraft' birder marched up to the outflow pipe dispersing the feeding waders and some of the closer gulls. Once he'd gone, a few Rooks landed down on the shore. We scanned through all the birds we could see but a couple of Great Black Backed Gulls was as good as it got. Lainy suggested we check the local nature reserve for Purple Hairstreak butterflies - although the lack of sunshine made us rather less than optimistic of success. On the walk back along we spotted a small yellow moth among the vegetation near the small car park. later at home, I identified it (hopefully correctly) as the very oddly named Timothy Tortrix. I have since discovered that there is actually a plant called Timothy.
As it turned out however, there were at least 2 Purple Hairstreaks jousting in and around the top of an Oak tree near the western end of the nature reserve. A pair of Bullfinches gave us close views and Lainy spotted a Speckled Wood butterfly, which a dying battery ensured I failed to get any photos of. Thankfully, I did manage to get some flight shots of the Purple Hairstreaks - though as expected the light was less than helpful. When the sun did put in an appearance, Lainy managed to find a couple of 'resting spots' thanks to the better light and somehow managed to get me on to them despite the lack of distinguishing features on the Oak tree. The sun disappeared again around 1740, so we decided to head homewards. I suggested we have a quick look at the river on our way back to Lainy's car as it was almost high tide. As we walked down the path by the edge of the flats, I spotted a large splash not too far out on the river. It was a small group of the Dolphins. We watched them breaching and splashing around for a few minutes before things went quiet again. A Greenfinch circled round overhead a few times. Closer in to shore were numerous eclipse plumage Eiders.
Lainy gave me a very welcome lift home (adding Mallards at Swannie Ponds as we passed). The Mallards took me to a relatively low total of 41 species of bird, 6 of butterfly, 3 of mammals and 1 of moth. It was good to catch up with Lainy properly for the first time in a while (not counting Sunday's rather brief passing visit to see the Dolphins) and to get my first Purple Hairstreaks since my only other sightings back in August 2021 - also at the Broughty Ferry local nature reserve (though my very first were at Riverside Nature Park a week and a half earlier).
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Swallow |
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| Eider |
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Grey Heron
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| Cormorant |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Goosander |
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| Curlew |
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Grey Heron
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House Sparrow
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Pied Wagtail
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Cormorant (with Eel)
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| Swift |
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Pied Wagtail
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Osprey |
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Purple Hairstreak
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Purple Hairstreak
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Purple Hairstreak
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Purple Hairstreak
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Purple Hairstreak
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Birds - Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit,
Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common
Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail,
Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed
Gull, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher,
Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook,
Sandwich Tern, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Turnstone, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Green Veined White, Purple Hairstreak, Ringlet, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Speckled Wood.
Mammals - Bottlenose Dolphin, Grey Seal, Rabbit.
Moths - Timothy Tortrix.
