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| Scaup |
On Thursday the 1st of August I got an email from Keith, letting me know that there were not just one but two Greenshanks in Invergowrie Bay. Having tried more than a few times to catch up with Greenshanks seen by Keith and Mark, it was beginning to look like they would be my 'bogey bird' for 2024. As I was stuck at work, and due to be working the following day, I would have to hope that at least one of these two would hang around until Saturday. On the plus side this did mean I had a plan for Saturday - visit the Nature Park while the tide was on its way in and hope to catch up with a Greenshank.
With high tide around mid-afternoon there was no real need to rush to get to the park. I decided to head for the top of the Law to see what might be passing for a couple of hours, then try to find Elm trees at Balgay Hill for a chance of finding White Letter Hairstreak butterflies and then finally continue on to Riverside Nature Park to try for Greenshank. I headed out at 0730. Swifts, Herring Gulls, Feral Pigeons, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon were noted before I had even left my street. Lesser Black Backed Gull and House Sparrow were next. Jackdaw and Magpie were in their usual spots near Dens Park stadium. I added Blackbird to the growing list on Mortimer Street.
The trees and bushes at the foot of the final set of steps up the Law turned out to be really busy with birds. Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Goldfinch, Song Thrush and Dunnock were all noted as I headed up to the top. A Peregrine was visible on Cox's Stack. Great Tit, Coal Tit and Bullfinch were added from the top but there appeared to be no actual movement of migrants, so I headed back down off the hill again, to check the same bushes and trees as earlier. A pair of Blackcaps were new for the day and a migrant Tree Pipit flew out from a tree behind the toilet block and round towards the back of the hill. I decided to continue on to Balgay Hill. Wren and Robin were noted on the walk down to Lochee Road.
I didn't really have a good idea of where I was going to find an Elm tree, and as it wasn't a tree I'd ever paid much attention to previously, I wasn't sure I would actually recognise one. I had taken a reference photo from a book but I still wasn't overly confident. As it happened, I found Keith already checking an Elm tree using his scope at the end of Pentland Avenue where it meets Balgay Road. Keith had seen a butterfly flitting around the tree top but as it wouldn't settle he couldn't be certain it was a hoped for White Letter Hairstreak. He'd also had sightings in the same tree on the previous 2 days but hadn't seen one resting in full view yet. Thankfully, we were in luck, and following a few brief sightings, a White Letter Hairstreak did indeed land in full view of us, and both of us were able to get photos. Mission accomplished.
We put out word on social media as for a butterfly it was an very twitchable one, being the furthest north sighting of the species, so far. We watched the butterfly doing not very much for a while before it made a short flight and alighted on a different leaf where it hung out for another while, before it eventually flew off out of sight into the crown of the tree. Keith headed for home and I headed for Riverside Nature Park. House Martin, Green Veined White, Long Tailed Tit and Greenfinch were added around Perth Road as I made my way towards the park, and hopefully a Greenshank.
I reached the park around 1015, a bit earlier than I had intended. Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Robin, Goldfinch and Meadow Brown butterflies got the list for the park part of the day underway. Lesser Black Backed Gull, Blue Tit, Feral Pigeon, Magpie, Chaffinch and Blackbird were spotted on my walk to the bay. Cormorant, Curlew, Black Headed Gull, Sandwich Tern, Grey Wagtail, Linnet and Stock Dove were noted as I scanned out over the bay. With the tide still having around 4 hours to go before high tide, the majority of birds were rather distant, so I headed round for a quick look at the Lochan. Not surprisingly I found a few Moorhens there. A few Swifts zipped around catching insects above the water and a Common Darter dragonfly put in an appearance.
There were families of Chiffchaffs and Whitethroats feeding in the vegetation alongside each other behind the entrance to the Lochan screen. I had a slow wander back round to scan out over the bay again. A Small White butterfly, a pair of Swallows and a Pied Wagtail were all seen in flight - though in a variety of flight styles. Down in the bay I picked out Oystercatcher, Grey Heron, Redshank, Dunlin, the Mute Swan pair (with cygnet), Mallard, a number of Common Sandpipers, Common Gull, a pair of Knot, a Sanderling and a drake Scaup. A pair of Sand Martins skimmed by and continued on out towards Invergowrie. At the mouth of the burn outflow was a long spit of mud with a number of Redshanks along the edge. Right at the point however was a different wader. A Greenshank, at last! As the mud disappeared under the incoming tide, it relocated to much closer.
More scanning added Black Tailed Godwit, Goosander and Lapwing before a Buzzard appeared to the north. I could see 4 Little Egrets on the distant island along with numerous Cormorants and at least 2 of the Egrets relocated to the bay as the island vanished below the water. A Bar Tailed Godwit flew out of the bay as more of the mud sank out of sight. Once the tide came in even further, I decided on more wandering which got me a Green Veined White butterfly before I called it a day at the park and headed homewards. A few Swallows were seen over the railway line just opposite the park entrance. I failed to add anything else to the list until I was almost home when Blue Tit and Starling were both found.
I finished what had been a very productive, and rather varied, day's birding (and general wildlife watching) with a total of 59 species of bird made up of 30 outwith the park, and 44 at the park, including a single addition to my Dundee150 list (in bold), as well as 4 species of butterfly including a lifer, and 1 of dragonfly. Had it not been for Keith, I suspect I probably wouldn't have found the White Letter Hairstreak - assuming I'd even successfully identified an Elm tree, in the first place. I've now managed to see a total of 18 species of butterfly within Dundee - my best ever total, and likely to be my final total for 2024 - unless a Wall butterfly turns up sometime soon (which might not be impossible). Here's hoping...
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Blackcap |
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| Peregrine |
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Willow Warbler
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White Letter Hairstreak
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Fly sp. & White Letter Hairstreak
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| Woodpigeon |
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Robin
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| Swallow |
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Knot & Redshank
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Knot & Redshank
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| Greenshank |
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Greenshank & Common Sandpiper
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Dunlin & Redshank
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| Cormorant |
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| Cormorant |
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Bar Tailed Godwit
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| Buzzard |
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| Lapwing |
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| Buzzard |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blackcap,
Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch,
Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull,
Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Peregrine, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Green Veined White, White Letter Hairstreak.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed
Gull, Black Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common
Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew,
Dunlin, Goldfinch, Goosander, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser
Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon,
Sand Martin, Sanderling, Sandwich Tern, Scaup, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Green Veined White, Meadow Brown, Small White.
Dragonflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Common Darter.
