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| Turnstone |
Following on from Saturday's successful trip to Riverside Nature Park for Greenshank, with the bonus White Letter hairstreak butterfly en route, I decided to head out to Broughty Ferry and Balmossie on Sunday. With high tide not until mid-afternoon again, there was no real need for an early start so I was able to catch up on some missed sleep for a change. Despite this, I was still organised and out the door for 0915. I was hoping for a possible Mediterranean Gull, or maybe a Skua, though I would be happy with any new addition to my Dundee150 list.
Herring Gull, Swift, Carrion Crow and Feral Pigeon made for an unexciting start - though I knew Swifts would be mostly gone by the end of the week, and their departure signifies the end of summer for me. House Sparrow, Magpie, House Martin, Woodpigeon, Dunnock and Blue Tit were noted on the walk to Swannie Ponds. Most of the regulars were around at the ponds - Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull (including the returning ringed White 2XJH), Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot and Moorhen along with a Blackbird which flew over to the island. Goldfinch and Greenfinch were seen on my walk to Eastern Cemetery from the ponds. Things were relatively quiet at the cemetery though both Grey Squirrel and Rabbits were around. Bird-wise Chaffinch, Robin, Coal Tit and Stock Dove were new for the day there.
I found a couple of Linnets on the fence at the end of the docks when I reached the Stannergate. A Cormorant was out on the rocks, a few Oystercatchers were feeding among the pebbles on the beach with the gulls and the first Grey Heron of the day was spotted working its way along the shoreline slowly. A young Grey Heron further to the east was watched practicing moving simulated prey around in its bill, using a thick stemmed grasslike plant (perhaps something ornamental?). A Curlew was also found among the gulls and Carrion Crows. Continuing on out along the esplanade, I found a Common Gull and as I was having a good look at it through my binoculars, a summer pluamged Turnstone wandered past it. As I neared the lifeboat station, I could see a Gannet out to the east beyond Tayport. A pair of Goosander were just offshore to the east of the lifeboat.
A Redshank was picking around in the mud at the harbour. As the castle doesn't open until 1230 on a Sunday, I scanned for a while from the grassy area on the eastern side. A pair of Pied Wagtails wandered around there and a Rock Pipit was heard but not seen. A couple of Sandwich Terns flew past but things were otherwise rather quiet. As a result, I continued on out towards Balmossie. There were some Eider visible out on the river. I spotted some rather active Bottlenose Dolphins off Tentsmuir Point and an Osprey was seen hunting in the same general area, 10 minutes later. A small flock of Bar Tailed Godwits flew out from near the burn mouth as I got closer to where the majority of birds were.
I found what turned out to be an Icelandic ringed Redshank at Balmossie (ringed at Laugarvatn, and seen earlier this summer in Liverpool). As the tide came in further, the birds on the shore came closer in but I failed to find anything particularly interesting amongst them. There were some Rooks down on the shore along with a few Jackdaws and a flock of Starlings. A few Swallows zipped past with a Sand Martin seen shortly afterwards also heading in the same direction upriver. A Shag was seen in flight well out over the water. With the tide more or less 'in' by this time, I wandered back in the direction of the castle. A lone adult Kittiwake heading past low over the river was a bit of a surprise, given that there had been no sign of any Kittiwakes among the roosting and bathing gull flocks.
I spent the next 3 hours or so mostly watching the Bottlenose Dolphins out in the river, as they hunted in widely spaced small groups, though overall they were fairly active with plenty of breaching and acrobatics to be seen - though mostly rather distant, so I didn't take too many photos. A Grey Seal popped up for a quick look around as I headed for home along the esplanade. Things were very quiet on the walk back as the tide began to recede, as the walk homewards often seems to be, though a few Pied Wagtails including a youngster and some more summer plumaged Turnstones did provide some distractions from the long walk home. I made one final addition to the day's list near Baxter Park, with an overflying Collared Dove taking the day's list to 47 species of bird and 4 of mammals.
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| Linnet |
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| Cormorant |
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Common Gull
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Grey Heron
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| Gannet |
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| Goosander |
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| Oystercatcher |
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Sandwich Tern
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Redshank & Turnstone
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| Goosander |
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Hering Gull
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| Kittiwake |
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| Redshank |
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| Gannet |
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| Eider |
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Grey Seal
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Bottlenose Dolphin
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Pied Wagtail
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Pied Wagtail
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| Turnstone |
Birds - Bar Tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, gannet, Goldfinch, Goosander, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Turnstone, Woodpigeon.
Mammals - Bottlenose Dolphin, Grey Seal, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
