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| Pink Footed Goose |
With my Autumn holidays finally at an end I was back at work on 24th of October. A conversation with a colleague who lives at Dykes of Gray at the western edges of the city led to the discovery of another potential flock of feeding geese to check through, in addition to those hanging around near Clatto. In theory this doubled my chances of finding a Barnacle Goose, or maybe a White Fronted Goose (or something even rarer), though in reality it was more likely to mean more Pink Footed Geese photos and a long walk for very little gain. With decent enough weather forecast for Saturday, I decided to head in that direction and see how many geese there were, and if anything was hiding amongst them.
I had a bit of a lie-in on Saturday morning, which meant a later start so it was around 1020 before I finally made it out the door. The quickest and shortest walk out to Dykes of Gray doesn't really include much 'birdy' habitat, though obviously birds can appear anywhere. However, it does make for a bit of a dull walk. Feral Pigeon and Herring Gull were noted in my street with Black Headed Gull and Carrion Crow between the football grounds with Woodpigeon and House Sparrow just a little further on. Additions continued to be few and far between with Robin on Caird Avenue, Blue Tit near Glen Prosen Terrace, Magpie at St Johns High School, a heard only Grey Wagtail over Harefield Road and a Song Thrush on Liff Road.
I headed through the underpass to the lower end of Camperdown Park where a Jay overflew. Further on along the top edge of the industrial estate I added a Pied Wagtail. As I was about to turn down Myrekirk Road I spotted a Buzzard circling above the site of a former industrial unit where it was briefly joined by a Sparrowhawk. As I watched these birds circling I heard Skylarks overhead, transitting over at a much higher altitude, their calls audible but the birds not seen. As I headed along the path from Noble Road towards Denhead of Gray, the first Pink Footed Geese of the day were seen preparing to land not too far away. This was encouraging. I soon added Starling, Jackdaw and Dunnock to the day's list before I reached the small row of cottages and the open stubble fields to the north of them.
I could see some geese in the western field and I scanned through these to no avail. I could see a further group on the ground in a grassy field to the north. Checking google maps and streetview it looked like it might be possible to view these birds from the field edges by heading into the 'private estate' where the former Liff Hospital was. I had walked past this area on previous visits but hadn't ventured in. I decided I might as well give it a go. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard before I set off up the hill, with Rook and Pheasant both noted on the walk up. A Red Squirrel ran across the road before I reached the entrance to the 'private estate', and another couple were seen in roadside trees a little further on. Rabbit, Goldfinch and Chaffinch were present there too, but despite finding a reasonably clear view of the geese flock I failed to find anything other than Pink Feet.
I headed back down the hill again, rather than following the road through Liff and down to Benvie as I've done in the past. I decided instead to check out the stubble fields in case they were hiding anything interesting, while trying to get a better view of some of the geese feeding up towards the top end of the field, without disturbing them. With people walking along the track at the bottom of the fields regularly the geese seemed fairly untroubled by their presence and continued to feed. This was a promising sign, so I walked up along the weedy centre section of the eastern stubble field. Yellowhammer, Wren, Blackbird, Siskin, Linnet, Tree Sparrow and Greenfinch were all found but despite a false alarm with a Pinkie with some white around the bill, I failed to find anything unusual among the geese.
I had managed to get quite close to the small burn which ran down between the two fields by using the brambles and other vegetation to mask my slow approach. Through a small break I was able to see a few of the geese which appeared relatively unaware of my presence. Unfortunately, a Buzzard decided to do a spot of hunting over the field at the same time, sending the Linnets and the geese skywards. Unfortunately for me, the geese decided against returning, so I called it a day and headed for home. The long walk home only got me Long Tailed Tits on Liff Road which took the total number of species for the day to 33, which was slightly underwhelming though it did highlight the lack of 'birdy' habitat along the routes I'd taken to and from the geese. Given the location of the geese this year, it should be possible to add the site to a visit to Riverside Nature Park if my energy levels feel up to it, which should hopefully result in something new at some point....(he says optimistically!).
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Pink Footed Goose
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pheasant |
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| Rook |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Buzzard |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Buzzard |
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Starling
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| Buzzard |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pheasant |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Linnet |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
Birds - Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Tree Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals - Rabbit, Red Squirrel.
