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| Ringed Plover |
My first day off work on holiday for this Autumn migration was a week earlier than last year, on Friday the 15th of August. Lainy had suggested we try for a "big butterfly day" in Dundee. With the Purple Hairstreaks that we had seen on Wednesday looking rather worn, it appeared we were rapidly running out of time for maximising the number of species we might be able to get in Dundee in one day at this time of year. Ordinarily, it would be almost the perfect time, but with things being a bit ahead of the usual timings across the board with the local wildlife, it was pretty much a case of 'now or never'.
I wanted to try Riverside Nature Park from early on, in case of any migrant waders, or passerines, before the butterflies were likely to be on the wing. I would then meet Lainy there a bit later on, and see what butterflies we could find there before heading elsewhere to hopefully add to our butterfly list. I headed out at 0635. Herring Gull, Starling, Siskin, Robin, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Lesser Black-backed Gull and a single Black-headed Gull as well as a Magpie, Jackdaw, Wren and Blue Tit were all noted on the walk up past the football stadiums from home. House Sparrow, Goldcrest, Swift, Great Tit, Chiffchaff, Blackbird and Greenfinch continued the list-building, albeit at a slower pace, on the walk to the football pictches at Lochee Park.
There were 9 Black-headed Gulls on the pitches but not yet any Common Gulls. A young Buzzard was heard mewing loudly from the same area I'd recently photographed a pair of the young birds. Chaffinch, Swallow, Song Thrush and Oystercatcher were all noted before I reached the Nature Park at 0740. Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Wren, Robin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Black-headed Gull, Chiffchaff, Lapwings (over the airfield), Starling, Long-Tailed Tits and a Rabbit were all quickly found around the eastern end of the park. Magpie, Coal Tit, Pied Wagtail, Buzzard, Willow Warbler, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Curlew, Song Thrush, Cormorant, Grey Wagtail, Great Tit, Mallard, Feral Pigeon and Kingfisher all made it onto the list around the western end of the park.
I wasn't feeling particularly great and was on the verge of cancelling the rest of the day with Lainy, but decided to pop up to the hospital before making a decision. A vocal young Sparrowhawk and Long-tailed Tits were the only new additions during the trip to Ninewells and back. I still didn't feel quite right but decided to persevere in the hope that the birds, and butterflies, would take my mind off things enough for me to enjoy the day's birding and butterfly finding. Back at the park, I added Dunnock and Stock Dove before meeting Lainy at the car park. Round by the bay, Common Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Redshank, Oystercatcher and the day's first butterfly - a Meadow Brown, were all found.
We had a look at the Lochan which added Moorhen before heading back to check the bay again. Teal, Goosander and Whitethroat were all new for the day and our second butterfly flitted past us - a Red Admiral this time. We bumped into Keith and had a chat about butterflies in Dundee while scanning out over the bay. Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Linnet, Osprey, Shelduck, Canada Goose, Sandwich Tern, the no longer elusive Golden Plover, and Common Sandpiper were all found but the sky wasn't looking like it was going to clear. Although it wasn't cold, it didn't feel particularly promising for delivering butterflies. We did manage a couple of species of butterflies as we headed back to the car, with both Large and Small Whites seen. We had managed a total of 48 species of birds, plus 4 species of butterflies and 1 of mammals at the park.
We discussed our options before settling on popping up to the Law to try to get the Wall butterflies there, given they'd been easy to see on both of the previous two days. Unfortunately as we reached the car park at the Law, light rain began to 'spitter' through. We had a quick wander along but unsurprisingly drew a blank. We retired to the car again and had a blether and some lunch while waiting to see what the weather would do. My suspicion was that it would clear up, even if it didn't end up being as sunny as it was meant to be. We decided to try the Holly Blue site at Beach Lane, and as we headed in that direction, the rain petered out and the sun even attempted to break through. We had more luck with birds than butterflies there however, with no signs of any butterflies at all. Common Gull, Cormorant and Grey Heron were all seen from the footbridge over the railway line before we headed back to the car again.
Our next stop was the Broughty Ferry local nature reserve. The Collared Dove pair we had encountered on Wednesday was still around in the same area and as the sun made a bit of a half-hearted appearance we managed to find a trio of butterfly species - a showy Small Copper, a flighty Speckled Wood and a few Large Whites. Bullfinch, Coal Tit and Goldfinch were in the trees there too. Dunlin, Curlew, Mallard, Ringed Plover, Redshank, Mute Swan, Rock Pipit, Pied Wagtail and Great Black-backed Gull were all noted around the Dighty outflow when we had a look there before finally giving up for the day. 44 species of birds outwith the Nature Park, as well as 3 species of butterflies gave a combined total for the day of 60 species of birds and a rather disappointing 6 species of butterfly and a single mammal species. Some days things work out, and some they don't. This was one of the latter but it was still a reasonably enjoyable outing around a few sites in the city.
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| Starling |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Lapwing |
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| Moorhen |
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| Common Gull |
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| Teal |
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| Silver Ground Carpet |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Curlew |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Osprey |
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| Mother Of Pearl moth |
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| Large White |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| Small Copper |
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| Small Copper |
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| Ringed Plover |
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| Dunlin |
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| Pammene regiana |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Goldfinch |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sandwich Tern, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Large White, Small Copper, Speckled Wood.
Moths (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Pammene regiana.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion
Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black-backed
Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard,
Moorhen, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Ringed Plover,
Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Teal, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Large White, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Small White.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
Moths (at Riverside Nature Park) - Mother Of Pearl, Silver Ground Carpet.
