 |
Red Breasted Merganser
|
Having already reached my hoped for halfway mark wihin 3 days, I wanted to fill in as many 'missing' birds as possible before going back to work on Monday. The weather for Sunday didn't look overly promising so I wanted to make the most of Saturday to try to get some of these species. I still needed Treecreeper as well as Woodcock and Grey Partridge. The Powrie Brae/Middleton Wood area gave me a reasonable chance of the latter duo and if I headed down to the Dighty Burn there might potentially be a chance of finding Treecreeper there. I would then go exploring around Clearwater Park before heading down to Broughty Ferry and back along the river. A long walk but a productive one if luck was in my favour. For Woodock, an early start would be required, though not quite as early as my failed Barn Owl hunt in late December.
As a result, I headed out around 90 minutes before sunrise. Rather than my previous route down through Caird Park and out to the back of Fintry, I chose to head via Swannie Ponds, down Pitkerro Road and up Longhaugh Brae, then finally through Whitfield to the entrance to Middleton Wood from The Elms. I was hoping that there would be enough light to see the Woodcock making a roding flight like I'd seen on my previous visit. I also had my thermal imager with me to try to find the bird on the ground. Blackbird, Robin, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow and Redwing made for a relatively slow start to the day's birding, unsurprisingly, as it was still rather dark. Magpie was next onto the list and using the thermal imager and the nearby streetlighting, I found Mallard, Mute Swan, Moorhen and Goosander at Swannie Ponds. The walk up to Middleton Wood produced only Herring Gull and Wren. By the time I reached The Elms entrance to the wood, the sky had lightened considerably and it wasn't difficult to see what the birds were.
A Buzzard took flight from one of the trees by the narrow track before I'd even got my camera out of the bag and a flurry of Woodpigeon wings exploded out from the bushes up the slope from me a few minutes later. Using the thermal imager to check the area where I'd seen Woodcock previously, got me a Fox wandering up through the trees. I didn't have to wait too long to see the Woodcock, as one zipped around a similar circuit to my previous visit before dropping back into the cover of the trees where I'd seen it before. Despite the thermal imager, the Woodcock saw me before I saw it and flew off. A little later, I unintentionally spooked a Buzzard perched ahead of me, and as I watched that departing through the trees, a Woodcock burst skywards much closer to me. The default 3x zoom on the thermal imager is much less helpful for scanning the ground ahead than the 1x and 2x offered by my previous model (Lynx L15).
A trio of Roe Deer were crossing the field to the north of the entrance to the wood and when they saw me they ran across the road into the neighbouring field. Another trio were half hidden below the trees by the entrance trees. I wandered along to Jack Martin Way noting House Sparrow in the bushes by the junction with Berwick Drive. There were a couple of further groups of Roe Deer up the slope, including a group of 7 (taking my total for the day to at least 16 individuals). The walk along the edges of the fields behind Fintry added Great Tit, an overflying skein of Pink Footed Geese, Feral Pigeons, Mistle Thrush, Goldcrest, Rook, Black Headed Gull, Reed Bunting, Long Tailed Tit, Song Thrush and Linnet. With Grey Partridge one of my target species for the day, I set off round to Powrie Brae finding Goldfinch, Dunnock, Starling, Chaffinch, Jackdaw, Siskin and Sparrowhawk on the short walk to get there.
As I wandered up the reasonably flat part of the brae a Greenfinch was seen in the trees next to the dual carriageway. A small flock of Skylarks were seen circling round above the field behind the Black Watch memorial and I was fairly certain (but not quite 100%) that I could hear Meadow Pipit. A couple of Yellowhammers flew past before I was actually able to confirm the presence of a small group of Meadow Pipits. A pair of Stock Doves and a single male Pheasant were also seen in the same field. By the farm at the top of the brae there was a mixed flock of finches and buntings which I stopped to photograph, as well as a flock of 8 Collared Doves in a small tree close by. I wandered along the road that marks part of the northernmost edge of the Dundee boundary. In a field on the south side I spotted a group of 'lumps', largely hidden, in the stubble. I was fairly certain they were Grey Partridges but they were very reluctant to raise their heads. I tried further on along the road for a clearer view but this didn't work out.
I entered the top end of the stubble field, keeping my distance from both the 'lumps' which were around 100 metres away, and a group of Roe Deer on the other side of the field. I took a few slow steps at a time then stopped, hoping for a clear view of one of the birds from a better angle. I was still around 50 metres from them when they suddenly took flight, confirming that they were indeed a flock of 10 Grey Partridges in the process, and as I headed back up the field again the sound of more whirring wings alerted me to a second group of 11 (that must have been feeding a little further down the slope unseen) following the same route as the first for a very unexpected total number of 21 (by far my highest total in Dundee). A bit later as I wandered down past Balumbie Golf Course, I decided to check out an unfrozen boggy corner of a field opposite. Unfortunately this was around 400 metres outside Dundee, so the Snipe that objected to my interruption didn't actually count for my Dundee list.
Once I was back in Dundee again, I found a mixed flock of Curlews and Oystercatchers feeding on a large grassy area north of Drumgeith Road, where a Jay was also heard calling from within the cover of a large conifer. Down at the Dighty Burn, a Dipper was found singing. Nothing else was added along the stretch of burn and despite still 'needing' Treecreeper, I decided against continuing on along to the back of West Pitkerro Industrial Estate. Instead I set off for Broughty Ferry via Claypotts Castle and Victoria Road. An overflying Grey Heron was new for the day. Down by the river I found a Redshank and a couple of Red Breasted Mergansers before wandering along towards the castle. A single Fieldfare flew over westwards and a Common Gull was just off the beach. The first Cormorant of the day flew downriver. Turnstone and a pair of Pied Wagtails were at Beach Crescent.
Scanning from the castle produced Eider, Shag, Great Black Backed Gull, a passing flock of Bar Tailed Godwits and a Red Throated Diver but there was no sign of the hoped for Great Northern Diver or any auks. A single goose out on the water appeared to be a Pink Footed Goose.The walk back along the river was brightened by an overflying Grey Wagtail and a Grey Seal out on the river. As I neared the Stannergate, a message from Mark Wilkinson alerted me to a Black Necked Grebe he'd just found off Tayport. By this time, my legs were rather leaden having walked over 13 miles. I did look back towards the site of the bird but even if it had been possible to make it out at the distance (without a scope), the harbour blocked my line of sight and there was a fair amount of 'heat shimmer'. I decided to continue on along to City Quay on the off-chance of perhaps finding a Little Grebe there.
A Grey Squirrel standing in a small bush by the railway line fence was a bit of a surprise near the start of the cycle path. Disappointingly there wasn't very much to be seen on the walk back along to City Quay. When I got there, there were a couple of Cormorants and a Grey Heron in the outer part of the harbour area. Out on the river I picked out a few very distant Goldeneye and as I headed back from the river front towards the footbridge that bisects Victoria Dock, I glanced to my right as I crossed the road. Out on the water beside the Unicorn was a small bird - which turned out to be a Little Grebe, giving me another new addition for the year and taking my total for the day to 62 (including 6 new additions - in bold) and my #2025 Dundee150 total to 82 after just 4 days. By the time I made it home I'd walked 16.5 miles and was glad to finally sit down, after what had been a fairly productive albeit rather tiring day's birding.
 |
Roe Deer
|
 |
Song Thrush
|
 |
| Sparrowhawk |
 |
| Skylark |
 |
Stock Dove
|
 |
Meadow Pipit
|
 |
| Yellowhammer |
 |
Collared Dove & Greenfinch
|
 |
Grey Partridge
|
 |
| Linnet |
 |
| Rook |
 |
Mistle Thrush
|
 |
| Pheasant |
 |
| Goosander |
 |
| Redwing |
 |
| Dipper |
 |
Grey Heron
|
 |
Common Gull
|
 |
Pied Wagtail
|
 |
| Oystercatcher |
 |
| Curlew |
 |
Pink Footed Goose
|
 |
Red Throated Diver
|
 |
Red Breasted Merganser
|
 |
| Redshank |
 |
Great Black Backed Gull
|
 |
Little Grebe
|
Birds - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dipper, Dunnock, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Partridge, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Linnet, Little Grebe, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Red Breasted Merganser, Red Throated Diver, Redshank, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shag, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Turnstone, Woodcock, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Mammals - Fox, Grey Seal, Grey Squirrel.
Birds (ouwith Dundee) -Buzzard, Herring Gull, Mistle Thrush, Pheasant, Rook, Snipe.
Italics - New for year but not counted on #2025Dundee150 list.
