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| Nuthatch |
One of my colleagues at work, Tessa, having seen my photos of some of the birds and other wildlife I've encountered when I'm out birding, said a month or two ago that she'd quite like to join me when I was out and about birding at some point, if something could be arranged. Her daughter, Kari, was also apparently keen too. I said they were welcome to join me whenever they were free, and that I'd see what I could find for them - hopefully something good. Tessa was hoping to see the Holly Blue butterflies while the Bottlenose Dolphins in the Tay were something that Kari (and Tessa) hoped to be able to see. Before I left work on the Friday, Tessa said she'd be in touch if I was OK for Kari and her to join me at some point over the weekend. I said "no problem" and while I was trying to photograph the Lesser Whitethroat on the Saturday morning, Tessa messaged me. I replied that I'd get back to her later with a plan for Sunday morning.
I initially suggested an 0800 meet-up but later amended it to an 0745 start. Although I'm not sure there are many Dolphin sightings in the Tay early in the morning, there didn't seem any real reason that they shouldn't come in on the high tide given the amount of daylight at this time of year. We would head to Broughty Ferry first to look for the Dolphins, then try for the nearby Holly Blues as the temperature rose further. After that, we would decide on where else to go, depending on any time constraints or anything else they both would like to see. I suggested Clepington Road at Swannie Ponds for the rendezvous point and headed out just before 0725 for the short walk to the ponds. House Sparrow, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Woodpigeon, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Magpie, Chaffinch and House Martin were all noted as I headed along to the Dura Street car park.
Goldfinch, Great Tit, Wren and Blue Tit were added before I reached the ponds. Mallard, Mute Swan, Coot and Tufted Duck were seen at the ponds. Tessa and Kari had also arrived early so we set off for Broughty Ferry slightly ahead of schedule, once introductions were made (as I had never met Kari before), though high tide had already passed. Swift and Carrion Crow were seen as we exited the car at Broughty Ferry for the short walk to the castle. As we scanned from the grassy area to the east of the castle we were visited by Rock Pipits and a Pied Wagtail was seen down on the sand. Unsurprisingly there was no sign of any Dolphin activity, and the river was rather quiet, so I suggested we have a wander along to the local nature reserve to see if we could find any of the Sandpit(?) Mining Bees that I've photographed there previously.
It was already quite warm and on the walk along we had a couple of Swallows zip past and I spotted a distant pair of Grey Herons circling up high to the northeast, which I was able to get Tessa and Kari onto. There were plenty of birds singing at the local nature reserve - Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Dunnock, Robin and Willow Warbler while a few Long Tailed Tits were also seen. Unfortunately we drew a blank on the Mining Bees but Tessa spotted a butterfly ahead of us, which turned out to be my first Small Copper of the year, which was a nice surprise. A single Grasshopper was also seen - my first of the year too. On the walk back along to the car, an Orange Tip butterfly was seen and a Linnet landed on a bush across the road by the end of the fenced off dunes. A Collared Dove was seen back at the car before we headed along to the end of Douglas Terrace for the short walk to the Holly Blue site.
There were a couple of Lesser Black Backed Gulls drifting overhead and a few Oystercatchers down on the shore. Unfortunately, we were out of luck again with the Holly Blues, with none seen, despite it being warm enough for butterflies - though the wind had picked up considerably since our arrival at Broughty Ferry. A Speckled Wood butterfly was a bit of a surprise at the site (a first for me there), and a singing Sedge Warbler was even moreso, given that it isn't really a garden bird, and the apparent lack of suitable habitat for the species where it sounded like it was singing from (the garden at the eastern end of the ivy). We spent a while willing a Holly Blue to put in appearance but it just wasn't to be. We discussed possibilities for our next stop. As Kari had to meet someone at noon, we decided to finish up just after 1100 or thereabouts, to give her time to get home first.
Tessa suggested we try for Nuthatch as she wanted to see one coming down a tree trunk head first, so we headed along to Balgay Hill to search for the birds. We arrived there around 1030 and set off up through the cemetery to see if we could find any Nuthatches. A Buzzard was spotted being harassed by Carrion Crows a bit to the south as we wandered up the steps onto the hill. A Jay was seen in the trees and down near the footbridge we found a singing Goldcrest and a male Bullfinch in the same tree. We had brief views of what was likely the very same Nuthatch that Lainy and I saw there on our Big Half Day outing on the 8th of May, as we stood around the end of the bridge. Despite this we had a quick check of the 2 new nest sites I'd found this Spring but both seemed rather quiet with no obvious activity in the very brief time we were in the vicinity of them. We did see another Speckled Wood butterfly though before heading back to the car and another Buzzard being harassed by corvids was noted from the car as we left our parking spot.
I was going to walk up to the Law but Tessa dropped me off part of the way there before she dropped Kari off home. I added Sparrowhawk, Rook and a Red Admiral butterfly at the Law and finished the day's birding with a total of 42 species of birds and 5 of butterflies. Despite failing to see any of our first 3 target species (Dolphins, Mining Bees and Holly Blues), Tessa and Kari both said they'd enjoyed our rather hurried morning's outing in the sunshine, and I told them they are welcome to join me again in the future if they want to - and maybe we'll have a bit more luck. I didn't actually take very many photos on the day, so this post is a little lighter on photos than usual as a result. (As a footnote, Tessa did later manage to catch up with the Dolphins in the Tay, when I messaged her on the 1st of June to let her know that there were some heading up the Tay almost 5 hours before high tide - which suggested they might hang around for a while - which they did).
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Small Copper |
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| Small Copper |
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| Grasshopper sp. |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| Buzzard & Carrion Crow |
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| Buzzard & Carrion Crow |
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| Buzzard & Carrion Crow |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Rook |
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Coot, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sedge Warbler, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tufted Duck, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Orange Tip, Red Admiral, Small Copper, Small White, Speckled Wood.
