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| Kittiwake |
It has been quite difficult to get motivated to get out and about this summer. Although the weather has been mostly 'good', it has for me been a bit too warm most of the time. On other days it has been a bit too windy and there have even been a few wetter days recently. Couple that weather with the general lull that June and July bring to the birding calendar and even coming up with a plan for the day can be a bit tricky. I have been spending a bit more time this year on the lookout for butterflies, and prior to the day covered in this post I had managed to see 18 species in 2025, with only really Painted Lady still to find of the known Dundee butterfly species. Having not been out on Saturday the 19th of July due to rain, I tried to get motivated to go out on Sunday morning but inspiration was severely lacking. However, late morning brought some potentially interesting news from Fife. Kittiwakes were on the move, heading inland, in fairly large numbers. As I still needed Kittiwake for my #2025Dundee150 list, I had a couple of options - head to Riverside Nature Park to catch birds moving upriver (and possibly a new patch tick for me there), or try the slightly more likely location of Broughty Ferry. Neither were even close to guaranteed but as Kittiwake does tend to be a 'bad weather' visitor to the Tay, more often than not, I knew I had to at least try to get one.
At the last minute I decided on Broughty Ferry. I headed out just before 1135. Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Swift, House Martin, Goldfinch, Swallow, House Sparrow, Starling and Pied Wagtail were noted between home and Arbroath Road, where I didn't have too long to wait for a bus heading towards Broughty Ferry. I had intended on walking out along the river as usual, but with a bus due I knew I could save some energy and time, so the bus got the nod. Magpie, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon were seen on the bus journey eastwards. Although I had intended to alight from the bus nearer to the castle, I decided to get off early, and head down Victoria Street to the end of Douglas Terrace. My thinking was that I could view more of the estuary upriver from there. Chaffinch and Goldcrest were added on the stretch down to the river, but I drew a blank on anything new when I was able to check the river.
As I got closer to the lifeboat station, I spotted a Gannet taking off from the water not too far out. Perched on the jetty handrails were a mix of Black-headed Gulls, Common Gulls and a few Sandwich Terns. Unfortunately there were no Kittiwakes to be seen. I continued on along past the Beach Crescent steps. As I neared the end of the steps, I spotted a single gull perched on the wall. It looked quite short-legged, and a quick look with the binoculars confirmed my suspicion - it was my hoped for Kittiwake, my 132nd bird from within Dundee in 2025. Round by the castle, I added Cormorant, Eider, Guillemot, a Grey Seal and a Green-veined White butterfly. In addition to these, both Curlew and Oystercatcher were seen before a Goosander flew past. As the castle was now open, I headed up to scan from the more raised viewpoint it offers out over the Tay. Redshank, Great Black Backed Gull, a few more small groups of Kittiwakes and Sandwich Terns were spotted from there.
With the tide well on its way out, I decided I should head along to check the waders and gulls along at Balmossie before they were a bit too far out. On the walk along, I took a fairly direct route through a few of the new wildflower meadows, in search of a Painted Lady butterfly - a species that had so far eluded me this year in Dundee. There were a few white butterflies flitting around and as I was trying to get a firm ID for one, another butterfly lifted from the ground before settling back down on the track close by. I approached slowly until I was able to get a better view and found that I had my Painted Lady, my second hoped-for species of the day, and my 19th species of butterfly within Dundee this year. With the butterfly safely 'in the bag' I resorted to checking the shore for birds. A trio of small waders flew in and I grabbed a couple of, unfortunately out of focus, photos, of what appeared to be Ringed Plovers. Unfortunately, between the time I lowered the camera and picked up the binoculars for a better look, they vanished - likely flushed by one of the nearby walkers, or dogs.
As I got nearer to the Dighty mouth, I scanned ahead of me. There were plenty of Mute Swans off the burn mouth and a few Large White butterflies flitted through the vegetation between the path and the rock armour. A Whitethroat was heard singing from beside the railway line and a trio of Linnets flew up from just ahead of me before circling round and landing again on the rock armour, though I couldn't quite get a clear view due to the vegetation. I did get better views when they landed on the beach a bit later. At the burn mouth, I added a few Lesser Black-backed Gulls before an Osprey appeared, but made no attempt at fishing. There was no sign of any more Kittwakes among the gulls roosting or bathing. With nothing much of note found, I decided to head back towards the castle again. On the walk along to the end of the Esplanade, I added a few Bar-tailed Godwits (some still in partial summer plumage, others likely youngsters) but there was no sign of anything unusual. I headed in for a look at the local nature reserve. Wren, Greenfinch, Robin, Blue Tit, Song Thrush and Blackbird were found there as were Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood butterflies.
The sun was now out, contrary to the expected weather, and it was rather warm as a result. I had very brief views of a Purple Hairstreak butterfly around one of the smaller Oak trees and a Collared Dove was heard as I left the reserve. Further on, I spotted an Osprey near the end of Douglas Terrace, having failed to see anything of note from a return visit to the castle, just before bumping into Dana. We had a chat for 5 minutes or so, and watched the Osprey flying back along from the Stannergate where it had attracted the unwanted attention of a couple of Herring Gulls. A couple of passer-bys asked what it was we were seeing and I pointed out the Osprey to them, which they were happy to see. Dana headed off and I wandered along to check the Holly Blue butterfly site. A single female of the species was seen there, along with a Red Admiral on the wall just by the bridge as I returned to the path along the river. I failed to add anything else on the walk home from there except for a calling Chiffchaff and a couple of Jackdaws (and a few Rabbits), taking my total for the day to 43 species of birds (including 1 new for #2025Dundee150 list - in bold) and 9 of butterflies, as well as 2 of mammals. A better than expected afternoon out, with 2 hoped-for species successfully found.
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| Black-headed Gull, Common Gull & Sandwich Tern |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Gannet |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Curlew |
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| Common Gull, Redshank, Carrion Crow & Oystercatcher |
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| Osprey |
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| Common Gull, Black-headed Gull, Redshank & Curlew |
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| Linnet |
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| Linnet |
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| Bar-tailed Godwit |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| Redshank |
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| Osprey |
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| Herring Gull & Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Osprey |
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| Holly Blue |
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| Red Admiral |
Birds - Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Eider, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black-backed Gull, Greenfinch, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sandwich Tern, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Large White, Meadow Brown, Painted Lady, Purple Hairstreak, Red Admiral, Small White, Speckled Wood.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Rabbit.
