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| Sparrowhawk |
A combination of bad weather and general malaise meant that I failed to get out birding over the course of the long weekend with the Monday (28th of July) being the start of the traditional 'Dundee Fortnight' trades holiday when the factories would shut down for two weeks. As a result I was quite determined to get out birding on my midweek day off. Despite having been to Riverside Nature Park the previous week, Keith had found two 'needed' species there on Tuesday, (Sanderling and Greenshank), which meant there was really only one place I could go birding on my day off. I had been eyeing up a visit to Broughty Ferry owing to the numbers of birds feeding in the Tay (Terns, Gulls and Gannets, plus some Auks) but the potential availability of not just one, but two, species for my #2025Dundee150 list meant that I had to put off that idea.
I headed out just before 0745 noting Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Magpie, Swift, Woodpigeon and House Sparrow almost immediately. I messaged Lainy to see if she wanted to join me at the park but didn't hear anything back, suggesting that she was probably having a lie-in. Lesser Black-backed Gull, Starling, Blue Tit and Jackdaw were added as I wandered up past the football stadiums. There was a fairly lengthy lull before the next few birds were found - Robin, Dunnock and Wren at Balgay Hill. Stock Dove, Goldcrest and a Sparrowhawk were noted as I cut down through Balgay Cemetery and onto Glamis Road. A Red Admiral butterfly flitted over a fence further down the hill and Song Thrush and Swallow were seen before I reached the Nature Park around 0845.
Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Herring Gull, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Coal Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swallow, Whitethroat, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow and Starling were found as I made my way through the lower half. Long Tailed Tit, Jackdaw, Chiffchaff and Buzzard were seen as I headed for a look at the bay from the hide. Lainy messaged me back to say she'd be down to join me sometime after 1000. There were a pair of Little Egrets just beyond the pipe with a third over towards the reedbed and a large number of Black-headed Gulls, mostly just standing around. Checking through these gulls resulted in finding Common Gull and Lesser Black-backed Gull. Redshank, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin and Oystercatcher were spotted before I wandered round to the raised banking for a wider view. There were a number of Mallards just offshore.
Great Tit, Blackbird, Wren, Song Thrush and Robin were in the bushes down in front of me as I scanned out over the bay. Cormorant, Common Sandpiper and a single Knot were all picked out and a Sparrowhawk zipped past me over the bushes. Through the scope I was able to make out some distant Goosander and a single Mute Swan. Some Curlews flew out from their hidden roost down in front of the bushes. A Greenfinch was in the buddleia bushes behind me and a Great Black-backed Gull was on the pipe. Lainy arrived around 1020 and we didn't have too long to wait for our first Osprey of the morning to put in an appearance. More scanning got us Grey Heron, Canada Geese and Sandwich Terns, while Pied Wagtail and Sand Martin flew over. A Pheasant was heard calling.
Once the tide had receded past where we were standing we headed round into the 'bowl' to see what else we could find there with butterflies expected given the shelter from the wind there. Meadow Brown, Large White, Peacock and a surprise Purple Hairstreak on a Buddleia were all noted there. Even more unexpected was a Wall butterfly which gave us brief views, though Lainy managed to get a couple of photos before it vanished again. A Redpoll dropped in for a few seconds by the amphibian pond but I wasn't quick enough to get a photo. A Linnet was seen perched in the same tree as a Goldfinch before we had a wander round the top half of the park to see if there were any more butterfly species about. We added Comma, Green-veined White and Small White by the junction of the paths up from the car park. Moorhen was the final species seen at the park before we decided to head up to Balgay to see if we could any more butterflies.
We had plenty of views of the Sparrowhawk youngsters as we wandered around the Victoria Park side of the hill. There were a few Green-veined Whites around. Checking the row of smaller Oak trees we managed to find a Purple Hairstreak wandering around on some of the branches away from the crown of the tree. I took some video and later at home, realised the butterfly had actually been laying eggs, which was something unusual to capture. I had managed to film a Common Blue a month or so ago, just a little further to the west, doing similar (both on my YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@stonefaction). We both managed to miss out on photos of a food pass from one of the adult Sparrowhawks to a youngster but it was nice to see nonetheless. We eventually called it a day around 1500 and Lainy dropped me off at home after what had been another enjoyable and interesting day's birding (and 'butterflying'), despite not managing to find either of the 2 hoped for waders. I finished the day having recorded a total of 56 species of birds (19 outwith RNP, 52 at the park) and 9 species of butterfly (3 outwith RNP, 9 at the park) and 2 of mammals (1 outwith, 1 at RNP).
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| Redshank & Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Dunlin, Redshank & Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Little Egret & Black-headed Gull |
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| Lapwing |
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| Black-tailed Godwit & Redshank |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Swallow |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Common Sandpiper & Redshank |
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| Lesser Black-backed Gull & Buzzard |
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| Osprey |
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| Canada Goose (& assorted waders) |
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| Peacock |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Hoverfly sp. |
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| Purple Hairstreak |
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| Purple Hairstreak |
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| Purple Hairstreak |
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| Purple Hairstreak |
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| Sparrowhawk |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blue Tit, Carrion
Crow, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed
Gull, Magpie, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow,
Swift, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature
Park) - Green-veined White, Purple Hairstreak, Red
Admiral
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Grey Squirrel.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great
Black-backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret,
Long-tailed Tit, Magpie,
Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher,
Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Redpoll, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Whitethroat, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Comma, Green-veined White, Large White,
Meadow Brown, Peacock, Purple Hairstreak, Red Admiral, Small White, Wall.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
