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| Crossbill |
Over the last 6 weeks or so, my birding has largely favoured Riverside Nature Park, with a few scattered visits to Broughty Ferry and the Law providing some slight changes of scenery. My luck over the period has been varied with some 'hits' and some 'misses' and butterflies have also provided some alternative interest at times. I'm not keen on it being too warm and for much of this summer, it has been a bit too warm for my liking. Despite this most of the time I've still headed out. The Golden Plover in Invergowrie Bay had been seen again on Sunday while I was at the other end of the city, and again on Tuesday the 5th of August. This meant that rather than another trip to Broughty Ferry, which would have been my preference, I would need to try again to get the bird on my #2025Dundee150 list with yet another visit to Riverside Nature Park.
With high tide around 1500, there was no great need to get out too early. Despite this, I was out the door for 0825. Swifts were first on the day's list, though soon to depart for sunnier climes. Blue Tit, Feral Pigeon, Carrion Crow and Herring Gull were next. Things were a bit slower than on my walks to work along much the same route. Magpie and Woodpigeon followed, then Blackbird, before Lesser Black-backed Gull and Chiffchaff made their way onto the list. Dunnock, Coal Tit and Long-tailed Tit were all heard-only finds near the bottom of Loon's Road. A couple of Swallows were zipping around at the Lochee Park football pitches. Balgay Hill provided Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Song Thrush, Wren and Treecreeper, while Great Tit and Robin as well as a Buzzard were seen on Ninewells Avenue as I headed for the underpass towards the eastern end of Riverside Nature Park.
Things turned out to be a bit on the slow side at the park too. Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Long-tailed Tit, Swallow, Chaffinch, Wren and Blackcap were all noted on the walk to the car park. Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Small White and Large White butterflies were all found around the nettles and buddleia just up from the car park. A Pheasant called from the composting area beyond the fence before I was distracted by another butterfly which turned out to be a Comma. A lady walking her dog mentioned having seen a dead Weasel near the underpass, with its mouth open and lying on its back. Given the opportunity to see a Weasel up close, even if it was dead, seemed to be worth a short walk across the road.
It was easy to find the animal, which I suspect had either been hit by a car, or maybe even a train. It turned out to be a Stoat and rather interestingly it was getting a lot of interest from a number of wasps. They were in the mouth of the Stoat, no doubt getting stuck in to the softer flesh to be found there. The sharp teeth of the animal were on show and I took a few photos before heading back over to the park. Another butterfly was added, in the shape of a Green-veined White. A Tree Pipit flew out from the trees to the northeast of the car park and I could hear Crossbills from the same general area. While trying to get a view of the birds I could hear, a pair flew out, before another small group followed suit. Yet another butterfly - a Peacock, was found before I wandered round to check out the birds in the bay, and the current tide state.
Cormorant, Common Sandpiper, Redshank, Black-headed Gull, some distant Canada Geese, Carrion Crow, Curlew, Dunlin, Grey Heron, Mallard, Oystercatcher and Sandwich Tern were all relatively easy to find once I had set up my scope and tripod. A Siskin flew over calling, and a second Tree Pipit did likewise. Lesser Black-backed Gull, Lapwing, 3 distant Little Egrets and an equally as distant Mute Swan were picked out but there was no sign of the hoped for Golden Plover, or any of the other recent less common waders that had been seen in the bay. As the tide still had a bit of distance to go before the majority of birds would be in front of me, I went for a wander. Greenfinch, Buzzard, Blue Tit and Chiffchaff were all found before I made it back to the bay just before noon. With the birds now closer to the hide than the embankment, I headed there for what I hoped would be a better view.
Scanning through what was left of the waders down in front of the bay, I chanced upon a bird that wasn't a Dunlin or a Redshank. Nor was it a Golden Plover or a Greenshank. It was a Ruff, and I had fairly decent views before it relocated over towards the reedbed. Despite not being a new bird for the year, it was my first self-found one of 2025. I added Common Gull and Jackdaw from the hide over the next 45 minutes or so, before a train flushed almost all of the remaining birds from what was left of the mud. I headed back into the main part of the park again. A couple of Swifts were seen high over the field and House Sparrows were heard chirping but went unseen. A Speckled Wood and a Small Tortoiseshell made it onto the butterflies part of the list as I headed in the direction of the Lochan.
There were a few Moorhens at the Lochan including a rather small fluffy youngster, suggesting a second brood. More wandering added Magpie, Goldfinch, Sand Martin, Coal Tit and Song Thrush before I left the park around 1445. I headed up to Balgay Cemetery where the toilets were being closed 50 minutes before the supposed closing time. A wander up through the wooded part of the cemetery produced a bit of a surprise. I glimpsed a butterfly closing its wings on a gravestone and grabbed a photo, before slowly moving closer to get a better photo, using my phone. It was yet another Wall butterfly, and the first sighting of the species at Balgay (that I'm aware of). Continuing on again, I heard the distinctive 'pruk' of a Raven and hurried up the hill to try to see the bird, but was out of luck.
I ended up chatting for a while with a guy from Edinburgh called Greg who had also heard the Raven. As we were chatting, I also heard a Nuthatch calling nearby. A Purple Hairstreak was glimpsed at the Planet Trail Elm but I had to settle for photos of a Speckled Wood there instead. A House Martin and a Black-headed Gull were seen overhead before I headed down the hill to check the small Oak trees in Victoria Park. I managed to find a single Purple Hairstreak sunning itself, out of the wind in one of the trees but it didn't linger too long and I lost sight of it when it moved round the back of the tree. I headed home around 1700, noting House Sparrow, Starling and a Peacock butterfly as I neared home. I finished the day with a total of 54 species of birds (30 outwith the park, 44 at the park) and 11 species of butterflies (4 at the park, 9 outwith).
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| Comma |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Crossbill |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Comma |
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| Stoat and Wasp sp. |
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| Stoat and Wasp sp. |
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| Small White |
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| Tree Pipit |
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| Peacock |
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| Buzzard |
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| Ruff & Redshank |
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| Ruff |
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| Redshank, Ruff & Black-headed Gull |
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| Black-headed Gull, Redshank & Ruff |
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| Ruff, Dunlin, Redshank & Black-headed Gull |
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| Ruff, Dunlin & Black-headed Gull |
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| Comma |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Small White |
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| Wall |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| Purple Hairstreak |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit,
Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion
Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House
Sparrow, Lesser Black-backed
Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Nuthatch, Raven, Robin, Feral
Pigeon, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon,
Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature
Park) - Green-veined White, Peacock, Purple Hairstreak, Wall.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch,
Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew,
Dunlin, Goldfinch, Greenfinch, Grey
Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull,
Little Egret, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie,
Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher,
Pheasant, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Ruff, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern,
Siskin, Song Thrush, Swallow, Swift,
Tree Pipit, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Comma, Green-veined White, Large White,
Meadow Brown, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Speckled Wood.
