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| Ruff |
Having made an attempt at getting a big day total at Riverside Nature Park on Friday the 29th of August, I failed to do any birding on either Saturday and Sunday due to a combination of reasons. However, with September arriving on Monday and having another day off work on Tuesday, I decided I should make a second attempt to try to get as close to 70 species as possible in a day at Riverside Nature Park. The record for the park is 67 species in a day, which Lainy and I managed last year around this time. With slightly more favourable tide times than Friday's visit and a decent selection of wader species having been seen over the preceding days, it seemed like there might actually be a reasonable chance of achieving the target, or at least breaking the current record. I wanted to be at the park as early as possible, so with my alarm set for 0445, I somehow managed to get up and organised in time to be out the door for a few minutes after 0600.
Robin, Feral Pigeon, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull and Carrion Crow were immediately noted when I stepped outside. As the sun had yet to clear the horizon, additional species came at a slower rate than usual with Woodpigeon, Jackdaw and Magpie being found between the football grounds. Blue Tit, Meadow Pipit, Goldfinch, Wren, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Great Tit were all noted as I made my way to, and along Byron Street, Loons Road and onto Ancrum Road. There were a few Common Gulls with the Black-headed and Herring Gulls at the football pitches. Goldcrest, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Siskin and Stock Dove were new for the day as I wandered through Balgay Cemetery. As I headed down Glamis Road towards the circle at the end of Blackness Road, I was sure I could hear a Crossbill. It turned out I could with one flying around the top of the hill just beyond the circle. It briefly landed in the top of a tall conifer but flew off again as I attempted to get my camera out of the bag. Greenfinch and Pied Wagtail were both noted as I walked along Riverside Avenue to the eastern entrance to Riverside Nature Park, where I was hoping for a strong start to the my second 2025 attempt at beating last year's figure.
Thankfully there appeared to be plenty of activity around that end of the park. Woodpigeon, Wren, Robin, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Herring Gull, Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit and Jackdaw were all noted over the course of my first 2 minutes within the park. Blackbird, Great Tit, Bullfinch, Magpie and a couple of Rabbits were next asI headed for the western half of the park. A single Stock Dove overflew. Chaffinch, Whitethroat, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tit, Blackcap, Greenfinch and Swallow made for a reasonably productive stretch of path on my walk along to the Lochan. Unsurprisingly, only Moorhen was to be found there. I then continued round to check the bay. Despite my early start, the tide was already much further in than I had expected it to be. I set up the scope and scanned through the birds I could see down in the bay. It didn't take too long to find the Greenshank in amongst the Redshanks. A Grey Heron was seen just beyond the pipe and Curlew, Teal, Mallard, Common Gull, a few Black-tailed Godwits, Dunlin, Black-headed Gull, Oystercatcher and a couple of Ringed Plover as well as a few Knot were all noted as the clock ticked towards 0800.
Across the bay, I could see a few Sandwich Terns and some distant Cormorants were out on the small island (apparently known as Battery Rock - which I'd somehow forgotten). Coal Tit, Siskin, Grey Wagtail, Tree Pipit and Rook were all welcome additions over the course of the next half hour or so. I managed to find a Ruff just before 0830 but I couldn't see any sign of the Curlew Sandpipers which was slightly concerning - given that I needed to get 'everything' possible if I was to beat last year's total. Feral Pigeon and Lesser Black-backed Gull were both noted from the hide area and careful scanning got me an unexpected but welcome eclipse-plumaged Wigeon as well as the Golden Plover which has now been around for a while. Eventually at 0925 I managed to find Curlew Sandpiper. Scanning across the far side of the bay got me Lapwing but i couldn't be 100% sure of there being any Bar-tailed Godwits. I heard the Kingfisher calling from the burn but failed to see it. I happened to look up just as what was to prove to be the day's only Osprey flew over eastwards, up and over the trees.
I spent the next hour and 15 minutes trying to find something else as I wandered round the park, while waiting for the tide to start receding again. I did manage to add Yellowhammer, Dunnock and Willow Warbler before heading into 'the bowl' to see if I could find anything there. Starlings and an unexpected Redpoll were added there before I wandered back to the hide to see if anything else had magically appeared while I was elsewhere. A pair of Little Egrets had actually shown up though they were favouring the far side of the bay. A Song Thrush was heard from the bushes in front of the hide. I wandered back round to the raised banking. A Great Black-backed Gull was seen on the pipe. The sun had appeared by this time and this brought out the day's first butterflies - Large White and Red Admiral. A Sparrowhawk was hunting almost directly overhead at around 1245. I was really struggling to find a few birds I thought I would be able to get, such as Bar-tailed Godwit, and with the tide already well out it appeared my chances of reaching my target figure were now close to zero.
Nevertheless, I kept looking and finally added Buzzard just before 1350, which took the total for the park visit to 63 species - which was not too bad, but still a bit short of what I had been hoping for. I decided to call it a day at 1400 and headed for the eastern exit. The walk back home added Large White butterflies along the hedge-line on Riverside Avenue's north side. Bullfinch and Buzzard were both noted at Balgay Hill, with the day's final find being a Treecreeper in the trees by the fotball pitches. I made it home somewhere around 1530 having managed to get a combined total of 66 species of birds (63 at the park, 26 outwith), 2 of butterflies (2 at park, 1 outwith) and 1 of mammals. Although I had failed to get to my target for the day, it had been a reasonably interesting and varied day's birding. With a bit more luck I might've been able to add a few more species but I was slightly more meticulous than usual and felt I didn't miss much, if anything. However, there was a report on eBird of Guillemot and Common Tern from the park while I was checking the bay. Neither appear on any of my photos. Even if I had seen these 2 additional species, I would still have been a few species short of last year's total anyway, so regardless of their presence or otherwise I would still have been short of last year's total.
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| Whitethroat |
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| Coal Tit |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Greenshank |
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| Dunlin, Redshank & Ringed Plover |
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| Black-tailed Godwit, Teal & Redshank |
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| Golden Plover & Redshank |
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| Black-tailed Godwit & Redshank |
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| Knot |
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| Wigeon (& Redshank) |
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| Osprey |
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| Redshank & Curlew Sandpiper |
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| Ruff |
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| Teal |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Little Egret & Sandwich Tern |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Great Black-backed Gull |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Buzzard |
BIrds - (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Blue Tit,
Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Crossbill, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed
Gull, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral
Pigeon, Siskin, Stock Dove, Treecreeper, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Large White.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull,
Black-tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard,
Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant,
Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Golden Plover, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Knot,
Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Little Egret, Long-tailed Tit,
Magpie, Mallard, Meadow
Pipit, Moorhen, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Redpoll, Redshank, Ringed Plover, Robin, Feral
Pigeon, Rook, Ruff, Sandwich Tern, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock
Dove, Swallow, Teal, Tree Pipit, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Large White, Red Admiral.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit.
