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| Spotted Flycatcher |
Via Facebook I had arranged to show English birder Philip Smithson (who moved up to Angus last year) around Riverside Nature Park on Friday the 5th of September. With Keith having found a Green Sandpiper in Invergowrie Bay while I was at work on Thursday morning, I wanted to be at the park early enough to have plenty of time to look for it, if it was even still around (it had done a vanishing act as Keith was putting out word and despite others having looked for it, hadn't been relocated). Despite my intentions to make an early start it was around 0750 when I headed out.
There was a very strong smell of smoke in the air and I realised that I had scrolled past news of a fire at Wright Avenue on Facebook while having my breakfast. Wright Avenue was ringing bells with me. I was sure it was around the airport area. Starling, Feral Pigeon, Robin, Meadow Pipit, Magpie, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon distracted me from checking googlemaps to see where Wright Avenue actually was. When I did find out, I realised it was actually the recycling area next to Riverside Nature Park that was on fire. Given how strong the smell of smoke was 4 miles away from whatever remained of the fire, heading to the Nature Park didn't seem particularly sensible. I added Herring Gull and Goldcrest as I headed for Byron Street.
I made up my mind to head up to the top of the Law to see how things looked from there. If it looked like the fire was still burning, I would message Philip to cancel and head elsewhere for some birding. A Sparrowhawk flew over as I headed up the road towards the hill itself. A few more Meadow Pipits passed overhead. At the final set of stairs up to the top of the hill there was lots of activity in the trees on both sides of the paths. The activity appeared to be mostly from a mix of Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers, though Wren, Blue Tit, Chaffinch and Blackcap were also seen before I made my way up to the top of the hill to see how bad things looked from there. A blanket of smoke hung over the city and out to the west by the airport there was still a large pall of smoke billowing up.
I had no idea if the fire was likely to be extinguished completely anytime soon, so I messaged Philip to let him know that meeting up was looking fairly improbable. I said that I would hang around at the Law for an hour or so and see if things looked any better by then. We had arranged to meet up at 1100, so I really needed to make a firm decision by no later than 1000. I spent a bit of time atop the hill where there was some obvious passage of migrants from east to west, mostly Meadow Pipits. There were also a few House Martins and Swallows and a Tree Pipit was heard on its way past as well. By around 0945, it appeared that visiting the park would be a smoky waste of time, so I messaged Philip back to say we would have to cancel, and reschedule for another time.
As there were birds around at the hill, I decided to see if there was anything more exciting than the warblers. Redpoll and Crossbill headed over as I checked around the western side of the hill. I found Red Admiral, Large and Small White and Speckled Wood butterflies as I wandered round the slopes rather slowly. With Redstarts and Spotted Flycatchers having been seen elsewhere there was a slim chance that I might find one, having seen 1 of each at the Law in previous years. I wasn't particularly optimistic though, (which is nothing new for me), but you just never know. Bird-wise I found Blackbird, Coal Tit, Dunnock, and Great Tit, none of which were very inspiring, let alone unexpected. I was photographing the warblers by the steps on the east side around 1135 when I noticed a bird at the top of a conifer on the right hand side of the path. I grabbed a couple of photos just before the bird disappeared.
I had been on the verge of calling it quits and heading home for some photo editing prior to the sighting of this bird. Looking at the photos, I was in luck. It was a Spotted Flycatcher. Patience paid off a bit later with the flycatcher reappearing slightly lower down and for a little longer. Number 141 for my #2025Dundee150, and just another 9 left to get. The bird lifted my mood a bit and I messaged Lainy who had been also looking for Spotted Flycatcher around her patch, to no avail throughout the morning. There were lots of Chiffchaffs around but there had been no sign of anything more exciting unfortunately. I added a flypast Grey Wagtail, some House Sparrows, Long-tailed Tits and Siskin before I finally called it a day around 1300. I added a Green-veined White butterfly on the walk down past the allotments and a Lesser Black-backed Gull was my final find of the day. The gull took my total for the day to 32 species of birds (1 new for my #2025Dundee150, in bold) and 5 of butterflies.
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| Robin |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Goldcrest |
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| House Martin |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Speckled Wood |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chiffchaff & Willow Warbler |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Long-tailed Tit |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Spotted Flycatcher |
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| Goldcrest |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Green-veined White |
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Crossbill, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Redpoll, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Swallow, Tree Pipit, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Green-veined White, Large White, Red Admiral, Small White, Speckled Wood.
