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| Wheatear |
With Monday the 6th of October being a public holiday, it meant I had an extra day to play with, in addition to my usual day off and the 2 days of annual leave I was taking this particular week. Naturally, I wanted to get out birding. Unfortunately, the strong westerly winds from Storm Amy's weekend visit hadn't really tailed off much which didn't seem to bode too well for my chances of finding anything particularly interesting. Strong easterlies would have been much more likely to deliver something good but I would just have to make the best of what the weather had brought in (or hadn't).
I headed out just after 0835 for the walk out to Broughty Ferry. Robin, House Sparrow, Herring Gull, Carrion Crow, Pink-footed Goose, Magpie, Starling, Goldfinch, Chiffchaff and a flyover Meadow Pipit provided a bit of variety as I headed along Dundonald Street. Feral Pigeon, Wren, Dunnock, Siskin, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Chaffinch and Greenfinch were added to the lengthening list as I cut down to the Docks Way cycle path. Woodpigeon and Mistle Thrush were spotted near the eastern end and a small flock of Redpoll overflew as I checked out the area between the sewage tank and the railway line. Skylarks, a Buzzard being mobbed by Carrion Crows, a few Rabbits and an unexpected Red Admiral butterfly were also seen before I headed down to check the shoreline. A Cereal Leaf Beetle landed on my bag and was unusual enough to warrant me trying to get a few photos.
Curlew, Black-headed Gull, Oystercatcher, Grey Heron, Common Gull and Cormorant provided a fairly typical selection of species as I wandered out along the esplanade towards Broughty Ferry. I began to notice flocks of low-flying small birds all heading west around rooftop height or sometimes below. These turned out to be mostly finches and pipits, and they were clearly migrants on the move, following the line of the river while attempting to stay out of the wind as much as possible. A dog walker asked what it was I was photographing and I ended up having an enjoyable chat with her all the way out to Broughty Castle as flocks of Chaffinches, Linnets, Greenfinches, Meadow Pipits etc passed by.
As I was more than a little intrigued by what might be passing among these flocks I decided to sit on the rocks just east of the castle and try to get a better view of the birds that were moving through. Despite it already being fairly late in the morning for vis-mig, I was still able to see and photograph Linnets, Crossbills, Tree Sparrows, Reed Buntings, Pied Wagtails, Greenfinches, Chaffinches, Redpolls, Siskins, Goldfinches, House Sparrows, Skylarks, Mistle Thrushes, Starlings, Meadow Pipits and even a single Blue Tit that also appeared to be migrating through, before things finally began to quieten down around 1215 or so.
I continued my walk out to check the birds by the Dighty Burn outflow at Balmossie. Eider, Jackdaw, Rock Pipit, some distant Mute Swans, a Little Egret, Goosander and Red Throated Diver were all noted as I headed along to the local nature reserve. Things were quieter than expected there but I did still manage to add Long-tailed Tit, Goldcrest and Blackbird. A Grey Seal was out on the river and at Balmossie I was able to get Wigeon, Mallard, Rook and Great Black-backed Gull whicht were all new for the day. As I walked back along towards the castle, a bird flew up briefly from the rock armour before dropping back down out of sight again. It turned out to be a Wheatear though it was a bit flighty. With some persistence and a stealthy approach, I eventually managed to get a few photos of the bird.
Redshank and Turnstone were finally added at the lifeboat jetty roost and the walk back homewards from there turned out to be pretty quiet. I did detour up to Swannie Ponds though I only added Coot and Tufted Duck there which took the totals for the day to 54 species of birds, 1 of butterflies and 2 of mammals. Unfortunately, there was nothing too unusual in the flocks of migrants seen passing through in the morning, with neither of the hoped-for Brambling nor Hawfinch to be seen. However, the amount of birds (certainly in the high hundreds) passing through meant a plan for an earlier start as well as better preparation for an earlier return visit the next day.
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| Cereal Leaf Beetle |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Skylark |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Redpoll |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Starling |
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| Crossbill |
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| Tree Sparrow, Linnet & Reed Bunting |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Linnet |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Swallow |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Buzzard |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Goosander | |
Birds - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Linnet, Little Egret, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink-footed Goose, Redpoll, Red-throated Diver, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Starling, Swallow, Tree Sparrow, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wheatear, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Red Admiral.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Rabbit.
