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| Robin |
I had visited Riverside Nature Park on Saturday primarily to focus on vis-mig over the park, meaning actually searching for migrants in the bushes and trees around the park took a bit of a back seat. When my final Tuesday off (of my Autumn migration holidays) came around, I decided to revisit the park to search for migrants in the bushes and trees etc instead of constantly looking up. There would likely still be birds passing overhead, but I would be concentrating on those that stopped off for a bite to eat or a rest, if indeed there were any of those. However, it turned out to be a later start than planned, due to me sleeping in. As a result, it was just before 0940 when I left the house. It was a rather grey, overcast sort of day and my mood seemed to match that.
This changed my plan somewhat as most migrants would have departed from the park by the time I got there. With high tide around 1330, I would spend some time scanning through the birds in the bay. Robin, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Dunnock, Starling, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Magpie and Grey Wagtail were seen between home and the eastern end of Byron Street. Chaffinch, Song Thrush and Wren were added as I headed up towards the Law to have a quick look as I wasn't now in any great hurry. A quick visit to the top of the hill added Coal Tit, Goldcrest and Long-tailed Tit from the surrounding trees. Greenfinch was noted on the walk down the western side steps. Great Spotted Woodpecker, Jay, Great Tit and Siskin at Balgay gave me a few more species before I finally reached the nature park around 1045.
Robin, Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Carrion Crow, Wren, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Jackdaw and the first of quite a few Great Spotted Woodpeckers were all noted around the eastern half of the park. Goldfinch, Skylark, Song Thrush, a few Redwings, Woodpigeon and Magpie, as well as a few Rabbits were found before I headed up into the top half of the park. A skein of Pink-footed Geese headed over south and a flock of Siskins were seen in flight as I wandered round to check through the birds in the bay. Teal, Cormorant, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Great Black-backed Gull, Dunlin and Grey Heron were all picked out relatively easily. Great Tit, Mistle Thrush and Greenfinch were next onto the list as I wandered further along to the raised banking to scan from there. Black-headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Curlew, 3 Little Egrets and Common Gull could be seen as the rising tide pushed further into the bay.
A small flock of Crossbills headed over westwards. A trio of distant Red-breasted Mergansers and a large flock of Mallards were spied rather distantly well out on the river. A pair of Pintail and what appeared to be a potential Shoveler were also spotted, but the distance put paid to fully clinching the ID, and photos were inconclusive. More scanning got me Black-tailed Godwits in the bay and a Dunnock much closer to where I was standing. With nothing much to be gained by continuoulsy checking through the birds in the bay as full high tide approached I headed back round the park again. I had a few more Great Spotted Woodpecker sightings at various points around the park which suggested that there was more than a single bird involved, but likely closer to 6 or 7 individuals. I was surprised to see the car park looking very empty with just a single car there.
It turned out there was another car though - parked on the grass BEHIND the car park. That it belonged to one of the 'professional' dog walkers came as no real surprise as a number of them appear to think rules are for other people. When she left, her car did churn up the grass a little due to the rather wet ground. I managed to find a Jay, as well as a few Chiffchaffs, some Redpoll and a flock of Long-tailed Tits before calling it a day around 1330. The walk home turned out to be very disappointing with nothing new at all found on the way. I ended the day's relatively underwhelming birding with a combined total of just 48 species of birds and 1 of mammals. This consisted of 44 species of birds at the park and 23 outwith, with the single mammal species (Rabbit) being found at the park. I had actually considered not taking the day off work, thus saving the day for a later date instead, and with hindsight this might have been a slightly better option.
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| Robin |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Redwing |
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| Skylark |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Redwing |
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| Oystercatcher, Curlew, Redshank & Dunlin |
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| Cormorant |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Blackbird |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Redshank & Little Egret |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Redpoll |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Chaffinch |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great
Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jay, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Feral
Pigeon, Siskin, Song Thrush, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Birds
(at Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit,
Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock,
Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch,
Grey Heron, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Jay, Lesser Black-backed Gull,
Little Egret, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pink-footed Goose, Pintail, Red-breasted Merganser, Redpoll, Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin,
Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Teal, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit
