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| Mediterranean Gull |
Despite having been to Broughty Ferry the previous Wednesday and both days at the weekend, I settled on another visit on Wednesday the 22nd of October. With time now rapidly running out to reach my target of 150 species of birds from within Dundee in 2025, I needed to maximise my chances of getting something new and Broughty Ferry offered the possibility of Grey Plover, Long-tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Slavonian Grebe, Great Skua, Little Auk and even still a very slim chance of a Puffin. Other species were also possible, though even more unlikely. The weather forecast was fairly decent so back to Broughty and Balmossie it was...
I wasn't really in the mood at all, but I knew I couldn't really afford to miss out on any opportunities, if I wanted to have a realistic chance of getting those final 6 species needed. This contributed to it being a much later start than usual. I headed out just before 1125 to find House Sparrow, Feral Pigeon and Magpie as soon as I stepped outside. Jackdaw, Blue Tit, Greenfinch, Pied Wagtail and Herring Gull were soon on the list. Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Wren and Robin were all noted as I headed out along Arbroath Road. I diverted down onto Broughty Ferry Road where I managed to find Long-tailed Tits in the trees by the railway line as well as a Dunnock a bit further on. I contemplated turning round and heading home again more than once as my enthusiasm for the walk out to Broughty Ferry and my expectation levels were both practically zero.
I forced myself to continue on anyway. Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit and Rook were around at the Stannergate. An unidentified butterfly seen in flight there was most likely a Red Admiral. Down on the shore the day's first waders were the usual Redshank, Oystercatcher and Curlew with Turnstone added a little further on. Black-headed Gull and Common Gull were also down by the water as I headed out past the car park. A Grey Seal was seen out on the river and a small flock of Siskins overflew westwards. A few Starlings were foraging among the pebbles by the lifeboat station. A Blackbird was heard from the crazy golf course as I passed by. I had decided to continue on out to Balmossie to hopefully catch something on the rising tide.
An Eider was spotted out on the river along with a Cormorant. A Buzzard was spied briefly being harassed by crows over the nature reserve. There were a few Linnets in the small roadside trees near the brick shelter and a Small White butterfly flitted past me at the rock garden. At least 1 Crossbill was heard from around the railway line there too. Scanning along towards Balmossie, I was able to pick out Wigeon and Mute Swan. The tide was already further in than I had hoped it would be, though that was my own fault. I scanned through the waders finding nothing new amongst them. Out on the water, I did find a few Goosander and amongst the gulls there were a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. As I was individually checking the Herring Gulls, a different gull flew through my binocular view. The lack of black on the wingtips made it an obvious adult Mediterranean Gull and I was pleased to see it land on the edge of what was left of the beach, just below where I was standing.
This meant that I was able to get some fairly decent photos before it flew out to join some of the other Black-headeds and Common Gulls resting on the water. The flock slowly drifted west upriver and I lost sight of the Med Gull while chatting to a cyclist who stopped to ask if I'd seen anything interesting. I was rather surprised to spot a tern fishing in Monifieth Bay and although it never came in particularly close, I had decent enough views to see it was a rather late Arctic Tern. Lainy and I had both Med Gull and Arctic Tern back there in October 2022, though 12 days earlier, on the 10th. That same day we also had an unexpected Puffin close in to shore, just beyond the burn outflow. A Chiffchaff was heard as I slowly wandered back towards the castle and I spotted a small group of Red Throated Divers about halfway across the river. Something unseen put up all the birds from Lucky Scalp and I counted 13 Little Egrets in one group, as well as a Grey Heron.
Red-breasted Merganser, a skein of Pink-footed Geese, a few Razorbills and a small flock of Bar-tailed Godwits kept things a bit more interesting than I had expected them to be. A Chaffinch was heard as I passed the tennis courts. I bumped into Barrie Hunter just beyond the dolphin sculpture and we spent a while chatting about birds. It began to rain a little but thankfully the shower didn't come to much. I added Rock Pipit on the walk back along the river taking the day's list to 47 species of birds, 1 of mammals and 1 of butterflies. Given how low my mood, my expectations and my enthusiasm had been earlier in the day, it ended up being a reasonably interesting afternoon's birding with some pretty good birds found, even if none were new for the #2025Dundee150 list.
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| Cormorant |
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| Linnet |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Wigeon |
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| Wigeon, Redshank & Black-headed Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Common Gull, Herring Gull, Mediterranean Gull & Black-headed Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull & Black-headed Gull |
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| Mediterranean Gull |
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| Black-headed Gull & Mediterranean Gull |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Arctic Tern |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Little Egret |
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Great Black-backed Gull |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Turnstone |
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| Cormorant |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
Birds - Arctic Tern, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit,
Buzzard, Carrion Crow,
Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldfinch,
Goosander, Great Black-backed
Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Linnet, Little Egret,
Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow
Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail,
Pink-footed Goose, Razorbill, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver,
Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Siskin, Starling, Turnstone, Wigeon,
Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - (possible Red Admiral), Small White.
Mammals - Grey Seal.
