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| Blue Tit |
The weather forecast for Sunday the 16th of November was cold but sunny, and the wind had swung round to the southwest. Having been to Broughty Ferry on Saturday, I wanted to try somewhere else. I didn't feel like trying Riverside Nature Park. I eventually settled on just heading out and seeing where I ended up. Having had a Waxwing at Eastern Cemetery during the week, I would check there but how I got there and where I went before and after would be entirely unplanned. I was organised and ready to head out for around 0915.
Carrion Crow, Magpie, Starling, Feral Pigeon, House Sparrow, Robin and Herring Gull were all relatively expected birds close to home and were all noted within the first 2 minutes outside. Woodpigeon, Chaffinch, Jackdaw and Blackbird were seen around the Dura Street car park area as I headed for Baxter Park via a slightly different route than usual. Coal Tit and Blue Tit were noted in the trees by the Morgan Academy. I headed for Spring Grove where things proved to be rather quiet. A Sparrowhawk circled overhead and a pair of Stock Doves were perched in a tree a bit further on. I had decided to head out the east side gate and up towards Swannie Ponds via Dalkeith Road, Dennison Road West and Loraine Road. Goldfinch and a pair of Bullfinches were seen by the east gate.
At Swannie Ponds, the Grey Heron was fishing along the far end of the lower pond. Mute Swan, Mallard, Moorhen, Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gull, Coot and Greenfinch were noted at the ponds, but there didn't seem to be much point in lingering there. I decided to check the trees at Mid-Craigie on the Kingsway for Waxwings. Rather than cross the dual carriageway, I walked a short distance down the westbound-side of the road and had a very quick scan through the binoculars but there were no obvious birds to be seen. I headed back round to the top end of Eastern Cemetery. A Grey Wagtail flew over and a Wren was heard from within the allotments. Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Song Thrush and Blackbirds were around in low numbers but there appeared to be no sign of any Waxwings (which wasn't really a surprise). A Grey Squirrel was seen before a Kestrel overflew low northwards.
A pair of Oystercatchers were seen in the air from the direction of the nearby playing fields. A large flock of Fieldfares passed overhead quite high above. I bumped into a birder/photographer that I didn't recognise and asked if he was looking for anything in particular. He was - the flock of Waxwings that Lainy had seen and photographed on Saturday. Those Waxwings were however in Aberdeen, so I had to break the bad news that he was unlikely to find them there, though the chances of finding any Waxwings wasn't zero, though I hadn't stumbled upon any that morning - yet. It turned out he was Dennis Gentles, whose name I knew of via social media etc and who I have a feeling I may once have met in the hide at Guardbridge back in the pre-Covid years. As we were chatting a Buzzard flew in and landed in a nearby tree.
We were able to get quite decent photos as it perched in the sun, practically ignoring us. There was some half-hearted attention paid by a few passing corvids (Carrion Crow and Magpie) to the raptor but it stayed put. Another flock of Fieldfares headed over, with some dropping down briefly into a nearby tree before quickly heading off again. The Buzzard then flew to a different tree but again gave us good views asit perched near the top. Long-tailed Tits, a heard-only Crossbill, Dunnock, overflying Collared Dove, a pair of Sparrowhawks as well as some Redwings and Mistle Thrushes were all noted over the next hour or two as we slowly wandered round the lower half of the cemetery seeing what we could find, before Dennis headed for his lunch and I wandered back along to check Spring Grove again.
Things were still rather quiet there though I did get a few reasonable Blue Tit photos. A few Goldfinches and Chaffinches seemed to be the only other birds present there. With the sun still shining, though already quite far round to the southwest, I decided to head back up to Swannie Ponds. I wasn't expecting to add anything that I hadn't already seen, except perhaps Common Gull and maybe something overflying. I bumped into Craig Ward whose YouTube channel - The Swan family and friends, covers some of the regular birds (and some visitors) at the ponds, and ended up spending the next few hours chatting and seeing what else was flying around. The expected Common Gull was easily found, with at least 2 present.
A couple of drake Goosanders appeared from round the other side of the island and a Great Tit flew over into the trees behind us. A pair of Bullfinches flew towards the southwestern corner from the trees on the island. A Curlew which overflew was a new species for Craig from the ponds, but even better was still to come. I picked up a small skein of 6 silent geese flying over from the north and was quite surprised to see they were actually Barnacle Geese (another new one for Craig). A flock of Long-tailed Tits moving through the trees by the northwestern corner were also another surprising new bird for Craig at the ponds. To be fair, his focus tends to be on the individual swans and ducks that live at the ponds, whereas mine tends to be on almost everything else.
As the light began to fade, I decided to head home. A few Greenfinches appeared where I've seen these finches flocking in the past as they prepared to go to roost, so I decided to see how many would show up. The numbers continued to build over the next half an hour or so, until there was a flock of somewhere between 100 and 150 (possibly more?) circling round and sometimes perching in the tops of some nearby trees. I took some video with my phone and got some flight shots of the birds as they milled around before the bulk of the flock were seen to go to roost in a nearby Rhododendron bush. My total for the day was 43 species with the Barnacle Geese the main highlight, though the rather chilled-out Buzzard at the cemetery was also nice to see. It was also a fairly lazy day of plenty of bird-oriented conversation and birds seen in good light.
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| Grey Heron |
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| Grey Squirrel |
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| Song Thrush |
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| Kestrel |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Buzzard |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Robin |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Barnacle Goose |
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| Curlew |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Tufted Duck |
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| Goosander |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
Birds - Barnacle Goose, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Coot, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunnock, Fieldfare, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel.
