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| Long-tailed Tit |
My original plan for Wednesday was to get up early and head out to Broughty Ferry. I had a delivery due between 1400 and 2100, though I would get a notification which would hopefully give me enough time to get home from there. However, I slept in and decided it wasn't really worth the effort required to go to Broughty Ferry with the likelihood I would have to head back home before doing it justice. So instead, I weighed up my options and decided to head up to what was previously Caird Park golf course (now closed) and investigate the wooded areas that adjoin most of the holes there. My expectations were very low but I was hoping for a rare 'sibe' warbler as it was very likely no birders would be checking out these trees, and if you don't look, you'll never know.
By the time I got organised it was already 1030 and with daylight very much now at a premium (sunset is around 1600) I needed to make the most of what was left of the birding day, and hope that my delivery wasn't going to be one of the first in that vague time-frame. Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Magpie, Blackbird, Robin, Starling, House Sparrow and Long-tailed Tits made for a fairly run-of-the mill initial selection as I headed for Caird Park. There were a number of Curlews, Jackdaws, Woodpigeons and Black-headed Gulls on the football pitches off Graham Street. A few Blue Tits were in the gardens opposite. Things proved to be rather quiet at the former golf course with only Carrion Crow, Wren, Goldfinch, Siskin and Coal Tit noted as I wandered down to check the ponds.
A few Moorhens, multiple Mallards and a Grey Heron were seen at the ponds while a couple of Redwings overflew. I headed back up to check the golf course, starting at the 10th hole. Great Tit, Chaffinch and Mistle Thrush were added to the day's list before Crossbills were heard as I searched in below the trees for a flock of feeding tits. A Great Spotted Woodpecker and a vocal pair of Jays were next onto the list along the side of the 18th fairway, before Lainy phoned me to see where I was. She had expected to find me at Broughty Ferry but the late start had meant I'd changed my plans. I told her I'd probably head for Swannie Ponds and Eastern Cemetery as things were rather quiet overall at Cairdie. Grey Squirrel was seen as I wandered along the former 2nd hole fairway. The only thing new at Mains Terrace was a Dunnock and a skein of overflying Pink-footed Geese. Swannie Ponds provided Tufted Duck, Coot, Mute Swan and Common Gull but with no real reason to linger there I continued on to check out Eastern Cemetery. A Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen in flight over the TA depot.
After a bit of fairly fruitless meandering at the cemetery I bumped into Lainy who had found Broughty Ferry to be rather disappointing, and we wandered around a bit seeing what we could find. Rook, Sparrowhawk, Rabbits and a Buzzard which gave us a few interesting photo opportunities were all found before we chanced upon Dennis Gentles also visiting the cemetery again. Greenfinch, Oystercatcher and Stock Dove were all eventually spotted before Lainy and I headed back up to Swannie Ponds for a look and then on to watch for the Greenfinches coming in to roost. This proved relatively successful with a minimum of 260 Greenfinches counted from an iphone video still, which is a pretty decent total for this species which appears to be declining in numbers nationally, though I find them quite easy to find around Dundee, even away from this particular roost site. I finished the day's birding with a total of 40 species of birds and 2 of mammals, though not unexpectedly nothing new for my #2025Dundee150 list.
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| Grey Heron |
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| Blue Tit |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Redwing |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Buzzard |
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| Redwing |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Woodpigeon |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Black-headed Gull (Green J63P) |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Black-headed Gull (White JU214) |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Greenfinch |
Birds - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pink-footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
