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| Eider |
On my midweek day off I had to wait in for a parcel so I hadn't managed to get out birding, but with a day off on Friday the 7th of March, I wanted to make sure I actually got out birding. Having cut short my previous attempt to visit Broughty Ferry and Balmossie on the rather windy Sunday before, I figured that I should make the effort to get there and make up for the abandoned trip. The tide times were actually a bit more favourable and I was hoping that I might actually manage to get either Sanderling or Grey Plover, or preferably both onto my #2025Dundee150 list. My expectations were very low for any sort of success but if you don't try, you (usually) don't get...
With a 2 hour walk ahead of me to get to Balmossie I wanted to be out fairly early. Despite my best intentions it was around 30 mins later than I had hoped to be out the door before I made it outside. This was still within the window I had planned for, though it did mean any breaks in the journey would narrow that window further, lessening my chances of seeing either of the hoped for wader species. Blackbird, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, Starling, Blue Tit, Robin, Woodpigeon and House Sparrow provided a fairly steady stream of birds between home and Dura Street. I decided to speed up the journey by catching a bus on Arbroath Road. After a few minutes of waiting for a bus that was supposedly due I decided to continue on foot.
I headed down to Broughty Ferry Road but not before adding Magpie for the day. Chaffinch, Greenfinch and Wren were found on the walk down to another bus stop, where again there was no sign of a bus, despite it also supposedly being due. I figured I should just continue on foot after all. Rather than head out along the Docks Way cycle path, I walked along the side of the road instead. Unsurprisingly this meant birds were in rather short supply, though I did add Oystercatcher as I neared the circle at the western end of the Stannergate. Dunnock, Great Tit, Long Tailed Tit and Song Thrush were noted in the trees and bushes on the walk down from there to the river, along with a couple of the usual Rabbits. The Tay was flat as a millpond and with decent visibility it was easy to see that there weren't very many birds out on the water.
There were a few Turnstones down on the beach and a pair of distant Eider were picked out in the middle of the river. A Common Gull flew past as I headed eastwards. A bit further on I heard Skylark calls from above. After a bit of scanning I spotted a trio of high flying birds following the line of the river west. A single Bullfinch was in a treetop north of the railway line as I neared Douglas Terrace. A Grey Seal 'bottling' was seen breaking the surface over towards Tayport. I found a few Redshanks by the lifeboat jetty and a lone Cormorant was fishing offshore. A Pied Wagtail was noted at Beach Crescent. I didn't spend much time near the castle but I did get a surprise just beyond the other ex-military building to the east of the castle. In a tree by the crazy golf course a pair of Tree Sparrows showed quite well for a minute or two. In addition to the Skylarks, these suggested there were some smaller birds on the move.
Setting off for Balmossie a Rock Pipit was seen down on the beach and a trio of Collared Doves flew past. The river was much quieter than on my previous visit which was disappointing but it did mean that I didn't have to keep stopping to scan out over the river as often. I did add Black Headed Gull and a pair of Grey Herons in flight as I continued on towards Balmossie. I spotted Jackdaw and Rook on the stretch from the end of the esplanade along to the bridge over the railway line. I slowly scanned through the birds by the Dighty outflow which got me Great Black Backed Gull, Curlew and Dunlin initially. Patience and perseverance then got me Bar Tailed Godwit, Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Goldeneye and Wigeon as well as a single Mute Swan. A skein of Pink Footed Geese passed overhead.
I found a spot on the edge of the beach as the tide receded further, in the hope that the smaller waders, including the hoped for Sanderling might appear. They didn't though. I did however get my fiirst butterfly of 2025, as a Peacock flitted its way along the beach just in front of me. I was surprised to get useable photos of it in flight too. Around 1230 I decided that the hoped for Sanderling and Grey Plover were not going to show up. As I stood up I noticed a Little Egret that I'm sure hadn't been where it now was while I had been seated. I spent a while watching it before slowly making my way back eastwards, but without any hurry. A detour into the nature reserve only added Goldcrest for the day. I spent a bit of time scanning from the castle but this proved fruitless too. The walk back along the river was fairly quiet as it usually is. At the Stannergate I weighed up my options. Eastern Cemetery and Swannie Ponds, Baxter Park or along the cycle path to City Quay.
Dana had messaged me early in the morning to let me know there was a drake Eider stuck in the pools by the roadbridge - though at that point we weren't sure how it had ended up there. We later discovered that a well meaning person had found it on the bridge and released it into the ponds, from where it couldn't get enough height to clear the fences around the pond. I decided I might as well take a look at the situation it had found itself in. It was a slow wander along to City Quay and birds were mostly in short supply the whole way there. The Eider was unsurprisingly still present in its private prison. I watched it for a while, trying to work out ways to get it out unharmed. I took some photos and watched the bird make a few aborted take-off runs - either as a result of the halfway 'bridge' between the halves of the pools or the southern end wall.
While watching the Eider I happened to see a Peregrine fly up to just below the weather vane on St Paul's Cathedral. A second bird was seen briefly a bit later before it disappeared over City Quay. What I thought was the same bird seen silhouetted against the sky a short while later turned out to be the escaped Saker Falcon. The Peregrines were new for my #2025Dundee150 list, taking me to 94. I grabbed a few photos of one leaving the top of the spire from behind the bus shelters on Commercial Street. I headed homewards from there having managed to record a total of 48 species, including a single new addition (in bold) for the Dundee150 list. While not a classic day out, I did manage some reasonably decent photos.
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| Skylark |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Turnstone |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Dunlin |
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| Curlew |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Rook |
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| Peacock butterfly |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Robin |
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| Long Tailed Tit |
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| Starling |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Lesser Black Backed Gull |
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| Rabbit |
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| Cormorant |
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| Eider |
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| Eider |
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| Eider |
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| Saker Falcon (escaped) |
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| Peregrine |
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| Peregrine |
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| Peregrine |
Birds - Bar Tailed Godwit, Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Tree Sparrow, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterfly - Peacock.
Mammals - Greay Seal, Rabbit.
