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| Great Tit |
Having managed to miss out on both Common Scoter and Little Gull at Riverside Nature Park on Saturday, I contemplated returning to the park on the morning of Sunday the 1st of June. With it appearing that the Common Scoters had moved on, the Little Gull would be the main target. With that particular bird having been seen a couple of times now, it does give the impression that it is lingering in the area. However, catching up with it, seems to be very hit and miss. As a result, I decided to head out to Broughty Ferry and Balmossie instead. There was a slim chance of both of the species I'd missed out on the previous day, but it appeared to be a VERY slim chance, at best. Other late migrants might also be a possibility. The downside was that it was to be even windier than the day before, though relatively mild, with a chance of showers at times.
I headed out at 1015, once it appeared that the forecast rain had largely passed through. House Sparrow, Herring Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Swift, Feral Pigeon, Dunnock, Starling, House Martin and Greenfinch were all noted between home and North Erskine Street. Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Wren and Jackdaw were seen on Erskine Street as I headed in the direction of the Docks Way cycle path. Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Magpie, Blackbird and Blue Tit were all noted around the Frankenstein Steps area. A Linnet flew over as I wandered out along Broughty Ferry Road, having narrowly missed out on catching a number 5 bus to the Ferry. Bullfinch and Carrion Crow were added as I followed the main road out rather than the Docks Way. My reasoning for this less bird-y option was that the sky behind me had been getting progressively darker by the minute and there is no chance of any shelter along the cycle path.
The rain was looking rather imminent as I passed a bus shelter. I swithered as to whether to take the opportunity of somewhere out of the rain or keep pushing on. I decided to keep going, in case the rain was further behind me than I thought. It wasn't and it began to fall quite heavily. I headed for the relative shelter of the trees by the fenceline above the railway line and this actually proved to be pretty decent, even when the rain was torrential for a few minutes. Once it stopped, around 20 minutes later, I continued on towards the Stannergate. Rabbits were few in number, but were noted in a couple of their normal spots. Oystercatcher and Robin were both spotted as I reached the river and a single Goosander was picked out not too far offshore in the 'bay' at the end of the docks.
A Willow Warbler was heard briefly singing beyond the fence to the north and a pair of Swallows zipped westwards. There was nothing of note hiding in the gull roost but a flypast Meadow Pipit was relatively uncommon for the 1st of June at the Stannergate. A Great Tit was noted at the Holly Blue site. I did have a very brief glimpse of what might have been a Holly Blue but it vanished before I got any sort of decent view. Another drake Goosander was asleep on the outflow pipe at Douglas Terrace. A Grey Seal was seen swimming out on the river and a Pied Wagtail was seen along by the harbour. There were a few Rock Pipits around by the still-closed castle, and another Pied Wagtail appeared down on the beach. A very distant Osprey was seen circling up with gulls well out over the river to the east. A Cormorant was on the marker pole and a Black Headed Gull flew past. A trio of distant Mallards were seen flying up over the duck pond at Tayport.
Things were rather quiet offshore overall so I didn't stay too long by the castle, instead I decided to keep going, but only after I waited to see if it was about to rain. Thankfully, bar a few drops it didn't come to anything this time. A Grey Heron was picked up departing Fife airspace and continuing north over the local nature reserve. A Common Gull flew over as I entered the nature reserve for a look around. A Speckled Wood butterfly was glimpsed near the western end and a Stock Dove was the only other new find. As I neared the Dighty Burn outflow area, 2 guys wandered out along the burn, resulting in the all too familiar 'everything must go!' tale. Thankfully, most of the birds did eventually return. Mute Swans were around in decent numbers, as were Herring Gulls. There were some Eiders visible out on the water.
A Great Black Backed Gull, a Curlew and a Rook were all seen before I stepped back out of the wind to the relative shelter of the footbridge down ramp. I could see decent numbers of gulls acting like there might be Dolphins around, despite high tide being another whole 5 hours away. As it wasn't flat calm, it took quite a while to get confirmation that there were indeed a few Bottlenose Dolphins heading upriver. I messaged Tessa to tell her, just in case she or her daughter, Kari wanted to come and see them - as it seemed likely they might stay around for a good few hours, and so it proved. A distant Buzzard over Tentsmuir and a single Gannet fishing near the Dolphins were my final species of the day, taking me to 44 species for the day.
I ended up watching the Dolphins from near the dolphin sculpture, allowing folk to view them through my scope. There was another photographer nearby (John McRobbie) who I had a brief chat to as I was packing up. As the weather didn't look overly promising I decided to check on the public transport situation and as a result I caught a 5A back to the end of the Arbroath Road instead of getting soaked. Tessa messaged me to let me know she'd just arrived at the Ferry (a minute or two after I'd left) and had managed to see a self-found Dolphin, something which she was happy about, though the weather was now awful. Again I made it home, relatively dry, despite the heavy rain. Unlike the previous day, my camera wasn't being very helpful, and I didn't get many useable photos. (I had also missed out on a Marsh Harrier, seen by Mark, from the Nature Park).
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Goosander |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Osprey |
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| Cormorant |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Mallard |
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| Great Tit |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Eider |
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| Curlew |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
Birds - Black Headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Gannet, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black Backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Speckled Wood.
Mammals - Bottlenose Dolphin, Grey Seal, Rabbit.
