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| Cuckoo |
The gaps between posts rounding up what I've seen and heard on my walks to and from work just keep on getting wider and wider. This one starts in early February and finishes up in early June, though I did have quite a few days off on holiday during that time. However, this post still covers 56 days worth of walks to and from work, from the departure of winter migrants through the arrival of the summer migrants, and even the departure of one of those too (more about that one later). Some species were ever-presents or near enough, such as Herring Gulls, Woodpigeons, Feral Pigeons, House Sparrows, Carrion Crows, Magpies and Blackbirds. Others only appeared once, while others were somewhere between the two extremes. All in all, I managed to find 54 species of birds during the time covered here - almost 1 for every single day. In addition there were 5 species of butterflies and 3 of mammals found during that period too.
The gulls at the football pitches started to show up as the daylight lengthened with both Common and Black Headed Gulls first noted on the 10th of February though by the 11th of March the Black Headed Gulls had more or less all departed for their breeding sites. Common Gulls held on there for another week and I had a few sightings of a pair closer to home, between the football stadiums up until the end of April. The first Lesser Black Backed Gull for the commute showed up on the 4th of March, though they are easy to see on Loons Road on a daily basis, with a few others just off Tannadice Street and 1 or 2 at Byron Street, where they are outnumbered by Herring Gulls, including 1 that seems to get agitated when someone looks in its direction. Thankfully, it isn't there every day when I'm passing....but it is a bit annoying when it is, calling in reinforcements to usher me away. I've sussed out that the key to zero harassment is to not make eye contact, though there may be times when even this isn't effective.
Raptor sightings were fairly sporadic and as always were mostly either Buzzards or Sparrowhawks. There was a complete lack of Peregrine sightings at Cox's Stack though what was probably the Law Kestrel was seen perched on the southwest corner one morning and the escaped Saker Falcon was also noted on the chimney a couple of times too. A Kestrel (though very likely also the Law bird) did appear in a few different spots, including Ancrum Road on the morning of 3rd of June and hunting over Provost Road and Dens Road as I headed home later that same day. An Osprey was seen being harassed by a Herring Gull as I left work on the 25th of April which was a pleasant surprise. Another 'big bird' surprise was an unexpected Mute Swan which headed south over Tannadice Park towards Dens Road on the 24th of April. I had a single sighting of a Grey Heron on the morning of 10th of April as I wandered through Balgay Cemetery with the bird flying almost parallel to my track, though off to the north. A Goosander flew east over my work on the 20th of February. Oystercatchers seemed to be preparing to nest quite early this year, with pairs appearing from the 6th of February. The same ringed bird (6A5) showed up again at Lochee Park with its partner, and without, a few times.
Collared Dove and Stock Dove sightings were few and far between, unlike their ubiquitous Woodpigeon and Feral Pigeon cousins. Great Spotted Woodpecker and Jay were both seen or heard in a few more locations than just Balgay Cemetery, including the Byron Street area for both. Nuthatch and Treecreeper sightings were few and far between at Balgay Hill. Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch and Goldfinch were all fairly regular (and I even managed Linnet a couple of times), as were Great Tit, Blue Tit, Coal Tit and Long Tailed Tits. Pied Wagtail and Grey Wagtail did both put in appearances from time to time and there were a few Meadow Pipits picked up heading back to the glens, with the first of these on 24th of March and the last of them just over a month later on 28th of April. Winter migrants heading back northwards didn't include any Waxwings this year unfortunately, but Pink Footed Geese were seen a few times between mid February and early March. Redwings were seen over a slightly longer timeframe, though around much the same time.
The first of the summer migrants (other than Meadow Pipit and Lesser Black Backed Gull) was Chiffchaff on 24th of March. Blackcap took until the 11th of April before finally getting here while Willow Warbler arrived 3 days later. Swallow didn't show up until the 28th of April, Swift on the 13th of May and House Martin required a slight detour along Strathmore Avenue to get one on the list on the 19th of May. The best bird of this particular time period however was also a #2025Dundee150 tick for me, and was the early departing summer visitor mentioned earlier. As I was walking down past the houses at the western end of Balgay Cemetery on the 5th of June, I spotted a bird in flight a bit to the south, heading roughly southwest-ish. I grabbed the binoculars from my bag and willed the bird to not disappear behind a tree, as it looked like doing. Thankfully, it complied and I had a surprise Cuckoo in the bag, my 128th species from within Dundee so far this year, but also my 54th species for this post and my 88th species on my 'on foot commute' list since March 2020. Hopefully there will be more surprises like the Cuckoo over the next few months too, (and hopefully it won't be 5 months until the next round-up post either).
All photos used here are from my archives.
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| Linnet |
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| Jay |
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| Treecreeper |
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| Nuthatch |
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| Coal Tit |
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| Goldcrest |
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| Chiffchaff |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Blackcap |
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| Redwing |
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| Grey Wagtail |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| House Martin |
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| Collared Dove & Stock Dove |
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| Goosander |
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| Pink Footed Goose |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Saker Falcon (escape) |
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| Kestrel |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Osprey |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Buzzard |
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| Swallow |
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| Common Gull |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Black Headed Gull |
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| Grey Heron | |
Birds - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Cuckoo, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink Footed Goose, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Treecreeper, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Green Veined White, Large White, Orange Tip, Peacock, Small White.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit, Roe Deer.
