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| Whimbrel |
Having had a change of scenery on Friday with a visit to Clatto it was a choice between Riverside Nature Park and Broughty Ferry/Balmossie once again for my Saturday birding. I settled on a visit to Broughty Ferry as the castle opening times would provide the option of a higher viewpoint than the later start of a Sunday lunchtime would provide. The Fife Bird Club seawatching day at Fife Ness was likely to produce something decent, I just had to hope that the easterly winds might blow something good into the Tay for me to find. As usual, my expectations were rather low, but with birding, you just never know how things might work out.
I set off for Broughty Ferry just before 0825. Herring Gull, Robin, Blackbird, Goldfinch, Woodpigeon, Magpie, House Martin and Starling were all noted as I headed along to Dura Street. Crossing Baxter Park around 5 minutes later, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Swallow and Greenfinch were all added to the list for the day. Cutting down past Eastern Cemetery, I was able to add a migrant Meadow Pipit overhead and a Goldcrest in a roadside tree. The walk down towards the Stannergate provided Wren, House Sparrow and Carrion Crow. At the Stannergate a Grey Heron was roosting with the Herring Gulls at the docks and a few Rooks were in behind the fence by the sewage tank. A Grey Squirrel was a bit of a surprise nearby, though the Rabbits were very much expected.
Down on the shore, things were relatively busy with Redshank, Oystercatcher, Black Headed Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull and Cormorant all quickly found when I was able to finally see the shore. A Dunnock was heard near the car park and down on the beach, Curlew, Turnstone and Common Gull were all found. Things were much quieter on the walk out along the river than they have been recently. There were still a few Sandwich Terns about towards the Douglas Terrace end but the numbers are now definitely tailing off, as would be expected about now. A Swift over Beach Crescent was a bit of a surprise, and may well prove to be my last of 2025. There was a market being set up around the castle entrance area so instead of my usual spot by the eastern side, or up in the castle I decided to avoid any likely crowds by heading up the slope by the crazy golf course to scan from there.
A Gannet was seen not too far out over the river and there were plenty of Eiders visible over towards Fife. Through the scope I was able to pick out a distant flock of Lapwings and another of Bar-tailed Godwits in flight over by Tayport. Shortly after that I spotted a Little Egret flying along the beach on the Fife side. A flock of Canada Geese headed up and over Lucky Scalp before disappearing out of sight on the other side. A Pied Wagtail was seen down on the beach and a small flock of Teal dropped in, just offshore, over at Tayport. A bit later, a wader call I didn't recognise caught my attention just as a small-ish wader flew into the glare of the sun on the water directly out from where I was sat. I didn't see it come out the other side, nor could I see it on the beach. I checked through the calls of likely species on my phone and to my ears it sounded most like either Curlew Sandpiper, or the less likely Kentish Plover.
With both of these possibilities new for the year (the Kentish Plover would also be a 'lifer') I decided I should really try to find the bird. This would mean heading out along the beach - something I'm not overly keen on doing, as it is easy to disturb birds feeding unseen down among the seaweed and small shallow pools dotted around on the sand. I decided I would take my time and scan ahead regularly to reduce my chances of spooking the bird, or others, if it was still around somewhere. Thankfully, there were very few dogs down on the beach (which was a surprise, though that didn't take too long to change). Offshore I picked out a few Guillemots and a Great Black-backed Gull was by the water's edge. There was however no sign of the small wader (which with hindsight was most likely a Curlew Sandpiper, ahead of a bit of an influx locally).
Around 1145, as I was making my way along the beach in front of the nature reserve, I heard the call of a Whimbrel from above, and looked up to see the bird heading west away from me. It then swumg around and dropped down onto the beach. As I switched from binoculars to camera I lost sight of the bird, but thankfully was able to find it again, slightly further up the beach. As a dog appeared on the shore behind it, it took flight and flew towards me, landing much closer this time. However, it soon spotted me and took off again, flying off. I headed up off the beach, but not before spotting a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits. Word had come through from Fife Ness earlier that a very rare Bridled Tern had been seen lingering offshore over there (and they'd also had Black Guillemot, Sooty Shearwaters and Bonxies) which was a bit better than my Whimbrel and 'unidentified wader' haul. Despite willing the tern to head north and into the Tay, it failed to do so (or if it did, I missed it).
Checking the beach from beside the car park at the end of the Esplanade, I found a few Ringed Plover and Dunlin. As I was watching them scurrying around, the Whimbrel flew low past me and dropped down onto the beach nearby. This meant I was able to get even closer views of the bird, and even a minute long video clip of the bird wandering around among the pebbles quite far up the beach. I was joined by Dana for a wee while and let her see the bird as well as the other waders nearby through the scope. After 10 minutes or so, she headed off and I continued on along to Balmossie to check through the birds there. I found a lone adult Kittiwake amongst the gull roost, as well as a few Wigeon, some Goosanders and a Stock Dove which dropped in for a quick drink at the burn. There were quite a few Mute Swans around, as well as a pair of Mallards and some Jackdaws.
Eventually, I decided to head back westwards, though I stopped to scan out over the river regularly along the way. I did find Razorbills and Common Terns on the walk back before setting up the scope beside the castle where the market was being packed away. I was able to find a few distant Arctic Skuas but just as I was taking photos of a chase, the battery on the camera died on me which wasn't helpful. However, I did find a few more Arctic Skuas chasing Terns towards Tentsmuir Point. Unfortunately the beach was still quite busy, so I decided not to linger for very long and headed homewards, though not before spying a Rock Pipit up on the castle wall. A Red Admiral butterfly at Beach Lane and a Linnet at the Stannergate rounded off the day's sightings, taking the total for the day to 56 species of birds (plus the 1 that got away), as well as 1 of butterfly and 2 of mammals. The close views of the Whimbrel were the undoubted highlight, even if it wasn't nearly as exotic as the birds at Fife Ness. (As it turned out, Lainy had managed to get to Fife Ness and saw and photographed the Bridled Tern).
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| Curlew |
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| Common Gull |
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| Lapwing |
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| Cormorant |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Bar-tailed Godwit |
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| Kittiwake, Jackdaw, Goosander & Herring Gull(?) |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Kittiwake & Jackdaw |
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| Turnstone |
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| Mallard |
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| Teal |
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| Wigeon |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Gannet |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Arctic Skua & Sandwich Tern |
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| Razorbill |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Eider |
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| Redshank |
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| Gannet |
Birds - Arctic Skua, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed
Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow,
Chaffinch, Common Gull, Common Tern, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock,
Eider, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander,
Great Black-backed Gull, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow,
Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied
Wagtail, Razorbill, Redshank, Ringed Plover,
Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Turnstone, Whimbrel, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Red Admiral.
Mammals - Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
