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| Little Egret |
Following on from my trip over to Guardbridge with Rohan earlier in the year it has proved a bit tricky to arrange a second birding outing together, for a variety of reasons. The initial plan for this latest one was either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, however Storm Amy's arrival put paid to both of those options. Fortunately, Rohan was free on Sunday morning so we were able to settle on that one. Although the worst of the storm had passed through by Sunday morning, it was still forecast to be relatively windy, which obviously wasn't ideal. A couple of White-rumped Sandpipers at Guardbridge or Mediterranean Gulls at Arbroath seemed to be the best options I could come up with within the time constraints we'd be working within. We arranged to meet up at 0800 on Sunday morning.
Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Robin, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon were noted on the walk round the corner to wait for Rohan to arrive. Bang on time again, she arrived. Following a short discussion of the pros and cons of the options we settled on a trip over to Guardbridge followed by a visit to Riverside Nature Park if all went to plan. Magpie, Cormorant and Mistle Thrush were the only additions from the car on the journey over to Fife. We arrived at Guardbridge around 0830 and headed in towards the hide. We found Ian and Colin Haggart already there. They had seen one of the White-rumped Sandpipers already but it had flown off. There were plenty of other birds around though the sun reflecting off the water and wet muud did render a lot of the birds as silhouettes.
Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Goosander, Lapwing, Little Egret, Oystercatcher, Teal, Black-headed Gull and Whooper Swans were soon added to the list for the morning. Chiffchaff, Crossbill, Skylark, Wren, Starling, Kingfisher and Pied Wagtail were around the hide area, or passed overhead. Ian and Colin had headed off leaving just Rohan and I trying to relocate the Sandpiper(s). Pink-Footed Geese, Golden Plover, Greenshank, Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank were all found over the course of the next hour or so. I was unable to get the code for the hide despite ringing the number on the door. Rohan decided to pop to the shops for a coffee. While she was gone, I was able to find an adult Mediterranean Gull among the gull roost by the bend in the river and fortunately it was still visible when she returned
A Grey Heron, a hunting Peregrine, Siskin, Rook, Meadow Pipit, Feral Pigeon, Goldcrest, Redpoll, Buzzard, Knot, Barnacle Goose, Eider and a pair of Raven were all added once Rohan returned and I was able to show her the Mediterranean Gull. Another birder arrived and we were able to gain access to the hide, which slightly increased the area we were able to view. There was still no sign of any White-rumped Sandpiper however. We were joined in the hide by a few more birders before Lainy and Adam arrived, though they decided to stay outside when they saw how busy the hide was. I had been watching a slimmer, greyer, lower-set Dunlin-like wader feeding alongside a couple of more obvious Dunlins and got some of the others in the hide onto the bird. Following a bit of discussion it was agreed this was one of the White-rumped Sandpipers. We headed out to join Lainy and Adam and to allow others to gain access to the windows inside the hide, where space was very much at a premium.
Outside I struggled to refind the bird that had been identified as the White-runped Sandpiper but eventually found a bird that seemed to fit. Lainy wasn't certain it was, and I wasn't 100% sure it was the bird I'd been watching from inside the hide. A male Common Blue butterfly put in a brief appearance down on the grass in front of us and I found a few distant Shelduck before a Little Grebe appeared mid-channel. Jackdaw, Grey Wagtail, Dunnock, Common Gull and Great Black-backed Gull were all found before Rohan and I had to head back to Dundee. When I checked the photos later at home the photos looked more Dunlin-like than the bird had when viewed through the scope. Nonetheless, I posted a few of them on Twitter. Within a few minutes of posting, I was looking at them again, less convinced than I had originally been that the bird was actually a White-rumped Sandpiper.
Rather than delete the post immediately, I had a look at a few books which made me doubt that I had the right bird even more (I should have done this before setting off for Guardbridge). I went back to Twitter a few minutes later to remove the post but found that it had already been commented on, and that it was definitely 'just' a Dunlin. My niggling doubt was correct - the bird I had photographed was 'just' a Dunlin. I answered the comment (and a second one that appeared while replying to the first), and let Rohan know that the bird we'd seen wasn't actually a White-rumped Sandpiper. It turned out that Mark had actually posted photos of the 2 birds on Saturday evening but I had gone to my bed earlier than usual and hadn't seen them. Had I seen them, it would have been very obvious the bird I had seen wasn't one. It was my own fault and a lesson to not rely on half-remembered features when going looking for an 'already found' bird.
Birding in Dundee is, to an extent, making me rusty, with few chances to refresh my mental picture of less commonly seen species (though my only previous White-rumped Sandpipers were a few hundred metres away so I didn't see too much detail on those anyway), except for checking out photos and videos online - which can be helpful but is a poor substitute for actually having a bird in front of you. I finished the day's birding with a total of 53 species and Rohan had another few new species for her life-list. It was an enjoyable return to a previous regular haunt and I only have myself to blame for what happened afterwards. As it turned out, I had considered heading out to Broughty Ferry for the afternoon but stayed at home. Had I gone I might have been in the right place to see a Leach's Petrel which headed downriver past Lucky Scalp, a pair of Cranes which flew in over Tentsmuir Forest and maybe even a Glossy Ibis which showed up at Morton Lochs. One of those days...
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| Herring Gull & Little Egret |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Golden Plover |
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| Greenshank |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Whooper Swan |
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| Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull & Mediterranean Gull |
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| Curlew Sandpiper & Redshank |
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| Grey Heron & Little Egret |
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| Little Egret |
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| Peregrine |
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| Kingfisher |
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| Carrion Crow & Buzzard |
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| Dunlin |
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| Dunlin |
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| Pink-footed Goose & Barnacle Goose |
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| Barnacle Goose & Pink-footed Goose |
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| Dunlin |
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| Raven |
Birds - Barnacle Goose, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Buzzard, carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldcrest, Golden Plover, Goosander, Great Black-backed Gull, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kingfisher, Knot, Lapwing, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mediterranean Gull, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Pink-footed Goose, Raven, Redpoll, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Starling, Teal, Whooper Swan, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterfly - Common Blue.
