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| Skylark |
Having worked my way westwards during a week of mostly watching 'vis-mig', I decided to get to Riverside Nature Park early on Saturday morning. Based on previous experience, the hill at Riverside Nature Park is possibly Dundee's best vis-mig location. I wanted to spend a few hours, at least, at the hill, seeing what flew past. A previous visit on 11th of October 2014 provided a very varied haul of migrants on the move with finches, thrushes, pipits, Hhrundines, sparrows etc all noted that day, so I had a feeling there was a reasonable chance of some variety, backed up by the sightings from elsewhere along the river over the course of the previous week.
I was out the door just after 0630 for the hour's walk to Riverside Nature Park. Unsurprisingly, birds were in relatively short supply on the first half of the walk with only Robin, Carrion Crow, Blackbird, Jackdaw, Herring Gull and Wren to show for around 45 minutes of walking (though granted it was mostly rather dark). As the sky began to lighten things picked up a bit, with Blue Tit, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Great Tit, Feral Pigeon, Goldcrest, House Sparrow, Dunnock and a Pipistrelle Bat noted between Blackness Road and the Botanic Gardens. Coal Tit, the day's first Pink-footed Geese and Bullfinch were added before I made it to the eastern end of the park. The sun was just coming up as I arrived and there appeared to be a reasonable amount of activity in the trees and bushes.
Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Robin, Dunnock, Magpie, Wren, Bullfinch, Blackbird, Starling, Black-headed Gull and Greenfinch were all found as I hurried to the top of the hill, a little behind my intended schedule. A flock of around 25 Linnets flying through suggested things might turn out to be reasonably decent and so it proved with an almost constant stream of birds seen over the course of the next 3 hours or so. In order of appearance those species were - Song Thrush, Siskin, Chaffinch, Redpoll, Linnet, Starling, Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail, Goldfinch, Yellowhammer, Blackbird, Reed Bunting, Redwing (heard only), Meadow Pipit, Greenfinch, Skylark, Grey Wagtail, Tree Sparrow, Bullfinch, House Sparrow, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Crossbill, Coal Tit and Blue Tit.
In addition to the migrants on the move, a trio of Ravens, at three different altitudes and performing the usual aerobatics, passed overhead, Pink Footed Geese in multiple skeins, Curlew, Redshank, Herring Gull, Mallard, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Rook, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Goosander, Black-tailed Godwit, Common Gull, Dunlin, Oystercatcher, Teal and Long-tailed Tit all made it onto the list before I decided to finally depart from the top of the hill to have a proper look around the rest of the park. I did manage to add Sparrowhawk, Jackdaw, Moorhen, Mute Swan and Buzzard as well as a couple of Large White butterflies before I finally called it a day at the park around 1230. The walk home only added Lesser Black-backed Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Starling and Siskin to the day's list. I finished on 58 species of birds (24 outwith, 56 at RNP), 1 of butterflies (1 at RNP) and 2 of mammals (1 each at/outwith RNP). All in all, a fairly successful day out, even if once again, I failed to add a Brambling, Hawfinch or other unexpected migrant passing through.
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| Song Thrush |
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| Starling |
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| Raven |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Reed Bunting |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Redpoll |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Great Spotted Woodpecker |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Redshank |
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| Meadow Pipit |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Yellowhammer |
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| Skylark |
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| Skylark |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Tree Sparrow |
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| Crossbill |
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| Skylark |
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| Skylark |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Crossbill |
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| Carrion Crow |
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| Siskin |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Skylark |
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| Coal Tit |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, Pink-footed Goose, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Song Thrush, Starling, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Pipistrelle Bat.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Crossbill, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Pied Wagtail,
Pink-footed Goose, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Siskin, Song Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink-footed Goose, Raven, Redshank, Redwing, Reeed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Tree Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Large White.
Mammals (at Riverside Nature Park) - Rabbit
