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| Little Gull |
With persistent, and relatively strong, easterly winds down the east coast I was surprised to not see any Little Auks or Little Gulls being reported locally (other than over in Fife). I had a feeling that they had to be around, quite possibly in the Tay, though obviously not many folk were likely to be venturing out to check the river, with much better options a bit further away. That meant that if I wanted to find either of these 2 species, I would probably have to do it myself. Despite the continuation of the wet and windy weather, at least I had a reason to get out and try to do some birding.
I headed out at 0935. Herring Gull, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, an overflying Siskin, and Carrion Crow made for a slow start to the day's list as I headed down for a quick check of City Quay, just in case anything had chosen to shelter there. The Coot which I'd found there had been joined by what was very likely another refugee from Swannie Ponds, a young Mute Swan (possibly the outcast from the family there). There were still a lot of Cormorants around. House Sparrow, Dunnock, Robin and Linnet were also spotted and a Great Black-backed Gull was seen out on the river. I headed next for the Docks Way cycle path noting a Pied Wagtail on the way.
Blackbird, Goldfinch and Grey Wagtail were the only additions on that particular stretch of my walk. Rabbits were at the Stannergate, as were the day's first Greenfinches and Wren. Black-headed Gull, Red-breasted Merganser, Eider, Common Gull and Turnstone were down by the water's edge, or on the water as I walked out along the path, into the cold wind. A Song Thrush flew over towards the railway line. Things were as expected rather quiet with only a few of the smaller gulls feeding along the beach edge, flying into the wind and then swooping down to grab any potential food from the tops of the waves. At the sailing club sheds, I found a relatively sheltered spot to take a break from the wind and rain in my face.
This worked out rather well, as I lifted the binoculars and spotted an adult Little Gull following behind a group of 4 or 5 Black-headed Gulls. Out came the camera (with rain cover already attached) and I grabbed a few record shots. As the Little Gull was more or less working its way east at walking pace, I kept it in view all the way along to just before the lifeboat jetty. A few Oystercatchers were also seen down among the pebbles on the beach. There were a couple of Redshanks hunched up by the water, just east of the lifeboat station which I inadvertantly spooked. A Curlew was seen in Broughty Ferry harbour and a Rock Pipit was heard. I spent a bit of time using the castle as a windbreak adding a Grey Heron and Shag to the list before continuing on out towards Balmossie.
A pair of Wigeon were seen out on the water off the beach east of the castle. I cut in to check the relatively sheltered local nature reserve. Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Bullfinch and Redwing were all noted there. With the tide well on its way in, I figured that Balmossie wasn't likely to add much to the day's list and so it proved with only Rook and Jackdaw new for the day to be found. I chose not to linger long, turned around and headed in the direction of home. Nothing new was seen on the walk back to the castle and it was only where I'd left the Little Gull that I ran into something else of note. A 1st winter Kittiwake which was feeding along the water's edge in the same manner as the Little Gull earlier.
As the already poor light got worse, I refound the Little Gull at the Stannergate and thought there were 2 individuals having watched 1 heading east past me, then a few seconds later saw a Little Gull on the other side of me. Although I had lost sight of the 1st bird, it could still have swung back past me while I was looking at something else. However, a little later, Lainy messaged me to say there were 2 Little Gulls at the Stannergate (Adam and Lainy had stopped off to see the Little Gull off Douglas Terrace earlier then headed out to Arbroath, and then had another look on their way back). I wandered up through a very quiet Eastern Cemetery, then had a quick look at Swannie Ponds on my way past. There were 15 Goosanders there, and 3 others flew in just as I was leaving. Moorhen, Mallard, Tufted Duck and the drake Shoveler rounded off the day's list, taking the total to 48 species of birds (1 new for #2026Dundee150 - in bold) and 1 of mammals.
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| Mute Swan |
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| Black-headed Gull & Little Gull |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Gull |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Little Gull |
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| Redshank |
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| Common Gull |
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
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| Curlew |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Shag |
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| Wigeon |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Jackdaw |
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| Rook |
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| Turnstone |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Common Gull & Black-headed Gull |
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| Eider |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Gull |
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| Little Gull |
Birds - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Linnet, Little Gull, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Red-breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shag, Shoveler, Siskin, Song Thrush, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Rabbit.
