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| Kittiwake |
Windy weather and 'wrong' tide times over the weekend of the 8th and 9th of August meant that I only made a very half-hearted attempt to get out birding, only making it to Provost Road before heading back home again. A visit to Broughty Ferry and Balmossie had been on the cards for one of the days, so when Wednesday came around, I decided I should really make the effort to get there, having rather neglected the area since early in May. With high tide around 1500 there was no great hurry though I wanted to be at Balmossie for around1130 or so to be able to catch the tide coming in.
I headed out just after 0650 to try to get down to Broughty Castle for around 0800. With temperatures forecast to be around 24 degrees by the afternoon, I wanted to do as little walking as possible when it was that hot, but even so it was still around 17 degrees at 0700. There were a couple of Swifts seen very high over my street when I stepped outside. Starling, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Magpie, Pied Wagtail, House Martin, Carrion Crow and Goldfinch were all noted before I made it to Baxter Park. Blue Tit, Great Tit and Dunnock were found as I continued on to Eastern Cemetery where the day's first Rabbits, Goldcrest, Blackbird, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Jackdaw and Grey Squirrel joined the others already on the day's list.
A Red Admiral butterfly was seen at the bridge over the railway line at the Stannergate. Song Thrush, Willow Warbler and Long-tailed Tits were nearby. As I reached the river, a skein of geese flew in from the north before heading upriver. They were a dozen Canada Geese. A few Oystercatchers were down on the beach. Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Grey Heron, Linnet, Coal Tit, Cormorant and Robin were spotted as I wandered on past the wee car park and out along the river. A small flock of Redshanks with a Bar-tailed Godwit in tow, flew past as I continued on. A Curlew was seen down by the water before I popped over the railway bridge to see if there were any butterflies around. There weren't though the early morning sun was barely reaching the bushes there. A Chiffchaff was heard calling and a Buff-tailed Bumblebee was seen (along with a couple of Woodlice).
Back at the river, a few Turnstones in summer plumage were down near the end of the broken outflow pipe at Douglas Terrace. Round by Beach Crescent I was able to pick out a few Sandwich Terns over the river. A couple of Tree Pipits overflew. A lone Goosander was fishing by the harbour mouth. A couple of Swallows flew over before a Sparrowhawk put in an appearance then headed upriver in search of a meal. I continued on along to the local nature reserve which proved to be fairly quiet though a Collared Dove did pose nicely in the sun while watching me intently a few feet below where it was perched. Field Grasshoppers could be heard 'chirping' a bit further on. A Wren and a couple of Speckled Wood butterflies rounded off the sightings at the reserve. A very flighty Painted Lady was seen in the wildflower meadows.
An Osprey was seen hovering over the river near the end of the esplanade. At Balmossie, a Great Black-backed Gull was seen among the gulls bathing at the burn mouth. A Grey Seal was seen 'bottling' offshore. More scanning added Eider, a few hundred distant Gannets but not much else. Just before noon, I watched the Saltdog Marine Rhib head out empty for a bit of a recce. When it stopped, I figured there must be Bottlenose Dolphins nearby and sure enough there they were - my first sighting from Dundee in 2026 (though I had seen them from Tayport, a month or so ago). I found a trio of Kittiwakes amongst the gulls on the beach, but no Mediterranean Gulls. A Rook flew in for a drink and couple of young Knot were in with the Redshanks and Turnstones. A Wall butterfly whizzed past me as I was packing up and a Red-tailed Bumblebee showed up.
I eventually moved on, making my way slowly back along the river to the castle, stopping to scan frequently. I had seen lots of auks out on the river, but it was tricky to be certain whether they were Guillemots or Razorbills due to the heat shimmer. As it turned out, it was both, with the Razorbills being a Dundee year-tick for me.The dolphins were spotted from the castle sometimes coming in very close, though despite much scanning I failed to find anything else new except a distant Shag in flight and a calling Rock Pipit. The walk back along the river got me a surprise Common Sandpiper near the 'halfway steps', taking my list for the day to 55 species of birds (one new for my #2026Dundee150 list - in bold). Nothing else was seen before I eventually made it home, 11 hours after I headed out. In addition to the birds, 2 species of bees, 4 of butterflies, 1 grasshopper species and 4 of mammals were found.
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| Canada Goose |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Cormorant |
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| Herring Gull & Shore Crabs(?) |
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| Turnstone |
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| Swallow |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Collared Dove |
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| Sea Bristletail |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Goosander, Mute Swan & Herring Gull |
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| Gannet |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Redshank & Turnstone |
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| Turnstone |
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| Razorbill |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin, gull spp. & auk spp.. |
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| Bottlenose Dolphin |
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| Cormorant |
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| Herring Gull & Great Black-backed Gull |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Black-headed Gull |
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| Common Sandpiper |
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| Common Sandpiper |
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| Linnet |
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| Linnet |
Birds - Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Eider, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Tit, Grey Heron, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kittiwake, Knot, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Razorbill, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Tree Pipit, Turnstone, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Bees - Buff-tailed Bumblebee, Red-tailed Bumblebee.
Butterflies - Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Speckled Wood, Wall.
Grasshoppers - Field Grasshopper.
Mammals - Bottlenose Dolphin, Grey Seal, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
