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| Goosander |
The rather unhelpful birding weather which January had already delivered plenty of, continued into the weekend of the 10th and 11th. It was to be wet initially, though the rain was to be mostly light. Thankfully the wind of the first few days had calmed down quite a bit. I wanted to get out somewhere but didn't particularly feel like going to either Riverside Nature Park or Balmossie/Broughty Ferry. I had a longer than intended sleep which meant it was almost 1100 before I got up. There had been some rain/sleet on the Friday which had melted then frozen again and I wasn't sure what the underfoot conditions were actually like.
While leaning out my living room window, I (and the Merlin app) heard what sounded like a Waxwing, but there was no obvious sign of any (though there are few trees where any might perch, visible from my window). A few minutes later, Merlin registered the call again. I decided to pop out to check the area close to home. This would also allow me to assess the state of the footpaths. I drew a blank on the Waxwing unfortunately, but decided to head out for a bit more birding, over a wider area. I decided on City Quay for another attempt at getting Kingfisher on to the list. The calmer conditions looked relatively promising. On my initial wander I had managed to see or hear Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Pink-footed Goose, Grey Wagtail, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren, Great Tit and Herring Gull. On the walk down to City Quay there were only a few of these species noted, with things being fairly quiet overall, as they tend to be after the initial early morning activity.
I reached City Quay around 1310. I wasn't expecting to see a Coot there, wandering along the Wild Shore boardwalk. I suspect it will have been a cold weather refugee from the largely ice-bound Swannie Ponds. In addition, there were around 25 Cormorants dotted around - quite possibly the most I've seen together at the site. I heard the Rock Pipit that I had seen on my previous visit. There were a few Grey Herons stood around doing very little and out on the river I picked up a few Eiders and Red-breasted Mergansers, as well as a couple of distant Grey Seals. A Greenfinch overflew as I wandered round looking in all the potential spots for the Kingfisher. Once again, I drew a blank. A Starling was scant consolation, even if it was new for the day. My final addition at the quay was an Oystercatcher, before I set off for Eastern Cemetery. I made it to the Cemetery just before 1430.
I wasn't expecting anything out of the ordinary and it turned out that things were fairly quiet with hardly any birds around there too. I did still manage to get Goldcrest, Stock Dove, Mistle Thrush, Coal Tit, Rook and Fieldfare, including one I had noticed on Wednesday which had lost its tail. I was able to get photos of this particular bird, looking a bit strange, perched in the top of a tree. There were as usual a few Rabbbits and Grey Squirrels around too. With no real reason to linger for any length of time at the Cemetery, I continued on up to Swannie Ponds for a look there just after 1500. Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Mallard, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Goosander and the drake Shoeveler were all found without any trouble (along with Coot, Herring Gull and Greenfinch), though the sun had already disappeared behind the clouds to the southwest, meaning the light was rather poor for photography. I headed home with a reasonably-sized list of 39 species for the day, though once again without any new additions for my #2026Dundee150 list.
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| Coot & Herring Gull |
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| Coot |
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| Cormorant |
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| Eider |
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
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| Cormorant |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Cormorant |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Mistle Thrush |
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| Rook |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Fieldfare |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Pink-footed Goose |
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| Shoveler, Mallard & Tufted Duck |
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| Shoveler, Mallard & Tufted Duck |
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| Goosander |
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| Shoveler, Tufted Duck & Mallard |
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| Shoveler |
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| Goosander |
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| Greenfinch |
Birds - Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Eider, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pink-footed Goose, Red-breasted Merganser, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shoveler, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Waxwing, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Grey Squirrel, Rabbit.
