Given the numbers of White-billed Divers in the Forth, I wondered if there might even be more than a single bird in the Tay. I had a day off from work on Friday the 20th of February, to use up some of my remaining annual leave allocation, so I decided to have a look, just in case. I would head out to Balmossie to scan from there as the tide came in, then head back along the river on my way home. The weather forecast was to be reasonably decent though high tide was around 1700 or so, meaning most of my day's birding would be with the tide out, and birds relatively distant, which wasn't ideal, though I do prefer a rising tide to a falling tide.
I was out the door for just after 0945. Herring Gull, Feral Pigeon, House Sparrow, Wren, Blackbird, Magpie, Carrion Crow and Woodpigeon made for a slightly disappointing start as I headed for a look at Swannie Ponds. Coot, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Black-headed Gull, Goosander and the lingering drake Shoveler were all noted at the ponds along with a single Robin. I continued on to Eastern Cemetery next, finding Dunnock en route. Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Stock Dove and Siskin got me a few more species though there was no sign of any raptors, or the usual mammal duo of Rabbits and Grey Squirrels. As I headed down Craigie Avenue, a pair of Kestrels (one of which was calling to the other loudly) overflew in the direction of the docks.
An Oystercatcher was poking around on the grass near the bottom of Craigie Drive. Greenfinch and the day's first Rabbits were seen before I reached the river. I scanned ahead in search of the White-billed Diver but there was no obvious sign of it, which was rather disappointing. I had to make do with Eider and Red-breasted Merganser. Curlew and Common Gull were found as I continued on eastwards. A small distant flock of Bar-tailed Godwits headed upriver. Redshank was the only other addition, bar a Grey Seal well out in the river, before I reached Douglas Terrace where a Grey Heron was hanging around near the outflow pipe.
There were a few Turnstones foraging among the pebbles on the beach at Beach Crescent, their camouflaged backs making them hard to spot unless they were moving, though the sound of pebbles being flipped over was what caught my attention. A Pied Wagtail scurried around on the path at the top of the steps. Rock Pipit was spotted at the Castle. There had been no sign of the White-billed Diver anywhere on my walk out, nor was there any obvious sign out on the river beyond the castle either. Great Black-backed Gull, a pair of Collared Doves, the day's first Cormorant and a Sparrowhawk kept things mildly interesting as I continued on towards Balmossie. I detoured into the nature reserve where Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Chaffinch, Long-tailed Tit, Great Tit, Blue Tit and Goldfinch as well as Stock Dove and Woodpigeon made for a relatively busy visit.
Back down at the river, I managed to pick out a group of 4 breeding plumaged Shags about halfway out, as they bobbed about in the waves. The local Linnet flock wheeled around close by as I made my way towards Balmossie, stopping regularly to scan ahead. Wigeon, Starling, Dunlin, Knot, Jackdaw and Goldeneye gave me a few more species doing this. The tide was already a bit further in than expected, but despite a fair bit of scanning I failed to add anything else once I reached Balmossie. Once it became apparent there was little chance of adding anything else there, I set off back towards the castle. I once again stopped to scan regularly but failed to find anything I hadn't already seen, except for a single Red-throated Diver seen in flight.
At 1430, a WhatsApp message on the ADBC grapevine came in to say that Ian Laird had found the White-billed Diver between the castle and the lifeboat station. I was still roughly a mile to the east of there but set off as quickly as I could, stopping only to put my scope and tripod away in between bouts of jogging. As I reached Beach Crescent I could see Ian and Mark Wilkinson watching the diver. I hurried round to join them. Mark had just left, and Ian was about to follow him. The bird managed to do a bit of a vanishing act near the lifeboat jetty but soon reappeared heading upriver, relatively close in. I hurried ahead of it, to try to get some photos from a low perspective. This proved to be a very good idea, when the bird popped up very close in, allowing me to grab what were ultimately to be my best shots of the bird, and some of my best of any Diver species.
I ended up shadowing the White-billed Diver all the way back along to the Stannergate as I was headed in that direction anyway and eventually spent another hour or so watching and photographing the bird in the bay at the end of the docks. The views were mostly relatively distant. Dean Prow, a photographer from Arbroath positioned himself down on the rocks as the tide came in a bit further, but the bird still refused to come in close. I ventured up to the higher viewpoint by the docks fenceline, which did mean the light was on the bird, rather than behind it. I got some reasonably decent shots before heading down to the shoreline in the corner where I had close views of some of the local Turnstones as they picked around among the seaweed piles on what was left of the beach.
I headed back up to the road after 10 minutes or so, and was joined by Dana who had popped in for another look at the bird. I gratefully accepted the kind offer of a lift homewards. I ended the day's birding with a total of 53 species and a LOT of photos of the White-billed Diver. I did fail to find any sign of any other White-billed Divers (and had it not been for Ian and Mark, I might even have missed out on the one that was around), having to make do with a single Red-throated. As it was to transpire, these would be the last photos I would get of the bird before it seemingly vanished for good (barring any magical reappearance, which would appear unlikely now) with the final confirmed sighting that I'm aware of, being Lainy's on the 27th 2 weeks after she initially found it. It will very likely be the 'bird of the year' for us Dundee birders, though there are another 10 months to try to somehow top it.
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| Curlew |
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| Red-breasted Merganser |
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| Eider |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Greenfinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Chaffinch |
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| Bullfinch |
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| Stock Dove |
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| Shag |
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| Knot |
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| Herring Gull |
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| Goldeneye |
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| Wigeon |
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| Bar-tailed Godwit |
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| Bar-tailed Godwit |
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| Linnet |
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| Turnstone |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
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| White-billed Diver |
Birds - Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Common
Gull, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Eider, Goldeneye, Goldfinch,
Goosander, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull,
House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Knot, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied
Wagtail, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock
Pipit, Shag, Shoveler, Siskin, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, White-billed Diver, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Mammals - Grey Seal, Rabbit.
Given the numbers of White-billed Divers in the Forth, I wondered if there might even be more than a single bird in the Tay. I had a day off from work on Friday the 20th of February, to use up some of my remaining annual leave allocation, so I decided to have a look, just in case. I would head out to Balmossie to scan from there as the tide came in, then head back along the river on my way home. The weather forecast was to be reasonably decent though high tide was around 1700 or so, meaning most of my day's birding would be with the tide out, and birds relatively distant, which wasn't ideal, though I do prefer a rising tide to a falling tide.
