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| Linnet |
For my last midweek day off in April, I decided on a trip out to Broughty Ferry and Balmossie to see if I could find anything there that was new for my #2026Dundee150 list. Gannet, Common Scoter and maybe even a Grasshopper Warbler en route were all (relatively slim) possibilities. I even managed to get out of my bed as early as I had intended which meant that I would be able to get to Broughty Castle for around 0800, unless of course, I got distracted on the way (which sometimes doesn't take much). I headed out the door at 0640.
First onto the day's list were Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow and Starling. A Swallow perched on a lamp post at the Dura Street car park was a little unexpected, though there was no sign of any of the House Martins which nest at the primary school overlooking the car park. Woodpigeon, Goldfinch and Jackdaw were however round about. Wren was the only addition before I made it to the Frankenstein Steps where Great Tit, Chiffchaff and Robin were all noted. A Greenfinch was heard as I continued on along Broughty Ferry Road. I headed from there down to the Docks Way cycle path where the day's first Rabbit was spotted.
Blackcap, Song Thrush, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Long-tailed Tit and Kestrel were found as I walked on past the docks towards the Stannergate. Linnets and Willow Warbler were added there, while Grey Heron and Common Gull were the only birds seen as I headed for Broughty Ferry, along the river. A Shag was picked up in flight out over the river as I neared the lifeboat station. I spent a bit of time scanning from beyond the castle which produced a Black-headed Gull, Mute Swan and Eider. Sandwich Tern and a Red Breasted Merganser were also seen from there before I moved on, in the direction of Balmossie. A Stock Dove was my only new bird before I reached Balmossie. A Whitethroat was in the bushes by the railway line there.
From the burn mouth I was able to get Goosander, a relatively late lingering Red-throated Diver, an unexpected Pink-footed Goose down on the water just offshore and a few Wigeon. A pair of Whimbrel took flight from among the rocks but it was tricky to get enough detail to be 100% certain that they were indeed Whimbrel and not just Curlew, due to the strong reflected glare of the sun off the water. Thankfully, there was just enough visible on the photos to confirm that they were indeed Whimbrel. A Siskin flew over before I picked up a Kittiwake just as it flew in to join the other gulls bathing at the mouth of the burn outflow. A small group of Bar-tailed Godwits was also spotted, as were a couple of Redshanks. There were a few Great Black-backed Gulls also in with the gulls.
There was still quite an icy component to the wind and sitting in such an exposed spot proved to be rather chilly, despite there actually being some warmth from the sun. A regular dog walking service headed down to the beach, with two of the larger dogs in his charge, rushing along the beach and out to chase the swans by the burn mouth. There appeared to be little effort made to call the dogs back and as a result, most of the other birds cleared out, as the swans swam further out from shore. The dogs eventually gave up and as there was now little point in me remaining there I instead headed back towards the local nature reserve. A Red Admiral butterfly was seen at the rock garden and a Sparrowhawk was seen in flight beyond the railway line. As I continued on towards the nature reserve, a toot of a car horn from behind me made me turn around. It was Lainy who had popped down for a change of scenery and to look for butterflies.
We had another wander round the nature reserve looking for more butterflies and managed to find Holly Blue, Peacock, Green-veined White and Orange Tip, as well as Redpoll and Coal Tit on the bird front. I got a bit distracted by lots of activity from Sandpit Mining Bees in a sandy bit of bare ground near the eastern end of the rock garden area. We eventually decided to head up along to Beach Lane for hopefully better views of Holly Blues. We managed a few reasonable views before we continued on up to the Law to see if we could add to our butterfly haul there. This also proved to be relatively successful with another 3 species noted there - Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Small White. Buzzard and Bullfinch were added to the day's haul before I finally headed homewards around 1700. My total for the day was 55 species of birds (including 1 in bold, new for my #2026Dundee150 list), 8 species of butterflies and 1 of mammals. A decent enough day overall, with an interesting mix of species seen, though the strong sunlight glare off the river did make getting definite IDs difficult at times.
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| Robin |
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| Grey Heron |
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| House Sparrow |
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| Pied Wagtail |
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| Rock Pipit |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Goosander |
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| Sandwich Tern |
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| Red-throated Diver |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Grey Heron |
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| Kittiwake |
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| Mute Swan |
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| Eider & Pink-footed Goose |
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| Sparrowhawk |
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| Sandpit Mining Bee |
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| Peacock |
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| Sandpit Mining Bee |
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| Sandpit Mining Bee |
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| Sandpit Mining Bee |
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| Holly Blue |
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| Holly Blue |
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| Small Tortoiseshell |
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| Green-veined White & Orange Tip |
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| Green-veined White & Orange Tip |
Birds - Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Blackbird, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dunnock, Eider, Goldfinch, Goosander, Great Black-backed Gull, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Kittiwake, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Pink-footed Goose, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rock Pipit, Sandwich Tern, Shag, Siskin, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Butterflies - Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Orange Tip, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Small White, Speckled Wood.
Mammals - Rabbit.
