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| Peregrine |
For my day off on Tuesday the 18th of August, I had been planning on trying once again to find Quail around the edges of Dundee. I was hoping to find a field where the cereal crop was being harvested, which if Quail were in there, I would have a chance of actually seeing one (or more). However, Keith found a Ruff at Riverside Nature Park while I was at work on Monday, so I figured that might be a better bet than the Quail. As I would need to take my scope and tripod to try to find the Ruff, there was no way I could walk the extra miles needed with the additional weight on my back/shoulders. Some days it is a bit of a struggle to carry the scope and tripod regardless.
I headed out at 0755 for the walk to the park, a bit later than I had originally intended. The tide would be on its way out by the time I reached the park but the birds would hopefully still be viewable from the hide. Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Starling, Blue Tit, Great Tit, House Sparrow, House Martin and Robin were all added before I reached the end of Byron Street. Rather than take my usual walk to work/RNP route I decided to try to speed up the process (which in reality only slowed me down) by trying a more direct route. Coal Tit, Chiffchaff, Goldcrest, Long-tailed Tit, Blackbird and Swallow were the scant rewards on offer for my attempt to get to Riverside Nature Park quicker.
I reached the park just before 0900 and headed in the direction of the hide and the Lochan via the northern path. Wren, Chaffinch, Starling, Goldcrest, Woodpigeon, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, Whitethroat, Magpie, Chiffchaff, Goldfinch, Swallow and Feral Pigeon were quickly added as I wandered through the lower half of the park. In the upper half of the park I soon found Blue Tit and a mewing Buzzard was seen off to the north as I checked out the Lochan where a few juvenile Moorhens were very apparent. Carrying on towards the hide both Redshank and Oystercatcher were heard calling from the direction of the bay. On reaching the hide, I found Keith already there. Unfortunately for me, the Ruff was initially hidden from view by a bush but soon wandered out to join the numerous Redshanks down in the burn.
Dunlin, Teal, Common Gull, 2 Greenshanks, Mallard, Black-headed Gull, Sandwich Tern, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Grey Heron and 4 Canada Geese were all seen along with a couple of Great Black-backed Gulls. We headed round to view the whole of the bay from the raised bank. We found a few butterflies on a Buddleia bush - a Painted Lady, Large White and a Comma. More scanning of the bay added Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, a distant Little Egret, Common Sandpiper and Cormorant. A Willow Warbler was heard and the young Peregrine appeared from within the trees giving us some good views as it drifted along above us, eyeing up the resources down on the mud. Keith headed off and I kept scanning before wandering round to check the bowl.
I found a Robin and a couple of Meadow Brown butterflies there. A couple of Linnets and a pair of Grey Wagtails overflew. I headed up to the top of the hill next. A slightly unexpected Skylark flew up from the grass and a Wheatear was briefly seen within the circle at the top of the hill. It flew a short distance down the back of the hill and out of sight. Continuing my wanders added Sand Martin, Jackdaw, Long-tailed Tit, Greenfinch and House Martin. A Green-veined White butterfly and a few Buff-tailed Bumblebees rounded off my visit to the park. My totals for the park were 51 species of birds, 5 of butterflies and 1 of bees. I messaged Rohan to see if she fancied a spot of birding as I headed up to Balgay Hill but she had other plans. My only new bird on the way home was a Buzzard, my 18th species for the day's 'outwith the park list'. The combined numbers for the day were 55 species of birds (1 new for my #2026Dundee 150 list - in bold), 1 of bees and 5 of butterflies.
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| Ruff & Redshank |
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| Greenshank, Redshank & Black-headed Gull |
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| Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Black-headed Gull, Oystercatcher & Lapwing |
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| Lapwing |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Peregrine |
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| Peregrine |
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| Peregrine |
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| Great Black-backed Gull & Grey Heron |
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| Black-tailed Godwit |
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| Common Sandpiper |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Canada Goose |
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| Painted Lady |
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| Comma |
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| Wheatear |
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| Wheatear |
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| Greenfinch |
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| House Martin & Sand Martin |
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| Green-veined White |
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| Long-tailed Tit |
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| Small White |
Birds (outwith Riverside Nature Park) - Blackbird, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chiffchaff, Coal Tit, Goldcrest, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Starling, Swallow, Woodpigeon.
Birds (at Riverside Nature Park) - Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-headed Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Common Gull, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black-backed Gull, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Herring Gull, House Martin, Jackdaw, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Long-tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Ruff, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Skylark, Starling, Swallow, Teal, Wheatear, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren.
Bees (at Riverside Nature Park) - Buff-tailed Bumblebee.
Butterflies (at Riverside Nature Park) - Comma, Green-veined White, Large White, Meadow Brown, Painted Lady.
