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| Shelduck |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Willow Warbler |
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| Swift |
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| Goldfinch |
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| Lesser Whitethroat |
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| Blackcap |
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| Reed Bunting |
Despite having recently chosen to step down from my position on the committee of the Friends of Riverside Nature Park I had agreed to still lead a guided bird walk around the park on Saturday morning from 8.30 onwards. May is probably the best time to visit the park with a good variety of birds possible. Almost a year to the day, I had managed to see 53 species in one day at the park. It could have been 54 but a singing Sedge Warbler stayed well hidden from view in Buzzard Wood. Prospects for a decent haul of birds during the walk were quite good and the weather forecast was for it to stay dry, which was a plus.
I arrived at the park just before 8am having seen 9 species en route all of which were also seen in the park during my visit- Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Oystercatcher, Feral Pigeon and Woodpigeon. A Grey Heron flapped over towards the bay as I crossed the road, and a Carrion Crow strolled around in the field. As I had roughly 30 minutes to play with before the start time of the walk, I decided to have a quick search to see what was around, and also check on the tide state. Entering the park at the eastern end, a Blackbird was perched on the fence by the small wood and a Woodpigeon clattered out of a conifer and flew towards Buzzard Wood where it settled again. A male House Sparrow was my next find, one popping up from in the long grass near the junction of paths by the fields. Another was on the wire fence a little further on. A Reed Bunting called from its perch on a small bush nearby. Where the path turned to head uphill a Robin was spotted on the ground before it flew up onto the fence. A Skylark began its upward journey from the lower slopes of the hill.
Round the corner a couple of Chaffinches flew off, white wing panels catching the eye. AS I neared the Lochan a male Yellowhammer was singing from the top of a bush. A pair of Shelduck were on the Lochan and a few Jackdaws were nearby, hunting around in the grass. I headed towards the hide, passing a pair of Long Tailed Tits near the western entrance path. The tide was on its way back out but the bay was relatively quiet. The usual 4 species of gull (Black Headed/Common/Herring and Lesser Black Backed) were out on the water with one or two Oystercatchers on the mud and a handful of Teal further round the bay. A pair of Mallards slept by the burn outflow. A Goldfinch flew out from the trees by the hide as I wandered back up the path. I headed for the hill and the quickest, most direct route back to the car park to begin the walk. A Meadow Pipit flew on ahead of me, calling loudly as I walked uphill. Heading down the path towards the car park at the other side of the hill, I spotted a few Swallows hawking for insects, with a couple of House Martins slightly higher.
At the car park, a Song Thrush was singing loudly and a male Blackcap was easily spotted doing likewise before it flew across to the other side and continued to sing, out in the open. I was joined by 7 others and after a brief introduction we headed back round past the compost area towards the bay. Swallows swooped low over the grass, and a Blackbird or two scooted out of our way rather noisily. A few Carrion Crows were on the soil heaps, and a Linnet flew over us just before we reached the bay. Scanning out over the water, we picked up a rather distant Cormorant, though the lack of wind meant that it was easy to identify on the mirror-like water. A few Teal flew in, with a pair of Mute Swans splashing down soon after. We could hear a Common Whitethroat singing and we soon managed to track it down as it flew from bush to bush proclaiming its territory to all within earshot. My first of the year, and the first year-tick of the day.
We headed on towards the hide, a Stock Dove flying eastwards past the hill as we passed the small viewing area overlooking the bay. Three Shelduck flew over and another pair swam out from the shoreline below us. I heard a relatively unfamiliar wader call that I only half recognised and soon spotted the culprit. A rather unexpected, but very welcome, Whimbrel. Year tick number 2 for the day. The bird dropped into the bay, over towards Invergowrie. I had earlier heard a Willow Warbler singing near where the hide path meets the hill and bay paths but didn't have time to look for it. It was easy enough to see as it foraged through the branches of the big tree at the bend, before popping out to deliver a loud burst of song on an exposed branch. Another Willow Warbler was seen at the hide and the gulls, ducks and Oystercatchers were the same as earlier out in the bay, though the tide was further out. We scanned for a short while hoping for something more interesting but Feral Pigeon was as good as it got.
We then headed for the Lochan, hoping that the Shelduck would still be on the water, allowing us good views but Woodpigeon and Jackdaw were all we saw here. There was plenty birdsong from the bushes and trees as we wandered through the next section of park with another Blackcap briefly showing and Willow Warbler singing from the treetops. A few Chaffinches flew over, and a Lesser Redpoll was heard but not seen. I had hoped that we would maybe find Lesser Whitethroat during the walk, but we were out of luck. We weren't completely out of luck though as an early Swift flew overhead towards Invergowrie. A third year tick for me, and one I hadn't even considered as being likely. There were a few Starlings that appeared to be shuttling in and out of the park with food for young. A Carrion Crow made a half-hearted attempt to chase off a Buzzard next and a Blue tit winged its way from the bushes on one side of the path to the other. A pair of Great Tits did likewise further round. Skylarks rose skywards and Swallows zipped around low above the grass as the group made our way down towards the lower half of the park.
Buzzard Wood held the usual mix of small birds with Chaffinches being the most obvious. A welcome surprise was the sound of a singing Sedge Warbler from the same place I'd heard it a year before. Most of the group did manage to see it as it made its way up a branch deep in cover, by crouching down. A new patch tick for me, and yet another year tick too. Number four for the day. I checked the boggy area in case of Snipe but we drew a blank and headed back to the car park to finish the walk. The Blackcap was still singing in the area and once I'd said goodbye to everyone else I decided to see if I could attempt to bump the list up to somewhere approaching the record of 53 species from 2013.
I headed in the general direction of the Lochan, hoping to maybe find the Lesser Whitethroats again for the third year. I did manage to find a Lesser Redpoll and Willow Warbler sang from a tree top near where I hoped I would find the Lesser Whitethroats. A few more Swallows passed overhead. I scanned the bushes and trees and eventually was rewarded by a bit of movement as a bird half-hidden skulked around looking for something to eat in a tree. I saw just enough to confirm my suspicion that it was a Lesser Whitethroat, before it proved it beyond all doubt by showing quite well for a second or two at the end of a branch, peering round from behind a leaf at me as I raised my camera for a quick photo. I was joined by one of the birders who had managed to see the Mediterranean Gull at Swannie Ponds earlier in the year who complained that the birder who had reported the Whimbrel by text to the ADBC grapevine (that would be me) hadn't chosen to stick around to point it out to him. His choice of wording for this was unfortunate, and I pointed out the reason that I had moved on (his phrase ended in 'off') was that I was leading a walk at the time. I told him the bird had landed in the bay and he strode off to try and find it.
After managing a few more decent views of the Lessers, I headed back to check the bay, in the hope of adding Redshanks. There was surprisingly no sign of any but I did manage to add Dunnock to the day list. It was mostly more of the same, with finches, crows, gulls and pigeons dotted around in small numbers. There were surprising numbers of Song Thrushes dotted around the park, these being more obvious than the more usual Blackbirds for a change. I had good views of a male Blackcap collecting nest materials at the car park, and also had another spell watching the Lesser Whitethroats shuttling around on what was already looking like a small territory.
I bumped into Graham Ewen later near Buzzard Wood and we had a chat and tried again for the Sedge Warbler again but it stayed hidden this time. A male Kestrel flew in to land on one of the telegraph poles by the road. Myself and Graham wandered back round to watch the Lesser Whitethroats again, getting views of two birds in the tree at the same time, with at one point three small birds chasing each other around at speed which may or may not have all been Lesser Whitethroats. I did manage a few reasonable photos as one perched at the end of a branch for a few seconds where the other bird had flown out from, before following it out and away. We did see the two birds return together at one point. We were joined by a couple I had spoken to earlier and we managed to let them see the birds too, before we were joined by Bob McCurley who had also appeared. He was hoping for Common Whitethroat (he had seen the early Lesser near Arbroath last month) and I gave him directions for the easiest birds we had found earlier.
Myself and Graham headed back round to the bay to try once again for Redshank, and this time I was in luck managing to find a single bird feeding out on the mud. Most of the waders appear to have moved on to their breeding grounds with only the Oystercatchers sticking around in any numbers. There was a large group of Carrion Crows hanging in the air obviously agitated by something unseen among the vegetation by the compost area. My suspicion is that it was probably a fox but we couldn't see anything from the path. We headed back to Buzzard wood to try again for Sedge Warbler for Graham but we again drew a blank. I did manage to add 3 Greenfinches to the list and got a photo of a male Reed Bunting. Having been in the park for over 6 and a half hours I decided to call it quits and head for home having managed to see 46 species and add 5 year ticks to my list. Yet another Song Thrush was seen singing before I left.
A much more enjoyable day than I had expected with the 5 year ticks being a very unexpected bonus.
Species seen (year ticks in bold) - Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Cormorant, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Lesser Whitethroat, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Sedge Warbler, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.