Riverside Nature Park, Dundee. (3 Viewers)

One can report squirrel sightings at the web address below, and action will be taken:

https://scottishsquirrels.org.uk/squirrel-sightings/?ssrs_sighting_add=1#BreadcrumbsAtTop

From what I have seen on the ground, these efforts are having a large effect on the numbers of red squirrels in Aberdeen City and Shire. When I was a young boy I saw nothing but reds in the woods on the outskirts of Aberdeen. When I was in my late teens it was all greys, and lots of them. Now it's back to being mostly reds, and I believe it's all down to the efforts of this red squirrel charity.

Kincraig said:

One can report squirrel sightings at the web address below, and action will be taken:

https://scottishsquirrels.org.uk/squirrel-sightings/?ssrs_sighting_add=1#BreadcrumbsAtTop

From what I have seen on the ground, these efforts are having a large effect on the numbers of red squirrels in Aberdeen City and Shire. When I was a young boy I saw nothing but reds in the woods on the outskirts of Aberdeen. When I was in my late teens it was all greys, and lots of them. Now it's back to being mostly reds, and I believe it's all down to the efforts of this red squirrel charity.

Click to expand...

Yes Kincraig,the Red's are now making a steady return In the Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire.So much so,Reds have started being recorded In Aberdeen city.

while walking past the dump area tonight a stoat ran right in front of me,not sure if its a new species in the park but a new one for me, quite quiet bird wise,several noisy sandwich terns,1 kestrel,young magpies,goldfinches,long tailed tits,blackbirds,herring and bh gulls,pied wagtail,carrion crows,jackdaws,feral pigeons,chaffinch,yellowhammer,reed bunting,on the lochan 4 young moorhens were swimming near some mallard youngsters,swifts and house martins were having a drink,1 woodpigeon was the only other bird here,lots of butterflies about ,mostly meadow browns and small tortoisehells,at the pond beside the toilet a common blue damselfly was resting,2 weeks ago this pond had a lot of tadpoles and a single newt,at the car park trees there was a small brown job jumping about (last pic)a lot of the park is in a wild state and there was only 1 dogwalker today,the last skylark I saw was 2 weeks ago and that was in the cattle field near where the jackdaws like feeding

8 magpies feeding together at the new building beside the dump area,2 of them were adults,there were 4 young magpies at the corner of buzzard wood earlier, a little grebe has shown up on the lochan again (regular sept visitor)a small flock of long tailed tits and a hunting sparrowhawk were also seen on a very miserable day,at camperdown park there was a lot of swallows flying around at the area where the weekend flower show was,i take it the flower show along with the weekend hot weather attracted a lot of insects and the swallows have taken advantage

I have been in the park 2 Mondays in a row,at this time of year I was expecting lesser black backed gulls and some frog/toad activity,none seen last week,the lochan had a very large amount of redshanks resting on the far bank,some dunlin were with them,the tide was fully in,there was a pair of mutes/teals mallard/crows /magpies/moorhens plus some ltt tits/bullfinch/dunnocks were in the bushes,skylarks were calling on the hill area,a very confiding pair of stock doves were feeding near buzzard wood,this week the tide was fully out,only birds on the lochan 1 mute several teal 1 black headed gull , 2 moorhens,1 heron with another 2 on the flood to the left,lots of jackdaws about,a buzzard I saw last week was sitting on the same perch ,a small flock of birds were fluttering about in the bushes near buzzard wood,the only calls were from goldfinches but I counted 6 greenfinch some great tits in the flock,the stock doves were still in the same spot,standing at the earth viewing point I noticed a small flock of gulls upstream,i took some pics and checked them on my pc.one bird is yet unitendified (first pic)

pics

Nice pics , the gull in the first looks like a Common Gull.

came across this old pic on the net,looks like there was a lot of land transformation to turn it into a park

Gosh K!! What a great find!

Thanks for showing it to us lad.

Hi All,

I was temporarily confined to the west end of Dundee between late March and early May due to the Covid lockdown. My daily walk often took in Riverside Nature Park, which I can recommend as a good birding site almost in the city! I found that the light was much better in the morning for looking into the bay than afternoons, late afternoon sunshine in particular made it awkward to see anything at all. Two hours either side of high tide was obviously better for closer views of birds, but I found a falling tide better than a rising tide for the number of birds present.

Highlights were the almost constant turnover of birds (though in fairly low numbers), most disappointing was my inability to find a single unusual gull despite much searching (peak counts were around 220 HG's, 25 LBBG's, 35 BhG's and 20 CG's)!

Below is a list of my more notable sightings, plus some photo's attached,

Cheers,

Mark

Great-crested Grebe one on 05 April
Little Egret one on 06 May
Whooper Swan 8 on 23 March
Grey-lag Goose 350 on 05 April
Pink-footed Goose 30 on 05 April, 150NE on 19 April
Teal up to 70 in March, gradually reducing to final m&f on 07 May
Wigeon 2mm&2ff on 10 April, m&f on 19 April
Pintail m&f on 05 April
Shoveler m&f on 19 April
Gadwall m&f on 07 May
Tufted Duck 2mm&f on 04 April, m&f on 10 & 12 April, m&f on 28 April
Goldeneye 3ff on 18 April
Red-breasted Merganser 1f on 12 April, m&f on 18 April, 1f on 24 April, 1m on 02 May
Goosander 2ff on 23 March, 1m on 04 - 19 April, 2mm on 07 May, 4mm&2ff on 09 May
Bar-tailed Godwit Peak of 37 on 14 April
Black-tailed Godwit 4 on 04 April, one on 09 April
Whimbrel one on 02 May and 05 May
Redshank Peak 785 on 08 April (roosting by railway during spring tide)
Greenshank one on 07 April
Common Sandpiper one on 08 April and 04 May
Common Snipe one on 04 April
Turnstone one on 30 March and 23 April
Knot 7 on 30 March
Dunlin Peaks of 22 on 30 March and 19 on 05 May
Ringed Plover one on 10 April, 2 on 05 May
Greater Black-backed Gull 2 ads on 12 April, one on 23-25 April (ad) and 06-07 May (3cy)
Sandwich Tern 2 on 28 April
Osprey one on 18, 22 and 26 April, 01 and 07 May
Buzzard Up to 3 present throughout
Sparrowhawk one on 11 and 26 April
Kestrel one on 30 March, and 04, 07 and 10 April
Peregrine one on 01, 18 and 22 April
Pheasant 1m on 26 April
Jay 2 on 11 April and 18 April, one on 29 April
Rook one on 27 April
Kingfisher one on 02 May
Greater-spotted Woodpecker Up to 2 present throughout
Redwing one of the dark Icelandic race coburni on 05 April
Wheatear one on 26-27 April, one on 07 May
Whinchat one on 26 April
Grey Wagtail one on 04 April
White Wagtail one on 08 April (Pied Wagtail regular)
Chiffchaff first on 29 March
Willow Warbler first on 09 April
Blackcap first on 11 April
Whitethroat first on 24 April
Sedge Warbler first on 27 April

that's a very impressive list mark

Popped down to the park last Sunday - my first "proper birding" since May 7th (which even then was more of a local wander). Managed 48 species with Sandwich Tern and Common Sandpiper new for my rather curtailed year-list. Also young Bullfinch, Whitethroats and Swallows among the other sightings. Kestrel and Buzzard both over the park. Full story on my blog -

https://stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-early-birder-5720.html

taken today 1.45,the bird flew down towards invergowrie bay,not sure if its a tagged bird

Mmmm.... nice one Kawwauser... a great spot for you laddie.

Nice catch, and interesting given the time of year and direction of travel.

Got away from work (nearby) at 1500 today. Around 30 minutes after you saw this, I actually remarked at work about the possibility of a WTE going over, as I'd seen one (a 2cy bird) very low being mobbed by a ton of crows and gulls the last time we got away at 1500 on a Friday back in April 24th on an equally sunny day.

I'm fortunate enough to have WTE (x2 together on the palindromic date of 31/3/13 - the Fife regulars) on my RNP list already, and the 2cy bird on my work list. Still need one for my house list (though the one I saw from Baxter Park in March would have been visible from home if I'd been at home looking out the window) - though I did have a possible that i didn't get bins on a few weeks before my March sighting. Great birds to be able to see over Dundee and always a welcome, and unexpected, sight.

Have had a few recent visits to the park myself with best birds a leucistic Dunlin and 3 Curlew Sandpipers (pics on blog-posts) on 25/9/20 having made an early start to catch the high tide waders and some vis-mig.

https://stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2020/09/second-attempt-25920.html

and 2 days earlier (though an afternoon visit with a less than optimal tide state)

https://stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.com/2020/09/a-target-for-today-23920.html

forgot to mention this was a new species for my own rnp list,its only the third wte I have seen,all 3 were self found birds ,I was looking out for the
leucistic dunlin plus the curlew sandpipers but the light was making it difficult,good to see a large number of lapwings in the bay

Thanks very much to the regulars especially Barry, Kawwauser and Delia as well as Mark Wilkinson for all your sightings. I'm afraid I forgot my password whenever I've tried to log in but eventually got round to changing it.
Well done Barry maintaining the list. Mark saw Turnstone and I can't recall seeing one since the creation of the park. Maybe you guys have?
White-tailed Eagles are becoming more regular certainly, adult and immature. Skylarks have increased again despite larger numbers of people during lockdown- 16 singing males compared to last year's 11 singing males. Young birds seen both year but impossible to know how many pairs bred successfully.
I had three Curlew Sandpipers too at the end of Sept- a good year for them.
This autumn will surely produce something new.

Grey Squirrel is new I believe though Stoat isn't. I've heard that Red S are back at the Botanics and trapping of Greys is being pursued vigorously.

I'll try to put my sightings on here- not working for the foreseeable future. I've cut down a couple of the trees blocking views from the hide and will do more when the leaves have dropped.

It's great to hear from you again Ian - welcome back laddie.

Good to see you back on here, Ian. Have had Turnstone 5 or 6 times, though mostly back in the spell where I was visiting more often, though I did have have them this year back in January. My own sightings are Aug 2012, Sept 2012, Oct 2012, May 2013, Aug 2014 and Jan 2020.

seen turnstones on the pipe twice plus a single bird on the lochan