I was at clatto first thing this morning checking the gulls,as soon as I opened my car door mixed flock of 12 blackbirds/7 dunnocks/5 robins and a few chaffinches and coal tits were squabbling about my feet waiting to be fed,the only gulls seen were herring and black headed,a pair of goosander were swimming in the middle of the water,there hasn't been many sightings of goosander in the Dundee area this winter,several goldeneyes were present along with the mutes/mallards ,I parked at invergowrie and walked to the hide at the riverside nature park ,a grey wagtail (first of the year for me)was moving back and forth at the tunnel,some pinkfoots were out on the mud and others were flying over,a couple of dunlin were with the redshanks and teals/herring gulls/bh gulls/jackdaws were to the left of the hide,there were some chirping sparrows somewhere nearby,driving past the lochan I noticed a new screen has been built at the hole in the hedge,this is a great addition ,often when an unleashed dog walks by it investigates the hole in the hedge resulting in all the water birds taking off,i then headed down to the city quey to check if the long tailed duck was still around,the duck is still there but is keeping its distance,other birds seen were red throated diver/7 red breasted mergansers/1 little grebe the cormorant was perched on its favourite lamppost,i headed from here to the stobbie pond,late on Friday while passing I saw a male goosander here and was hoping it was still there,
it looks like it was a short visit,all the usual water birds were present and it was nice to see 2 wintering common gulls,it was then up to monikie looking for bramblings,3 birds have been reported,i had 2 sightings (probably the same bird) first one was at the second pier on the island pond,a flock of chaffinches and a couple of wrens plus the brambling were feeding in the rocks below some bushes at the waterside,i was waiting hoping for a clear view when I was treated to a very close flypast of a kingfisher complete with a fish in its beak ,very nice :t:the second sighting was to the right of the activity centre ground feeding,there was a very noisy flock of approx. 45 goldfinches in the trees beside the denfind pond,a raven was heard calling from the trees at the north pond,at keptie pond in Arbroath a male wigeon has been present for a couple of weeks,this is a good opportunity to see what is usually a distant duck,4 herons were on the island and a ringed black headed gull was sitting on one of the posts,it had rings on both legs and I could only get views of the right leg,the number looks like j7cc/L7cc
,I came across a flock of 20 yellowhammers in a field along the clifftop path and seen a similar sized flock of linnets at the start of the path,i was shocked to read how much the yellowhammer is in decline ,looks like we are lucky to still have them up here
| There was however a lot of other birds about, here's my list: Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Goldeneye, Pheasant, Moorhen, Coot, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Long-tailed Tit and Chaffinch.
