Riverside Nature Park, Dundee. (3 Viewers)

Thanks for welcome Kawwauser.

That poor chaffinch, amazing that it has not succumbed to the infection, Very odd injury.

Dreich day

Had intended to be at reserve by 8.30 to see high tide in and out. one look at the grey, misty overcast weather and I put it off. Arrived at 1240. Not much to be seen out on mudflats, mist beginning to burn off, but it never really cleared. But, still nice to be anywhere outside, other than in the office.

Day list.

Heron, Shellduck, Teal, Mallard, lbb gull, herring gull, curlew, redshank, oystercatcher. Robin, blackbird, woodpigeon, feral pigeon, carrion crows ( 70+) Jackdaw. Yellowhammer, Reed bunting, blue tit, great tit, long-tailed tit. Kestrel, chaffinch, chiffchaff. skylark, swallow, starling.

Walked back from reserve to city centre office and saw a solitary magpie by University recreation park and mute swan by rail bridge.

there was a single magpie perched on a post between the earth viewing point and the hide area yesterday,(the posts the carrion crows enjoy)only my second sighting of a magpie in the park,

Belated post. Popped down to the park for an hour and a half around lunchtime on Saturday past (26th). Only 26 species seen. No sign of either Common or Lesser Whitethroat yet and nothing much of note. Only managed 26 species.

Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Common Gull, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Herring Gull, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Reed Bunting, Feral Pigeon, Shelduck (including a pair on the Lochan), Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.

A wee head's up to anyone interested. There are 2 guided walks this weekend at the park. I am leading one on Saturday morning starting at 8.30 from the car park, and Ian Ford is leading a Dawn Chorus walk on Sunday morning. I (or Ian) will post the start time for that one once I've double checked.

common whitethroat was my target bird yesterday but I couldn't see or hear one,i see jon cook had 2 today, they must have just arrived

The guided walk on Sunday morning for the Dawn Chorus with Ian Ford takes place from 6am.
Saturday's walk with me starts at 8.30am. Both commence from the car park. Please wear suitable footwear etc.

Led a guided walk this morning and then also had a few extra laps around to try and add a few more species. Managed 44 species in all. Highlights being a Whimbrel which flew into Invergowrie Bay, a Sedge Warbler in Buzzard Wood, at least 2 Lesser Whitethroats, a flyover Swift and quite a few Common Whitethroats. Blackcaps and Willow Warblers in good numbers, with one male Blackcap collecting nest material by car park.

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, Sedge Warbler, Sherlduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Stock Dove, Swallow, Swift, Teal, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.

There is a Dawn Chorus walk at the park tomorrow morning starting at 6am, led by Ian Ford. Meet at the car park, and wear suitable footwear/clothing. Well worth going along if you can.

David, sorry I managed to miss your post asking about the full park list from a few weeks ago. From a very quick scan of your list, it appears you've managed to miss out the Iceland Gull from January. Assuming everything else is correct that would be the only thing needed to complete the list of 135 species.

Looking back over what else I've missed on the thread, reminded me of something we saw on Saturday during the guided walk. I think we saw the Chaffinch with the diseased foot in flight. My initial thought was a bird carrying something in its feet, but as that didn't make any sense the next thought was this disease - so it looks like I was correct (hopefully it was the same bird, rather than another infected bird).

Stonefaction said:

David, sorry I managed to miss your post asking about the full park list from a few weeks ago. From a very quick scan of your list, it appears you've managed to miss out the Iceland Gull from January. Assuming everything else is correct that would be the only thing needed to complete the list of 135 species.
.

Click to expand...

Thanks Barry

Popped down on Saturday for a few hours over lunchtime (roughly speaking). 32 species seen.
Blackbird, Blackcap, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Lesser Redpoll, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Yellowhammer.

More detail on my blog...
http://stonefactionbirding2014.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/down-at-park-10514.html

A wee bit behind posting this on here...
Last Saturday morning (17th May) I gave a wee guided tour of the park to a woman I know through Facebook but had never met previously, and we managed to rack up 38 species of bird.

Blackbird, Blackcap, Black Headed Gull, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Cormorant, Curlew, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Kestrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Linnet, Long Tailed Tit, Mallard, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Reed Bunting, Robin, Feral Pigeon, Rook, Shelduck, Skylark, Song Thrush, Starling, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer.

there were 14 Canada geese in front of the hide at high tide on Monday 12.00 ,canada geese are a species not often seen here, I visited the hide 15 mins before they arrived and seen 11 shelducks/3 grey lags/2 mutes/mallards/plus bh gulls and lesser black backed gulls,whitethroats /willow warblers were in the trees,i checked the area behind the tunnel and found a grey wagtail which had just flown down the sewer pipe,it landed on the only branch which was in the shade :C,i had to severely edit my pics but it looks like there is not any yellow on its underbelly,(youngster?)it flew under the tunnel towards the hide,while searching for it I noticed the Canada geese,the 2 mutes weren't happy about them and showed a lot of aggression towards them,canada geese are quite stubborn and it took a few close encounters to get them to move,the greylags were an easier target,the park is in full bloom just now and is looking really nice,birdsong was heard all over willow warbler/chiffchaff/skylark/robin/wren/whitethroat/male house sparrow/song thrush/yellowhammer,the foliage is making it harder to see the smaller birds but whitethroats were certainly the more numerous birds seen today,i have seen a male black cap on my last 3 visits here im sure its 2 different birds,yet to see a female here,2 goldfinches collecting nesting material plus a vole crossing the path between the car park and buzzard wood were 2 of the more unusual sightings here ,driving in from the swallow roundabout I noticed a couple in their 50,s with a dog,the woman had a poo bag which she handed to the man,he then leant over the fence deposited the bag and covered it over with the long grass:eek!:

34 species seen

chaffinch/whitethroat/starling/woodpigeon/carrion crow/song thrush/robin/willow warbler/greenfinch/wren/house martin/chiffchaff/blackbird/swift/herring gull/jackdaw/pied wagtail/mallard/yellowhammer/greylag/mute swan/shelduck/black headed gull/feral pigeon/grey wagtail/lesser black backed gull/Canada goose/oystercatcher/great tit/house sparrow/goldfinch/swallow/buzzard/skylark

one of the colour ringed dippers was on the other side of the tunnel yesterday, blue/grey/yellow/red,dont usually see the ringed dippers here until later in the year,another earlier in the year sighting was a pair of bullfinches in the trees at the hide area,the only juvs seen were reed buntings/carrion crows/starling plenty of food carrying from the smaller birds though ,the stock doves are back at their favourite feeding spot at the side of the lochan,there seems to be a bit of a rabbit explosion I wonder if the foxes have been removed ?,

at piper dam a pair of Canada geese have 5 goslings,a single great crested grebe has been here for the last two weeks,

rnp birds
chaffinch/woodpigeon/starling/song thrush/swallow/goldfinch/carrion crow/mallard/stock dove/herring gull/jackdaw/blackbird/lesser black backed gull/whitethroat/shelduck/black headed gull/mute swan/kestrel/bullfinch/oystercatcher/feral pigeon/yellowhammer/robin/wren/greenfinch/dipper/reed bunting /willow warbler/chiff chaff /house martin /skylark

Hello.

I'm Doug. I'm new to the forum and have just got back into bird watching.

I was a life long RSPB member up until a few years ago. A recent trip to Mull re sparked my interest. Well sea eagles and Hen Harriers have that effect.

My spots include the Tay Reed beds, the Eden estuary and Riverside Nature Park.

2 days ago 17/06/14 I took a trip the the nature park with my new binoculars. Whilst looking out from the hide I spotted a Diver. It was smaller/equal to a mallard which were close by. It was far out on the river so I could not see any colour just a black outline. It was dark in colour ie no visible light patches. It kept diving and coming up with numerous fish. It was definailty a diver and spent as much time below the water as above. It was holding it's head at and angle so my first thought was a Red Throated Diver. Could this be? I know this would be a bit odd. I'm a amateur so don't want to cause a stir and don't mind being corrected.

Other interesting sighting at the park have been Sedge Warblers, willow warblers, white throats, swifts, swollows, house martins, chaffinch, pied wag tails, house and tree sparrows, kestrels, buzzards, common sand piper, lapwing, curlew, shelduck.

Hi Doug and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

You seem to be enjoying yourself and have got some great patches to visit. I hope you'll report back on what you see.

I don't do ID's, I'll leave that to the ones that know the area better than me.

Doug, while a Diver is not impossible (I'm heading to City Quay tomorrow to check if the 'resident' Red Throated Diver is still around - an injured bird which has been there for around 18 months or so), it is much more likely to be a Cormorant or even a Shag. Cormorant is much the commoner bird from the park, though I did once see a Shag come ashore by the railway line at high tide. Both will continuously dive and also hold their bill at an angle and are all over dark plumaged generally. On the basis of probability (and experience at the park), I'd go for Cormorant.

Thanks for the reply stonefaction.
From what you've said it probably was a cormorant. Still new to this.

Visited riverside nature park today with my brother for an hour. Saw gold finches, blue tits, swifts, white throats, jackdaws, carrion crows, swallows, house martins, shelducks, mallards, herring gulls, black headed gulls.

It was mid afternoon so I think most of the birds were lying low.

hi doug and welcome to bird forum,a lot of the park is overgrown at the moment making it difficult to see any birds,things will pick up once the waders start passing through and the leaves start disappearing ,I seen two juvs that I havent seen this year in the park today ,blue tit/goldfinch .I also heard a jay calling at the hide area,tree sparrow is a species I have yet to see here

Town centre birds

Not about the reserve, but my office hours have been brightened by the appearance of a pair of nesting Goldfinch the last couple of days. The female has been busy collecting nesting material from the moss covered ledges, and the male just follows her around, standing a few feet behind her, singing to her as she does all the work.

Appear to be nesting in Cupula / Dome area with spire at top of Whitehall Street, which strikes me as an odd nesting site.

Not best of pics but gives an idea.

someone wrote a letter to the press about the overgrown state of the park ,
http://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/life/your-voice/your-voice-tuesday-june-24-1.438574

on my visit last Monday I noticed that the nettles to the east of the lochan were that high you couldn't,t see the trees /bushes behind them,the path near here is now a carpet of rabbit droppings