Riverside Nature Park, Dundee. (6 Viewers)

[delia todd]

It turns out that I added a new species to the park list on 22nd October but didn't realise at the time. I photographed a 'finch' that I was a bit puzzled by, but as I was trying to get to the bottom of the possible Olive Backed Pipit (which turned out to be a late Tree Pipit), getting an ID for it had to be put on hold. Then life got in the way and I only got back to trying to put a name to it last week. After working out what I thought it had to be - though not 100% certain - I sent the photos to a few experienced birders and posted the photos on here in the Bird ID forum. Between the 2, the conclusion was the same as my own. A Twite. With some suggestion of the possibility of Linnet I tried in vain to turn the bird into a Linnet, by comparing all my old Linnet photos, and a lot from online/in books but none looked the same. Linnet hadn't even crossed my mind initially as it didn't look very Linnet like on the back of the camera or on the PC, except superficially. So, with further confirmation via experienced birders on Twitter, it is a Twite and it is species number 168 for the park (though actually 164 chronologically) and was also my 150th species for Dundee in 2023 - that list now sits at 154.

In addition to that new bird for the park list, I managed to find another new one on the 19th of November. A Siberian Chiffchaff. We've had possibles at the park previously but with the bird photographed and recorded calling (which matched calls on Xeno-Canto & the Collins Birdguide app), it was a definite add to the list. Except it doesn't count. Siberian Chiffchaff is only a subspecies - though it looks and sounds different to Chiffchaff, and is a winter visitor rather than a summer migrant. So we can now say we've had them at the park (there were at least 3, possibly 4 that day, with at least 2 seen by Mark Wilkinson a week later in the same general area as the bird in the photos).

168 (actually 164). - Twite
***. - Siberian Chiffchaff

You never know .... it may be an armchair tick before too long!!! Maybe!!

 

[Stonefaction]

Keith Edwards managed to add yet another new species to the park list (number 169), the first new one for 2024, with a Merlin seen hunting near the Lochan. Merlin has been suspected as a winter visitor a few times over the years, but views had always been very fleeting and inconclusive, so good for it to finally be confirmed.

169. Merlin