Thursday 2 June 2011

Yellow Wagtail





The Yellow Wagtail is a migrant bird that arrives in Britain between late March and mid May, with the brightly coloured males arriving first. In August and September it starts its return flight, first to south-west France and then to Portugal, with some flying to the Bay of Biscay in Spain. From here they then fly to North Africa and across the Sahara desert, some in a single flight which takes 72 hours.

The birds are frequently seen with cattle and horses in their search for food, which is a mixture of small invertebrates such as flies and beetles. These are normally caught around the feet or dung of livestock.

The male (seen in these photo`s) is an extremely brightly coloured bird, having bright yellow underparts and face with olive-green upperparts. The head markings do vary between geographical races, with the British race having a yellow head. The nearest other race is from Europe and has a blue head, indeed this race can often be seen in Britain. The female is a lot duller with a brown back, pale throat and a pale eye stripe.

This is another farmland birds which has mixed fortunes of late with some surveys showing declines of between 67% and 90%, with most of this occuring since 1978. Their range in Britain is contracting, with the loss of mixed farming, land drainage, conversion of pasture to arable and changes in farming practice are all possible causes of this.

In the Peterborough area we are fairly fortunate in that we seem to have a fairly healthy population with the Nene Washes and Maxey GP (where these photo`s were taken), to name a few, being good places to see this stunning bird.

14 comments:

  1. I've never seen the bird, so really nice to see these images. Thanks.

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  2. I'd like the Yellow Wagtail's migratory lifestyle, here for the summers and in warmer countries for the winters!

    Rob on the IoW
    (Blogger playing up again; having to take the anonymous option)

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  3. Lovely photos of a delightful little bird John. I always look forward to seeing (and attempting to photograph) them at Draycote, they visit every year. The male is a stunning colour, my husband calls them 'flying custard' :)

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  4. Lovely colours,the third is my favourite.
    John.

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  5. Hi John, great pics, I love the quote on the side of your blog, I couldn't agree with it more.
    Cheers Al

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  6. Hi Tim,
    Many thanks. We are lucky in this part of Britain to still have these birds in fairly good numbers, other places aren`t so.
    J

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  7. Hi Rob,
    Yes, it does sound appealing doesn`t it, without the flying for me though! ;)
    Blogger can be slightly annoying at times, can`t it!
    J

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  8. Hi Jan,
    Thankyou for your kind words. I can see what your husband means, they really are lovely coloured birds, aren`t they!
    J

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  9. Hi John,
    Thankyou, yes the colours are amazing, a wonder of the natural world.
    J

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  10. Hi Alan,
    Thankyou. The quote sort of sums up my feelings, the reason I stuck it on here really!
    Thanks for the `Follow`.
    J

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  11. These are just brilliant images John.

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  12. Thanks Roy,
    You really are too kind.
    J

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  13. Great looking bird. You really couldn't miss it could you? The colouring is much like a canary.
    Click here for Bazza’s Blog ‘To Discover Ice’

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  14. Hi bazza,
    They are really stunning birds, especially the male. They are like little drops of sunshine!
    J

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