Grey Wagtail

Yesterday, I spoke about trying to film the Grey Wagtails, while quite common, they are not easy to photograph as they are quite skittish. However, I set up and laid in wait for them. I was very close to giving up as I had finished my flask of coffee (Fair Trade), and I was getting hungry and thirsty. As well as a couple of miles of walking, I had the assent from the river valley to the elevation where my home sits.


But the wait had been worth it, I spotted a pair of juveniles flitting from rock to bank and moving towards me feeding at the waters edge. I swung the camera round in readiness and both flew to the shore up the river around the curve, just out of field of view. I looked intently, I knew that if I moved that would be it, they would disappear, so I had to wait. Even though I was looking carefully, I nearly missed them as their grey plumage hides them so completely among the stones of the river and shore. Even as I zoomed in one flew off back up the river. I started recording, and the beautiful little bird stayed feeding totally oblivious to me.


The tail bobbing so characteristic of many insect feeders, is believed to help break up the birds outline to the invertebrates its feeding on, creating the illusion of a branch, twig or leaf just blowing in the wind.


And before anyone asks, I know this is a juvenile by incomplete yellow underbelly, and that at this time of year any mature adult is busy building a nest.

Starling Nest

Last year I spotted that a starling had built a nest in a hollow branch of an oak. While I wanted to try and get some pictures, other commitments meant that I never had that opportunity. So I have been keeping a careful eye on the tree this year to see if this starling returned. As the male will often use the same nest site year after year, it was likely.


When I looked yesterday (Sunday), it was still empty. Today however, as I approached I saw the starling pop its head out of the hole. I had not prepared for this eventuality so I found myself a quiet spot and set up the camera, all the while expecting the bird to fly off. But as you can see from the clip, he did not, he stood guard at the entrance to his pleasure pad. This gave me time to film him while he looked around. When he finally did fly off it was probably to tell his wife that he has got the keys to the same house they squatted in last year.


This was actually the start of what turned out to be a good day. I set out with a mission, I was determined to film the Grey Wagtails down by the river. While I can often see them, getting close enough to film them is not easy, as they are small birds, a little bit smaller than a sparrow, and their plumage and tail bobbing behaviour provide them with great camouflage.


Anyway having got to know the local populations habits, I set up and waited, it only took six hours to get about a minutes worth of film, but I got a nice sequence of one feeding at the waters edge.


I am hoping that soon I will be able to start sharing some of the filming I have been doing. However, I still need to get a couple of bits of software before I can do that. The problem was that I bought the software needed from Ebay, but the seller supplied a pirated copy, so I actually need to replace it with a legal copy to unlock it and fully use it.


So watch this space you never know what may turn up here.