Psilos Bird Journal
Thursday May 15th 2008
     
Grey wagtails - "We are family"
 
The setting for this tale begins in a wooded valley on the outskirts of Bolton. I was returning home from a failed mission to find some nesting Dippers when I happened upon another quite welcome river bird, the Grey Wagtail. This bird is common enough. A slate grey back with yallow breast and underparts and a tail that never stops bobbing.It is found anywhere there is freshwater and can be fearsomely difficult to get close to.
     
It distinctive call and bright yellow flash are what first alerted me to this bird. Eyes instinctively tracking the rivers edge I found him soon enough, a very handsome male. He was busy hunting for insects and there fore hopefully too preoccupied to notice me. This is a bird I have never had an opportunity to photograph before so I was itching to get closer.
     
Male Grey wagtail

The river in which the bird is hunting is cut deep from the banking and reinforced in places with shere concrete walls. The bird is a long way down but the light is reasonably good. I was just considering my options for getting nearer when another bird appeared and my interest was picqued further.
Female Grey wagtail
 
To my left there is a broad waterfall that spans the river, a series of steps topped by a series of posts. From the bottom of this waterway a second bird appears. This time a female. Her beak is crammed with insects and she is very agitated indeed. Now that is very interesting and can only mean one thing. There is a nest very close by!
 
 
Naturally by now I have been detected and there is no way these birds are going to show me where their nest is. Calling in an agitated manner the birds pace up and down. I would very much like to see where the nest is but on the other hand I am very concerned that whilst I stay I am depriving the chicks of much deserved food.
 
Wagtail nest site
With this in mind I retreat along the river wall to a safe enough distance where I can still see the birds and they feel far less threatened. Lieing low amongst the grasses and the nettles I merely watch and wait. Sure enough, I didnt have long to wait. Before ten minutes had lapsed the female, driven by the instinct to feed her babies made her way to the nest (photo above) It was cleverly sited half way up the opposite wall and noone would ever have known it was there.
 
 
The sun was warm today and mercifully the insects were not biting. Patiently I waited and every ten minutes I crawled whilst on all fours a little nearer to the birds. Each move would lead to a few agitated calls but this time it did not halt their visits to the nest. Indeed after half an hour they could often be seen visiting the nest site together.
 
 
The babies can clearly be heard calling when the adults arrive with food. The nest isnt situated very deep, no more than a few inches in to the wall but vegetation has made it so that you cant see the chicks. I have no idea how old the chicks are but even at this early stage I have a great desire to see them fledge.
 
 
Often coming from th e nest the female would carry the feacal sac. This was a shot I longer to get but try as I might I never got it to my satisfaction. Out she would fly carrying the precious cargo then like a clockwork wagtail on trolley wheels she would land in the river at the bottom of the waterfall and run as fast as she could to the middle where she would dump it. It is amazing how fast they can run and tme after time I failed miserably to capture her. Oh well you win some you lose some.....