wagtail

All at once he turned round to Claude with the agile quickness of a wagtail.

The propensity to play may however, not be one of the essential attributes of wagtails, yet this clan, most notably in the form of the pied wagtail, are to me naturally comedic birds in appearance, the "Coco the Clown" of the avian world.

Once a vibrant eco-system, it has been abandoned by the wildlife, kingfishers, otters swans, goosanders, the visiting colony of sandmartins, cormorants and wagtails.

I HAVE raved about the gangs of wagtails that hang out close to warm lights on superstores in winter after spending years only seeing single birds around the region.

BIRD NOTES With Julian Hughes | White Wagtail PICTURE: HENRY COOK WHITE Wagtails are the mainland European counterpart to our Pied Wagtails and can be found on coastal saltmarsh in April.

A final walk through the gardens barely minutes before departure found lawns patrolled by loose flocks of White Wagtails all black and white and gray.

I READ recently that robins, pied wagtails and starlings could be targeted for heath and safety reasons.

It was nice to see yellow wagtails among at least 40 white wagtails at RSPB Conwy on Saturday.

AN ice cream man found a pair of wagtails had been living in his van's engine - and hatched six chicks.

What I was looking at were not dandelions but several yellow wagtails which are summer visitors from the African continent that spend the summer in pastures, meadows, riversides and arable fields, and usually near freshwater.

Numbers of lapwings, redshanks, pochards, yellow wagtails and great crested grebe have all increased and rare birds such as a purple heron, citrine wagtail, blue-winged teal, and a pair of bitterns have all been spotted.

I DON'T really wish to get involved in the debate on buzzards and birds of prey, but would like to point out that after killing all our wagtails and various tits and finches, a sparrow hawk took up residence in our shed and started on the swallows.