Winter Wagtail

Winter Wagtail - Cameos of Birdlife #1

It’s late afternoon on a cold grey winters day just after Christmas. The high mountains lost in snow-heavy skies; distant woods a purple haze. The New Year beckons.

Coming off the flyover onto the slip road to my local superstore I hear them first - their ‘ chiss- ick ‘ calls giving the game away. A few hundred gathered in noisy and excitable groups on the store roof. One or two already flying down to roost among the Christmas lights ...

lights twinkle 
in cherry trees 
wagtails roost 

This year people seem to be more aware of these urban roosts with recent reports from as far afield as York, Bridgend and Dublin. Maybe you have some near you ...

Credits

The header image is from an original painting - Pied Wagtails settling in to roost at The Triangle Teignmouth Devon by John Walters

John draws and paints wildlife directly from life in the field as he feels this is the only way he can capture the life and vitality of his subjects. He is a keen photographer and specialises in taking photographs of insects. He is after all best known as an entomologist.

He has written and illustrated several publications, including: The Wildlife of Dartmoor, The Minibeast Guide and The Rockpool Guide

Here is a link to his website John Walters

The recording in this post is used here under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. This and many more can be found at - Xeno-Canto

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