On this day (April 25th) ... 2019 - Channel Wagtail

This little beauty featured in the April Birdwatch 'Guide to Yellow Wagtails' - here's the full sequence of events on April 25th 2019...

Is there a more beautiful bird? This was the highlight of a North Shropshire tour of the Meres and North Shropshire.The answer is probably 'yes' but I fell in love with Channel Wagtail after my first encounter at at Venus Pool in 2011 and despite the fact it's an untickable (hybrid) bird, worth every effort to enjoy... Having seen several now, they are consistently uniform in appearance but the light can play a huge part in the colours we see. A hybrid between the European Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava) and our resident 'Yellow wagtail' (M. flavissima) it combines the head of the former (in a paler grey blue tone) plus bright yellow underparts. Simply drop dead gorgeous...

It was looking good even 60m away...

So, I picked spot to stand and wait... patience is a virtue of course!

Just a turn of the head and movement of the grass...

The pristine white throat and sharp demarcation with the yellow add to the charm. The dark patch is the wind ruffling the feathers!

With two successive thunderstorms, the background (distant trees) colours were constantly changing.The darker tones set it off quite nicely?

How about a lucky moment calling!

'Showing well' would be a safe description...

On this day (April 9th) - 2016 Spoonbill and Channel Wagtail

Flashback to 9th April 2017 when Whixall Floods had a Spoonbill and Channel Wagtail on offer!

I had a huge dilemma - Channel Wagtail is flitting around to the west side of the road and now overhead - the Spoonbill!! And it's landing on the flood right by the road on the east side!! Given that I hadn't seen it feeding close up, I opted for the Spoonbill (for the time being).....

Zooming in a little closer....

And of course, it was feeding......

Catching small Sticklebacks!

Seen from another angle, some of the Sticklebacks were not so small!

Lining it up......

Then down the hatch :-)

A couple of portraits to finish with....

And then, time for some Channel Wagtail action .....

It took me two sessions to get onto this Channel Wagtail, a little beauty which Shropshire seems to have a good record of these tagging along with the Yellows..... This is the third County one I've had in the viewfinder! Problem was it was nearly always distant! And I took a lots of pointless shots at this distance.... for the record :-)

But on occasions, it scampered closer!

And eventually onto the grass where there was a hope of it  leaving the record shot zone?

One of three Yellow Wags keeping it company....

Closer still....

But never really quite achieving close enough!

Not that I'm grumbling with these last few (although it took an inordinate amount of time to get these!!)

And a final pose on the mud before it flew.....

Most of the chit chat and banter was about the status of this gorgeous little bird. It's a hybrid between Motacilla flava (continental 'Blue-headed') and Motacilla flavissima (our 'Yellow') wagtails. You can't tick it of course but you can point your bins, scope or camera at it and enjoy this lovely freak of nature.....

Channel Wagtail shining bright

Is there a more beautiful bird? This was the highlight of a North Shropshire tour of the Meres and North Shropshire.The answer is probably 'yes' but I fell in love with Channel Wagtail after my first encounter at at Venus Pool in 2011 and despite the fact it's an untickable (hybrid) bird, worth every effort to enjoy... Having seen several now, they are consistently uniform in appearance but the light can play a huge part in the colours we see. A hybrid between the European Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava) and our resident 'Yellow wagtail' (M. flavissima) it combines the head of the former (in a paler grey blue tone) plus bright yellow underparts. Simply drop dead gorgeous...

It was looking good even 60m away...

So, I picked spot to stand and wait... patience is a virtue of course!

Just a turn of the head and movement of the grass...

The pristine white throat and sharp demarcation with the yellow add to the charm. The dark patch is the wind ruffling the feathers!

With two successive thunderstorms, the background (distant trees) colours were constantly changing.The darker tones set it off quite nicely?

How about a lucky moment calling!

'Showing well' would be a safe description...

Prees - Quail and Channel Wagtail!

Howard Prince and Rob Dowley have been putting some hours in lately checking the Prees area for Quail and scored with one calling and showing Saturday night. I spent a couple of hours in the morning to no avail but decided to return in the evening... 

Against a backdrop of Skylarks, Yellowhammer and general birdsong (plus passing cars) it wasn't easy but my luck came good at 8.15 when a Quail started calling across the wheat field. After calling four times in 5 minutes, it was not heard again. I'd seen a likely candidate drop in the field out of the corner of my eye seconds earlier (and it had switched fields from the previous eve).

Even better was to come... With one or two Yellow Wagtails in the area and one carrying food, something drew me to a brighter male flying over! It landed about 100m away and through the viewfinder I could clearly see a 'powder blue' head, first for this year but sadly a 'nothing' hybrid between M. flava and flavissima - Channel Wagtail. It perched up briefly a little nearer...

The paleness of the head and pure white throat rule out Blue-headed Wagtail...

Smarter than both parents and soon lost as it flew over the road, a little stunner!