Sunday 17 April 2011

Venus Pool - Channel crossing

A pretty uninspiring day was rescued with Andy finding a cracking Channel Wagtail at VP this evening. I was there like a shot but it always stayed distant. I managed to grab one or two 'record shots'.......

The British Tellow Wagtail (Motacilla flava flavissima) crosses with the Continental species Blue-headed Wagtail (Motacilla flava flava) to give this hybrid now referred to as Channel Wagtail. The appearance is pretty consistent too. The pale (powder blue) head and very prominent white supercilium with much more white in the throat, are classic features. I'll end this post with a couple of images of the North Shropshire male from 2010. (Which reminds me, I need to get these finally sorted and written up for the rarity file (sorry Geoff!!)










Despite the diastance, one smart bird!






There were at least 12 other 'flavissima' Yellow Wagtails....






And one good job the Hebridean Sheep do is keep them there!








Here's a couple of images featuring the male Blue-headed Wagtail from 2010......









That's all for now but more to come on this thread.....