On our very first sighting a couple of years ago we thought this was the Grey Wagtail – it is though most definitely a Yellow Wagtail, and this is the Iberian one – Motacilla iberiae. Our excuse for that initial confusion – the grey head! In England the head is yellow: there are at least a further 7 geographical variations in appearance across Europe so suspect we are not the first to have been confused.
Wagtails always me smile, it because of that glorious movement of their tail as they flit around the edges of the estuary hunting insects.
The shot above was an accident – a regular occurrence for the bird photographer – but I had to include it!
The Yellow Wagtail is a summer visitor here. We’ve yet to see a volery of wagtails, but there are definitely a few around the saltpans.
