My new garden pond was filled just before Christmas, and if you'd asked me to predict which birds will visit it, top of my list would be this one, which arrived on the very first day and has been regular since.
The photograph was taken through my bedroom window, but nevertheless you can see that the name Grey Wagtail just doesn't do them justice. The 'Bright-yellow-ended Wagtail' might have been more fitting, perhaps? And once they enter breeding plumage with a smart black throat, they are even more dapper.
I thought the pebbly margin I added might really suit them, given that they are most at home on the gushing, stony streams of upland Britain.
And I love how they make full use of that long tail, wagging it as enthusiastically as a spaniel.
The population estimate for the whole of the UK is just 38,000 pairs, and numbers are falling, enough for this to be another species on the Red List of Species of Conservation Concern, so I feel very privileged to have one spending the winter in my neighbourhood, and even prouder that it should have taken a shine to my pond.
What I didn't expect was that this boy would take to the water so readily.
I've seen him three times now, and given that I am out most of the time, I presume he is very regular indeed. He is a male Sparrowhawk; unlike the rather mud brown female, he has steelier plumage on the back and then that lovely salmony hue on the cheek and sides of the breast.
What next, I wonder? Anything now seems possible!
If you want to drop by my RSPB wildlife gardening blog, it is updated every Friday, and I'd love to see you there - www.rspb.org.uk/community/blogs/hfw
Can we see some shots of your whole pond please, I'd love to see how it matures.
Build it and they will come.