Wagtails in winter

Thanks to volunteer Phil for his article and photos - pied wagtails in winter

In winter wildlife is often locked in a struggle to survive and this sometimes enable us to observe interesting behaviour. An afternoon visit to West Mead hide presented a rather quiet wintry scene with most of the pool still frozen over. A few lapwings could be seen on the islands and a few snipe were also probing around. What really caught my eye however was a pied wagtail which was repeatedly hovering a few inches above the ice.

It was rather as if it wanted to land but couldn’t be sure how safe it was to do so. But why would it want to land on the ice anyway? Surely there couldn’t be any food there. 

It finally managed to get onto the ice by landing on one of the islands and then walking out.

It was then seen quite frequently flying between the islands attractively reflected in a patch of open water

When on the ice it seemed to be most interested in investigating the edge where it met open water.   I wondered if there might be some aquatic insects still to be found there. If you look carefully at this photo it seems have something in its beak.

Pied wagtails are insectivorous birds and aquatic insects are certainly part of their diet. Once on a summer Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) count I observed a small flock of these birds on the River Arun feeding on a large mat of vegetation slowly floating downstream.

While this performance was ongoing another pied wagtail was more conventionally poking around in the muddy areas in front of the hide which may have thawed a little during the day. After a while one of the birds - I couldn’t be sure which - suddenly swooped up over the roof of the hide and then came through the door showing little fear of the people sitting there.

I wondered what was so attractive about the hide? Could it be that pied wagtails are curious birds rather like robins and like to observe what humans are doing? Perhaps more likely is that the hide like any other outbuilding may be a refuge for insects in harsh weather and therefore be a useful source of food.

Pied wagtails do seem to be able to co-exist with humans without the fear usually displayed by other animals.  It is not unusual to see them in busy city centres foraging for insects in crevices in pavements or trotting around car parks. They have also adapted to our built environment by sometime forming large roosts close to air conditioning vents which pump out much heat from our office blocks and other large buildings,

Unlike most of our other insectivorous birds pied wagtails don’t migrate to warmer climes in winter but manage to eke out a living by searching diligently for whatever insects can still be found. They are common and successful birds which don’t often attract much attention on the reserve. But my experience suggests that they deserve a closer look, and our respect.