Old friend Wilma Grey Wagtail appeared again this afternoon and stayed for hours; she had called in about a month ago when the painters were here but with all the work going on she didn't stay for longer than 15 mins. Nice to see her back and we had the biggest surprise after she disappeared and then returned an hour later and brought in another 3 or 4 Wagtails with her (to be honest I lost count and there could have been 5 of them at least, two on stone bench, two on waterfall and at one stage there was one on shed and one on garage roof so I couldn't keep up with them. As we were outside at the time most did not stay but two did for a while. Pity I couldn't get them on camera when they all returned together - my camera was outside on patio table but when I had to pass the pond to retrieve the camera 3 or 4 spooked leaving two Waggies.
Was a lovely sight and hope they all return tomorrow although weather looks pretty grim and rainy :(
Here's what I did get and I'm 99% certain that Wilma was the first one to arrive as she used the same behaviour and perched on her favourite pond light as she used to do !!
most photos taken through window but did manage a couple of pics when outside.
Here's Wilma with her best pose lol
and Wilma perched on her favourite pond light ............watching Cyril lol
she wasn't bothered one bit even when there were two squirrels.......
and these were taken outside ...... now I don't know who's who in Waggie-world ........
it was difficult to get even two of the Waggies in one pic as they were spread out all over the place ......
but here's two of them although not a great pic ...
different Waggie here .............
definitely Wilma next ............. she certainly looks bonnie lol nice to know she had a brood :)
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Regards, Hazel
Great news about Wilma & family & good to see your Cyrils & poor grumpy Robin. I'm not sure about the fox, nice to see but at a distance!
Best wishes
Hazel in Southwest France
Thanks Hazel, she's back again today but on her own apart from a Dunnock who was trying to muscle in on her mealworm ration lol
Your robin does look sulky Hazy, and with all that food around and a fox visiting I wonder if you are getting any hedgehogs now? My sister in law in Macc is getting two nightly feeding on mealworm, !!'m very jealous!!
Lot to learn
Hi Gaynor, we have never had hedgehogs unfortunately although I built a place in the corner with twigs, logs and stumpery just in case one found its way to the garden; it's a nice quiet corner for wildlife but I don't often see what comes in there. The grumpy robin was back again on the waterfall area, he doesn't know what to make of Wilma who doesn't really take any notice of the robin lol I took a few more pics but they are still on camera at the moment so will add some here later. I was able to sit outside when Wilma came, she is getting more used to me again although still a little skittish. She's been back and forth several times today as we've been gardening. I was doing some edging to lawned area this afternoon, taking over from Mike so he could do other jobs; it's never ending lol
Lovely to see the Wagtails back in numbers Hazel, have you considered putting in a nestbox for them?
My bird photos HERE
Come to think of it aitch, think the guy on Sparrowhawk Island had Waggies nesting this year & he makes all his own nestboxes & helps others too!!
2013 photos & vids here
eff37 on Flickr
Hi Paul and Wendy, we had considered adding a nest box for the Grey Waggies as they seem to use a semi open style of box, similar to a robin although maybe slightly narrower entrance. I just wasn't sure where to place it as it would need to be close enough to the pond area but with so many squirrels, corvids, etc., that are always frequenting the pond and rockery, the wagtails would probably get too much disturbance if the box was near ground level. We have 13 nest boxes already for the Tit birds and also Nuthatch and robins and had one open box at ground level but protected behind a shrub not far from the pond as it was where a robin nested the year before. This year it was unused. I think "Wilma" nested not far away as we are surrounded by large well screened gardens, fields and there is an expanse of water at the far end of our road which is not used by public so a good area for birds to nest. Tatton Park, quarter mile away has lots of Wagtails too and streams, meres and woodland so there are plenty of suitable areas locally for all manner of birds. In the rockery, we do have crevices between the rocks/stones which she could use as they are well protected in some areas by grasses and shrubs. I think the Wren probably uses these nooks and crannies lol I think the Wagtails would be too shy to nest in our garden as we are constantly pottering around doing gardening and also photographing the birds so not sure we could tempt her unless we moved out lol .
Here is Wilma from today: this time after my gardening chores I pulled my "fishing" chair ! close to the pond edge, sat still and she returned whilst I was just a few metres away. She's still a little wary at the moment but I was able to get better photos than through the window !!
and grumpy robin !!
and one of two Jays that were making a racket and chasing round the garden lol
Fabulous photos Hazy, they are my favourite of the wagtails, lovely lines! The Jay looks a bit peeved as well as the Robin.
Great that she is accepting you outside again aitch getting even closer, makes for some lovely pics! Cheek of the grumpy Robin, what's up with him, doesn't like sharing mealies maybe!
Thanks Hazel and Wendy,
WendyBartter said:Cheek of the grumpy Robin, what's up with him, doesn't like sharing mealies maybe!