Grey wagtail in Aberdeen

Question

Hello. I'm not experienced in bird ID but I'm fairly sure I had a female grey wagtail in my garden in Aberdeen city centre for a few days last week. I was watching it because I liked its movements but didn't know how unusual it was for it to be here until I looked it up as I haven't been in Aberdeen so long myself. Apparently even its summer range doesn't extend this far north. From browsing books and online sources I can't see anything else that I could be confusing it with. Does anybody know of anything similar or is it not so unusual for a bird to be beyond its usual range in a mild year?

HAZY · Accepted Answer

Hi Jennifer, here's a photo of a grey wagtail we are lucky enough to see in our garden each day (in Cheshire) Do you have water around your garden as they tend to come to pond areas ?

TeeJay · Answer

Hi Jennifer, there's no reason why it should have not been a Grey Wagtail. According to my book and the BTO trend maps Grey Wagtails breed over most of Scotland, including Orkney and Shetland, given suitable habitat. In winter it appears they vacate the colder areas and retreat to more sheltered areas of the river valleys and coastal regions. 
 The way to distinguish between the sexes is that the male has a black bib under the throat which is white on the female. 
 Nice bird to have in the garden. 
 Post Edit. I see Hazy has introduced you to Wilma. LOL