Blue headed Wagtail at Kingsbury.

Thursday 15th April 2010

I spent the morning doing, what is becoming, a regular walk from Merevale to Grendon Common which takes in a bit of old woodland, some new plantations, hilly farmland and bits of rough ground. Much of the farm fields were harrowed yesterday and a group of 4 White wagtails seemed to like the freshly worked soil but apart from the usual Willow warblers, Chiffchaff and Blackcap no other migrants were seen. I did see a Grey Partridge though which was a surprise with so many Red legs in the area. My afternoon journey to Sutton had to be modified to take in Shustoke Res. Steve Cawthray had found an Arctic tern(130) and Tom Perrins had relayed the info on. After my visit to Sutton I popped in to Kingsbury Water Park to renew my annual permit. I decided to have a look at Bodymoor Heath and Hemlingford pools so see if there were any more Terns about. As soon as I got out of the car I saw a Yellow wagtail on the grassy bank near the waters edge. Another wagtail then appeared - with a bright blue head! The Blue headed wagtail was quite close and fortunately nobody was on the path it was close to. After watching the bird for a minute or so I started to make a few phone calls. As I made the calls I lost sight of the bird down the bank and with dog walkers appearing from both directions the wagtails disappeared. One yellow wagtail did come back to the shoreline but despite widening the search to the flood-meadow beyond the river there was no further sign. I was diappointed nobody else got to see the cracking little bird and even more disappointed I didnt have my camera with me.