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Unidentified Nesting Bird, South-East England (1 Viewer)

Hello,

On a external light fitting, a small bird has made a nest almost entirely out of moss and horse hair.
I am trying to identify it but the closest I can get is a wheatear, which apparently nest in rabbit burrows.
I then thought it could possibly be a grey wagtail, but it has much too light of a face.

I would be very thankful if someone with expertise in British birds could identify this for me, as having a bird nesting on the outside of my house is interesting, but frustrating that I can't identify it.

Some of it's features are:
Long grey tail feather (see in image)
Black stripe over eye
Pointy, medium length, straight, black beak

Apologies for the terrible image quality, I just don't to disturb her too much by getting too close.
I really hope someone can help me with this.

Thanks in advance, Jake
 

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Hello,

On a external light fitting, a small bird has made a nest almost entirely out of moss and horse hair.
I am trying to identify it but the closest I can get is a wheatear, which apparently nest in rabbit burrows.
I then thought it could possibly be a grey wagtail, but it has much too light of a face.

I would be very thankful if someone with expertise in British birds could identify this for me, as having a bird nesting on the outside of my house is interesting, but frustrating that I can't identify it.

Some of it's features are:
Long grey tail feather (see in image)
Black stripe over eye
Pointy, medium length, straight, black beak

Apologies for the terrible image quality, I just don't to disturb her too much by getting too close.
I really hope someone can help me with this.

Thanks in advance, Jake
Looks good for Spotted Flycatcher.
 
Hi Jake and a warm welcome to you from all the Staff and Moderators.

LOL from your description I was thinking Pied Wagtail, but I'll not argue the toss with BH, a much more experienced ID'er than me.

I'm sure you will enjoy it here and I look forward to hearing your news.
 
A fair point Butty, I should have provided supporting reasons for my views.

To me I can see a bird with open pale face, dark cap, indistinct loral stripe (albeit more prominent in the first pic by shadow), black fine bill, grey back, white edges to wing feathers and a tail which appears longish (which Jake mentions) with distinct white outer tail feathers. But that is purely my perception of the 2 pictures and clearly others see differently.
 
Thanks for the clarification Allen. When I saw these pictures yesterday I immediately thought spotted flycatcher for no other reason than "it just looks like one". I didn't think the images were good enough to say with any certainty so didn't post.

What I would say, is that for pied wagtail, I would expect there to be a much longer gap between the end of the wing and the rest of the tail.
See here for example - BBC NEWS | England | Kent | Builders fence off wagtail nest
And I appreciate it's scrunched up in its nest and all.
 
A fair point Butty, I should have provided supporting reasons for my views.

To me I can see a bird with open pale face, dark cap, indistinct loral stripe (albeit more prominent in the first pic by shadow), black fine bill, grey back, white edges to wing feathers and a tail which appears longish (which Jake mentions) with distinct white outer tail feathers. But that is purely my perception of the 2 pictures and clearly others see differently.
Thank you very much for your input.
I will try and get some more pictures of her tomorrow and attach them to this thread!
 
Hi Everyone thanks so much for all of the input.
I have got another decent picture and I am leaning more towards Pied Wagtail due to the black and white colouration on the back.IMG_5534.PNG
Again, not a great picture, but I don't want to stress her out too much.
What do we reckon??

Thanks again,
Jake
 
Hi Everyone thanks so much for all of the input.
I have got another decent picture and I am leaning more towards Pied Wagtail due to the black and white colouration on the back.View attachment 1392717
Again, not a great picture, but I don't want to stress her out too much.
What do we reckon??

Thanks again,
Jake

I reckon very difficult to tell based on the pictures posted, unless there is another bird in there that I'm just not seeing and the one I think is a bird is something entirely different. No offence intended but what I think is the bird barely resembles one.

If it's the shape at the back of the box, then I just can't see how that bird can be a spotted flycatcher. I can see pied wagtail in that bird, i.e. the flattish top part of the head and the general shape. It could quite easily be neither. Due to the image quality, I wouldn't say the colours are necessarily black and white, 'could be anything in that light; or are you saying you have seen the bird with your own eyes and the colours are black and white?

'Doesn't remotely look like a spotted flycatcher to me.
 
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