Video: Pair of Grey Wagtails attacking Grey Squirrel (1 Viewer)

On holiday in North Wales last week I was fortunate enough to capture this fearless pair of Grey Wagtails launching a series of assaults on a Grey Squirrel that was skulking too close to their nest in the garden wall opposite our caravan.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE_byxHn4AY&feature=youtu.be.

Apparently it's not unknown for squirrels to take both eggs and fledglings from nests, so the Wagtails were right to be wary.

It became clear a couple of days after this incident that the Wagtails had abandoned their nest, but not before at least one of their fledglings had escaped unharmed, because I witnessed it being fed by one of its parents a bit further along the wall. I have no idea how many chicks they had because their nest was well hidden behind a screen of ivy. Once it became clear the nest had been abandoned a local gardener checked it out and confirmed it was completely empty.

The incident took place last week at Aberdunant Holiday Park in Snowdonia, North Wales where we were staying on vacation.

It got me wondering how unusual this type of behaviour is. There are several clips on YouTube of Grey Wagtails attacking images of themselves in car wing mirrors but I have yet to come across anything similar to this.

Interesting to watch.

I don't know how common such behaviour is, but a very interesting video, thanks for posting the link. (Last year a Grey Wag spent about 30mins messing around on top of my neighbour's car but on that occasion didn't show special interest in the mirrors, which is odd. As you say, wagtails do like to attack their reflections in mirrors - I've seen Pied Wags do it).