Foxy
Well-known member
Way back in 1988, 1st May, I was an inexperienced birder birding Hanningfield Reservoir whilst on my annual trip to the Rugby League Cup Final and was delighted to find a number of Yellow Wagtails on the outer banking. In amongst them were 50+ Yellow Wagtails, Grey, White and Pied Wagtails and an individual that I put down as a Blue-headed Wagtail simply because it was a Wagtail with a bluish head. I took some photographs which given the distance and my limited camera at the time are very small and blurred (they were on old fashioned film at the time, subsequently scanned with no adjustment to colour or lighting).
As the years rolled on I became increasingly intrigued by what I had passed off as Blue-headed Wagtail, not least because I have seen many since then and they looked nothing like the Hanningfield bird and I have recently re-visited the phots with a view to solving the mystery.
Whilst I cannot expect certainty on the attached blurred photographs 34 years on I would welcome any thoughts and maybe someone else saw the same bird?
The wagtail in question is certainly of the Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava group, has a very pale ice blue head with no supercilium, indeed no apparent head markings, an isolated beady black eye, and black bill. The body appears to be typical Male Yellow Wagtail
All the flava with blue heads are easily eliminated due to being too dark and having clean white supercilia. The only bird I can find to fit all the criteria, however unlikely, is North Mongolian Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla flava leucocephala but I am sure there is a more likely explanation
Interestingly a year later, 30.4.89 on the same excursion I found a similar group at Hanningfield which again included a Blue-headed Wagtail but this time I specifically noted a blue-grey head and white supercilium so probably a proper Blue-headed Wagtail!
Any help very much appreciated thank you
As the years rolled on I became increasingly intrigued by what I had passed off as Blue-headed Wagtail, not least because I have seen many since then and they looked nothing like the Hanningfield bird and I have recently re-visited the phots with a view to solving the mystery.
Whilst I cannot expect certainty on the attached blurred photographs 34 years on I would welcome any thoughts and maybe someone else saw the same bird?
The wagtail in question is certainly of the Yellow Wagtail Motacilla flava group, has a very pale ice blue head with no supercilium, indeed no apparent head markings, an isolated beady black eye, and black bill. The body appears to be typical Male Yellow Wagtail
All the flava with blue heads are easily eliminated due to being too dark and having clean white supercilia. The only bird I can find to fit all the criteria, however unlikely, is North Mongolian Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla flava leucocephala but I am sure there is a more likely explanation
Interestingly a year later, 30.4.89 on the same excursion I found a similar group at Hanningfield which again included a Blue-headed Wagtail but this time I specifically noted a blue-grey head and white supercilium so probably a proper Blue-headed Wagtail!
Any help very much appreciated thank you