Spring Migrants: White Wagtail

Introducing...spring migrant blogs. Over the next few weeks I pan to do several blog posts here, which are centred on a single species each time. These will mostly be featuring spring migrant birds, which are now in abundance on the island. For my first post, I will focus on the White Wagtail. Not an entirely amazing species perhaps, but nevertheless a subtly beautiful one.

White Wagtails are a migrant subspecies of the Pied Wagtail, that breed throughout Europe but mainly just move through the UK. Thy arrive on Bardsey in mid- to late- March, and can gather in numbers approaching 40 birds on Solfach. On this sandy beach, the wagtails spend most of their time feeding on sand flies and insects amongst the seaweed and along the tide line. I spent a little while on the beach a few days ago photographing the birds as they went about their business. Here are some of the results: