Yellow Wagtails flocking back into Britain

Photo: Frebeck

YELLOW WAGTAIL

Motacilla flava

Derwent May, writing in The Times, in Britain, this week, say that Yellow Wagtails are the latest spring migrants flocking back into Britain.   They are slim, lively birds and are bright yellow underneath, all the way from their throats to beneath their tails.   Their tails are a little shorter than other wagtails, but they wag it up and down in the same way.   They run about in the fields around the legs of cows, sheep, and this month, the last lambs, picking up insects they have disturbed.   The French call them

'bergeronnettes' - little shepherdesses.   They will nest  in meadows and bean fields.

Please comment if you wish.

BarrytheBirder