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TWO WAGTAILS

White Wagtail, Pendle Hill CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LIGHTBOX

WHITE WAGTAIL, PENDLE HILL, 1 MAY 2021 

Looking closely at the White Wagtails (that is both subspecies White Wagtail (nominate alba) and Pied Wagtail (yarrellii)) that occur in East Lancashire quickly shows that they vary quite a lot. While the bird on the short turf just above the gate to Pendle Hill (Phil Larkin tells me ‘Pen-dle Hill’ literally means ‘Hill-hill Hill’!) on 1 May looked to have a pale mantle, pale flanks and a fairly sharply demarcated black cap so therefore a White Wagtail right? Yes, of course but I was interested to rule out an intergrade alba/yarrelli and I also remembered there can be some overlapping features, so, without being able to recall all the details, I took some photos and checked them later to Adriaens, Bosman & Els’s paper ‘White Wagtail and Pied Wagtail: a new look’ published in Dutch Birding in 2010, which is the current standard reference. It shows there is more to them than a glance at the identification features mentioned in such as the Collins Bird Guide. Here’s what I think of this bird.

Age/Sex

First of all, it is still in pre-breeding moult so it is scruffy and that ruffled black-centred (adult) greater covert means I can’t see if the outer ones are really brownish or not. The primaries are covered in all photos too. So, it could be an adult or a first summer. I’d be interested to hear from someone who looks at them regularly if there’s anything you can see here that clinches the age. The black cap looks to have a sharp border with the grey mantle, which suggests it is a male.

Subspecific Identification

Here’s an assessment using Adriaens, Bosman & Els’s eight characters. So, a White Wagtail, Motacilla alba alba, and the scores for characters A, F & G lean towards a western i.e. Icelandic bird, as expected. After all it was in good company with lots of other Iceland-bound birds in East Lancs this weekend like wheatears and whimbrels so this wouldn’t be a surprise.

Character A: Kodak grey value of rump (measured in palest parts only)

10 (between the second pair of tertials), putting it comfortably within the range of alba (western 9-14 and eastern 8-13) and outside yarrellii (13+) with some margin for error both in the lightness and artefacts in the image [The area between the third pair of tertials is the darker uppertail coverts]. This area of the rump is typically darker than the rest of the mantle/scapulars in White Wagtail (alba).

Character B: Kodak grey value of scapulars

7, within the range of alba (7-11) and outside that of yarrellii (10-18).

Character C: Kodak grey value of mantle

7, within the range of alba (7-12) and outside that of yarrellii (10-18).

Character D: Estimated amount (%) of black on mantle and scapulars

<5%. However, difficult to assess from these images, the dark-looking feathers on the mantle are sometimes ignored as artefacts but there look to be at least 3 feathers with some dark markings on the LHS of the mantle.

Characters E & F: Kodak grey value of and extent of dark wash on flanks

Kodak grey value: 7, within the range of alba (1-10) and outside that of yarrellii (9-16).

Extent of dark wash on flanks: 1 (eastern alba 17%, western alba 44%, yarrellii 37%). This is a three point scale only (0,1 & 2).

Character G: Number of dark spots on belly

Zero. As in 96% of alba. ‘The presence of several (>1) distinct, isolated dark spots on the belly seems to be a fairly good indication of yarrellii, and it is therefore surprising that this character is apparently not described anywhere in literature.’

Character H: Length of white wedge on inner web of t5

Not visible on any photos.

White Wagtail, Pendle Hill (difficult to say if the, mostly concealed, outer greater coverts or the primaries are brownish)

White Wagtail, Pendle Hill (the darker grey rump is just visible between the middle tertials)

PIED WAGTAIL, ALSTON RESERVOIRS, 1 MAY 2021

Applying the same set of criteria to a Pied-looking bird at Alston later in the morning, maybe associated with a mini fall of Greenland-type wheatears and Whinchats, it was interesting to have a closer look at it too.

Pied Wagtail, Alston Reservoirs (the brownish primaries and outer greater coverts show this is a first summer but the mantle and scapular base colour is still just within the range for alba!)

Age/Sex

The photos I managed of this one, also in pre-breeding moult, showed a definite first summer bird, with brownish primaries and outer greater coverts contrasting very clearly with the black centred new inner greater coverts. It is not possible to separate males and females with certainty in spring. Interestingly its tertial moult is asymmetric with only two new feathers, the outer ones and both in the left wing, the rest are worn and brown. I had no idea they did this, I would have guessed moult would be symmetric.

Subspecific Identification

Another patchy bird that I find difficult to assign a Kodak grey value to areas like the mantle and it’s interesting to see that White Wagtails (alba) can have quite dark mantle, scapulars and flanks, as well as the extent of the grey on the flanks. However, the most heavily pro-yarrellii features, outside the range for alba, are A&D (the almost jet-black rump, not just the uppertail coverts, plus the extent of black spotting on the mantle) and there are no features outside the range of yarrellii, so it is a Pied Wagtail. Probably wasting time looking at it as deeply as this but it was interesting to read that a very few alba and yarrellii can look more similar than you might think in spring and that’s even before we get to intergrades, that for instance can have a light mantle outside the range of pure yarrellii but a jet-black rump that rules out pure alba!

Character A: Kodak grey value of rump (measured in palest parts only)

18 (between the second pair of tertials (the first pair would usually be longer of course)), at the extreme end of the range for yarrellii and miles out of range of alba. Jet-black at the end of the scale is 19.

Character B: Kodak grey value of scapulars

11, just within the range of yarrellii (10-18) but also within that of alba (7-11).

Character C: Kodak grey value of mantle

11, just within the range of yarrelli (10-18) but also within that of alba (7-11). Adriaens, Bosman & Els’s write ‘The results may suggest a broad area of overlap around Kodak 10- 11 between yarrellii (53%) and western alba (70%)’.

Character D: Estimated amount (%) of black on mantle and scapulars

c.30%. Majority of black markings on the upper mantle decreasing towards the lower mantle. Well outside the maximum for alba (10%).

Characters E & F: Kodak grey value of and extent of dark wash on flanks

Kodak grey value: 11, just outside the range of alba (1-10) but within that of yarrellii (9-16).

Extent of dark wash on flanks: 2 (eastern alba 0% western alba 20%(!) yarrellii 60%)

Character G: Number of dark spots on belly & Character H: Length of white wedge on inner web of t5

Not visible on any photos.

Pied Wagtail, Alston Reservoirs (the dark markings in the mantle are not within range for alba. It has two new black-centred tertials in the left wing and the moult contrast in the greater coverts is very obvious with the black centred new inner feathers and the brownish outer older generation feathers. It also has less white on the forehead than typical alba)

Pied Wagtail, Alston Reservoirs (an almost jet-black rump is visible ruling out alba. The dark grey wash on the flanks is probably just outside the range of alba but the extent of it is still just within)

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SPRING MIGRATION RESUMES IN THE RIBBLE VALLEY

A big, bold female Northern Wheatear at Alston is no doubt on its way to somewhere far to the northwest of here.

AFTER A COUPLE OF WEEKS OF COLD NORTHERLIES AND FROSTS, as soon as the wind veered to the southeast, spring bird migration picked up again and new arrivals started to appear locally. Although wheatears were spotted on both Gannow Fell and at Alston in March, these were local/UK-breeding birds and the birds appearing on passage migration now are heading much further northwest to Iceland, Greenland and maybe even beyond? One such bird was on the stone bank of Alston No.#1 Reservoir on 23 April, where there was also a Lesser Whitethroat singing nearby. Another bird passing through Ribchester on 24 April (maybe Iceland-bound?) was a White Wagtail on the riverbank opposite Churchgates, see photo below. Cuckoo and Common Sandpiper were back in their usual spots on Friday 23 April, an early hobby was seen circling over Lower Alston Farm and Glynn Anderton saw a swift on Stoneygate Lane, both on 25 April. There was another swift on the same day at Alston but the rarest migrants locally were more Yellow Wagtails, flying north, calling, over Gannow Fell on 24 April and at Alston on 26 April. However, we are still waiting for House Martin, Spotted Flycatcher, Common Whitethroat, Garden and Sedge Warblers around the village so there are still plenty of spring migrants to look for. By the way I don’t intend to post locations for breeding birds from now but if you are a local birder and need help seeing something then please DM me.

The whimbrel roost at Alston is one of the highlights of the birding year as northbound birds (again probably heading for Iceland) spend a few days staging in meadows of the lower Ribble Valley. The evening of 24 April saw a new record of 147 birds, watched from the central screen along Pinfold Lane. Apart from a handful of early evening birds, the main arrival from the surrounding fields is usually just after sunset and is a sight and sound to behold. The Lancashire synchronised count on the evening of 25 April totalled 1294, with an awesome 488 at Barnarce! Alston scored a very respectable 141. There will be another synchro-count on 2 May. Up to three gorgeous breeding-plumaged Black-tailed Godwits (of Icelandic origin) were at Alston in recent days, along with three golden plovers on 23 April, also in breeding plumage. These were northern birds, a couple of them with solid jet black faces. Golden-spangled beauties headed far away from here. Looking ahead, the showers on Tuesday will probably ground an interesting shorebird or two at Alston and the next couple of weeks is usually the best period of the spring for them here.

Winter visitors are not quite all gone though! Phil Larkin photographed a late Whooper Swan over the river from ‘The Tush’ very early on 25 April!

White Wagtail, Ribchester 24 April. ‘White Wagtail and Pied Wagtail: a new look’ by Peter Adriaens, Davy Bosman & Joris Elst is a good reference and this bird looks to have a Grey Scale score of c7 on its scapulars and flanks putting it comfortably lighter and outside the range for subspecies yarrellii (i.e. Pied Wagtail) and a score of 0/1 for the extent of grey on the flanks, which strongly suggests White Wagtail but does not completely rule out Pied. The head pattern is spot on for a male White Wagtail though with a very sharp demarcation of the black hood and grey mantle and a large gap between the black on the sides of the neck. The rump can’t be seen clearly in my photos so is of no use either way but without seeing the rump I can’t completely rule out an intergrade.

Whimbrels coming in to roost at Alston Wetland

Whimbrel motion blur at Alston Wetland

Two of the northern European Golden Plovers at Alston

And the winner of unnecessary sign of the week is…

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RETURN TO PENDLE

A steady passage of northern golden plovers across Pendle Summit was the highlight of my first visit since last May. Check those black faces!

THE MOURNFUL CALLS OF GOLDEN PLOVERS ECHOED ACROSS PENDLE SUMMIT this morning. As well as a song-flighting, local breeding bird there was a steady movement of goldies heading northeast off the summit just after dawn. I haven’t seen anything like this before. Just the occasional party but never a continuous movement of birds. They all appeared to be black-faced northern birds as well, flying uphill to the summit from the Ogden Clough direction and obviously bound for somewhere far away from here. The largest single group was 13 birds but most parties were only five or six. The movement had stopped by 0800 and totalled 127 by that time. This more than made up for failing to find any dotterel on what would have almost a certainty 15 years on this date in light SSE winds. There is plenty of time yet this soring of course. Also on Pendle were four wheatears and a few Red Grouse of note and below the hill I only saw one displaying lapwing but at least there is still a Tawny Owl in its usual spot.

Unfortunately the hill is in a bad way these days. The new ‘mega path’ is eroding already (hardly surprising considering its design) and the walk to the summit now looks more like a dual carriageway is being built up there. The way the beautifully weathered gritstone was treated during the works was a disgrace with caterpillar tracked vehicles driven over the ‘mini-Cairngorms’ area that was once a favourite spot for dotterel and now the rocks below the landslide trail have been smashed up during recent repair work. There is more litter than there used to be, including face masks (a new phenomenon) and dog shit bags (on old one). There is now even a stall selling snacks by the Pendleside stile. While new folks wanting to visit might still enjoy Pendle, those who had been before the ‘improvement’ works will be shocked by the sad state of the hill now. On a brighter note I haven’t seen the grass as short on the summit for many years and there is plenty of dotterel habitat away from the hideous pathways.

Badly eroded ‘road’ to the summit. What ever were they thinking of?

Mega path showing signs of wear already

Recent repairs now include a pipe under the path

Unsightly smashed up gritstone blocks on the landslide (old weathered ones to the rear and right).

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ALSTON OSPREY

18 April Alston Osprey collage

2021 ELOC OSPREY NO. #3 FOR ME flew over Alston Reservoirs this evening at 1853–1902. It makes a nice change from missing them, which is what I normally do, however, I have made more effort than usual this spring. It was lucky that I turned around and scanned to the south from the central screen when I did, so I picked it up flying in from way to the south. This allowed enough time for Gavin Thomas to scramble and intercept it as it flew from no.#1 reservoir and crossed to no. #2, before pausing to hover briefly and then continue away over the town. I wouldn’t mind a closer osprey this spring but it is always a thrill to see one on migration. Gav tells me they detour to take a look in each reservoir without fail as they fly north over the site. It was getting quite late in the day and we wondered where it might roost this evening.

The rest of the evening’s birding at Alston was fun with highlights the nine whimbrels that flew in to roost with 38 curlews after sunset. A lovely sight and sound although it was all curlew song rather than piping whimbrels. A drake shelduck flew in too and four shovelers were present - more new 2021 5km-from-home-list birds! Other birds on the wetland included a Great Black-backed Gull, nine teal, two Tufted Duck, two snipe and Little Ringed Plovers and three redshanks. Five Goosander was apparently a recent peak count and a flock of 58 Fieldfares was in the trees that line the fields to the south of Pinfold Lane. Spring migration through the ELOC area is always an anjoyable time of year!

Curlews at dusk with a few early whimbrels

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