One of the more frequent visitors to the edge of the downs is the pied wagtail. It's a tiny little bird and keeps low (most of the time), flitting just above the ground, often under cover of trees. It's very common, but because of its constant motion and size, plus generally staying under cover of trees, can be difficult to photograph.
I spotted a couple of them flitting across a small building site today. The area had those steel fences around it (and 'deep excavation' warnings), but it provided a perfect opportunity to photograph them from slightly closer than normal. They seemed to know they wouldn't be disturbed, and the only real issue was finding a large enough gap between the steel mesh to aim the camera. I took about 80 shots in all, many of which have quickly been discarded due to poor focus and other perennial problems of photographing black and white birds. The surviving shots are in a Pied Wagtail gallery over on my website. Here's a taster.
SittingFox
14 Jul 2007Very nice indeed! Nice crisp, clear colours. Is that a grasshopper in its beak?
Words
14 Jul 2007Adele, yes it's probably a very scrunched up grasshopper (plenty of them around at the moment), but almost impossible to identify for sure.
ALLY_G
14 Jul 2007Wonderful photo! And I guess we can wait for more, because I can read, the wagtail is your favourite bird… 🙂
Have a nice weekend. 🙂