Little mover
The scientific name for the Pied Wagtail is Motacilla alba. Motacilla means ‘Little mover’ and alba means white.
This one certainly has been a little mover and groover, but it’s currently having a rest from all that tail wagging.
Delightful, aren’t they?
More Wagtails
A pied landscape Out past the beach and the relative calm of the Bay of Swartmill is a shattered and splintered landscape of… read more
Pied I love the texture of granite on the roughly-hewn stone walls of Dartmoor. This Pied Wagtail was being ruffled by… read more
Ballerina The White Wagtail is the name of the European version of our Pied Wagtail. They're not called Wagtails in Italy,… read more
Pied Wagtail Pied Wagtails are one of my favourite birds to just sit and watch. Their hypnotic tail-wagging action is a mysterious… read more
Pied piping Wagtails There's a noisy Pied Wagtail family on the River Lemon in South Devon. I'm enjoying their fluttering, wagging, calling and… read more
Dartmoor birds A lockdown lifetime ago we went to Dartmoor for a walk. I say 'a walk', but it was more an… read more
White Wagtails White Wagtails are fascinating birds. In the UK we call our darker sub-species the Pied Wagtail. Even though it's a… read more
The First Ladybird Book of British Birds – #14 The Pied Wagtail It's Day 14 of turning the pages in this 1950s Ladybird book of British Birds. "...it does like to be… read more