Pied Wagtail

This autumn Chris and Kate travelled to Weymouth to visit a large roost of wagtails who have taken up residence in a ferry terminal car park.

More about the species

Wagtails have distinctive black and white plumage and long tails. Their characteristic habit of bobbing the tail up and down has given them their name but they also make a unique sound by snapping their beaks.

Two subspecies of wagtail have been recorded in the UK: the more common pied variety with a black rump, and the rarer and paler white wagtail.

Pied wagtails are year-round residents in southern areas of the UK but some breed in the uplands and migrate south in the winter, even crossing the channel. White wagtails tend to pass through the UK in the autumn on their migration to southern Europe and Africa.

Although they usually forage individually, wagtails tend to gather at dusk to roost together, most likely for warmth as well as safety. The largest known roost recorded was in a Kentish reedbed and had about 5000 individuals, and the longest recorded period of residency was 30years.

Recorded roosts of wagtails have been in car parks, sewerage plants, reservoirs and old buildings.