Lady Jane Grey Wagtail

Not quite as springlike in Essex today, though the sky was beautifully blue this morning.

As I walked near the boilerhouse I heard that familiar chisick call. Bill Oddie has dubbed wagtails Chiswick Flyovers. Fantastic! Christian and Lady Jane Grey, my grey wagtails, are back. It is known that they often return to the same nesting sites. I got a macho pic of Christian, dapper in his dark bib, against the blue.

I photographed Lady Jane against the light, which I think accentuates her femininity. As it is International Women's Day I thought I'd post her. I think she is the most elegant, dainty, delicate, graceful bird. Greys have the longest tails of all the wagtails, which improves their agility for catching insects on the wing. There isn't a proven contemporary portrait of poor Lady Jane Grey, who was beheaded at about sixteen or seventeen years old. In the Streatham portrait painted some years later she is depicted as a pale slender woman, not unlike my bird.

Bit worried about Kes, who I saw this morning. A kestrel will take a wagtail. :(