Having managed to carry out almost annual winter counts of roosting Pied Wagtails at Withybush, we decided to do another count there this evening. The light was not too good due to the cloudy/overcast conditions, but it was relatively calm.
As usual, many of the birds initially landed on nearby dark, moss-covered roofs and some moved around a bit between various roofs and a couple of trees before gradually starting to settle in at their usual roost location.
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| Annie managed to get a record photo of a small number heading to roost before it got too dark. The camera setting for this image was 25,000 ISO! |
Despite the gloomy conditions, we estimated that not less than 880 Pied Wagtails entered the roost during an observation period of around 30-minutes. This was our highest to date! Our previous maximum total was an estimated 780 on 27th December 2018.
It was getting too dark to properly see late arriving birds when we left our observation location, but we were aware of several on the main roof complex that had not yet entered the roost. It is likely that the total could have exceeded 900. The high roost attendance total is presumably a reflection of a good/productive 2025 breeding season.