On Wednesday I was walking down Church Street in Brighton and there were lots of small birds squabbling about in the tops of some young London Planes (trees). I watched them for a bit and tried to work out what they were. They were small and had white breasts. I thought maybe they were tits of some kind but they seemed slightly too big. Unfortunately I didn’t have my binoculars to look more closely and I was late for a dinner with Rose and her parents so I left the little birds arguing over whatever they were arguing about. I saw Miranda. I don’t think she noticed the squawky cacophony.
Today I went back to the London Planes. I brought my binoculars with me this time. I went at six o’clock as the sun was setting, the same time as the other day and I could hear them as I walked down the hill so I excitedly got my binoculars out.
Rose’s dad said they might have been housemartins, but they were the wrong shape; they had long tails and they didn’t have the same aeroplane wings as housemartins. No, they were wagtails, loads of them, probably about fifty maybe. They’re called Pied Wagtails, because they're black and white and they always walk about wagging their long tails. Pretty little monochrome birds.
Were they migrating? Were they stopping off in the trees to rest before moving on?
The RSPB website says wagtails often gather in roosts in city centres, and that they are residents all year round, so they aren’t migrating birds. Just a coincidence I suppose, that I noticed them flocking about in the autumn, at migration time. They were probably gathering together to be safe and warm.
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