Had a stroll this morning from Titchfield down the canal to the seafront. Very pleased to find a small flock of 17 Yellow Wagtails feeding among the first herd of cows I came across, in the field before the Haven boundary. One bird in particular was still showing plenty of Yellow.

Yellow Wagtail, Titchfield Canal Path, 6 Sep 2009

As you would expect they were feeding in very close proximity to the cows, (or possibly bullocks). At first the cows were a good 40 metres from the path, but a quick handful or two of grass and I had them ambling over to the fence.

Not the sharpest 2 photos but it does show what Yellow Wagtails do.

Fortunately the Wagtails followed the cows, as I was hoping. Every so often one or two of the cows would have a scratch on the barbed wire fence and cause it to spring noisily back into position. Each time this occurred the Wagtails would all flush and alight on a nearby fence.

Fence sitting Wagtails

After a few minutes they would then fly back into the field to re-commence feeding.

I then came across another 3 or 4 bird about half way down the path. These were in company with the small herd of all black cattle. Then just before the sluice area I found another half a dozen or so feeding among cows in a field on the west side of the path. Also noticed that plenty of Hirundines were on the wing over the Haven. Probably around 3-400 House Martins and maybe 50 or so Swallows. Again I had small numbers of Warblers on the move. Mainly Leaf Warblers but also a few Blackcaps and a single Reed Warbler. Around 8 singing Cettis, equally spaced along the path also livened up the morning.

Steve Copsey