This week, for five days running, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park played host to the biggest flock of Yellow wagtails seen in the 20-odd years of local birding memory.

Although the park authority installed fencing, cattle yards and signage for conservation grazing a couple of years ago, no cattle have yet materialised, and the outer paddocks were once again cut, at the end of last week, so the Council can make some money selling the hay to a local farmer.

While conservation grazing would be much better for enhancing local biodiversity, this year’s hay cut coincided exactly with the time many birds were beginning their autumn migration. The field obviously had an abundance of insects and this proved perfect for the Yellow wagtails to feed up before heading south to overwinter in sub-Saharan Africa.

Usually, only one or two of these lovely little birds are seen at Cosmeston during spring and autumn migration so to have at least 36 birds counted by one local birder during his Tuesday morning visit is particularly special, as is the fact that the birds stayed around for several days.

If you’re not familiar with Yellow wagtails, the males are the bright yellow birds, the females and juveniles those with more subdued colouring. They’re very active tail-waggers, and were a joy to watch as they searched for food amongst the drying grasses.