Sadly I have no pretty pictures to show you, but here’s a nice screenshot from Google Maps showing the precise location where I spot my friends basically every day!

Grey Wagtails (as I’m sure many of you will know) are one of the worst-named birds in history. There is a logic to it, but it’s a bit crumby… There are three types of Wagtail found in the UK:

The Pied Wagtail is found in most urban areas as well as areas of the countryside. It is black and white and has a cute habit (as all three do) of bobbing its tail up and down almost incessantly as it walks around looking for little morsels to eat.

The Grey Wagtail has a very obvious differentiating feature to tell it apart from the Pied. It has a BLAZINGLY yellow chest and belly. In fact, after you notice the characteristic tail-flicking (or the equally recognisable swooping, soaring flight) and turn to look look at it it is the first thing you’ll notice. Actually, most times I see a flash of yellow and realise it is a Grey Wagtail even before I’ve focused on it!

So, why isn’t this called the Yellow Wagtail or something, then? Colour-blind ornithologists? Well, no. The Grey Wagtail does in fact have a grey back and wings – so some method to the madness. And also because of the - wait for it…

Yellow Wagtail! Yep, we have a migrant that stops over occasionally that is almost completely yellow, so I guess it has deserved the right to that name.

I love Grey Wagtails, although I like to think “-and-yellow” to myself when I mention them to people :)
The yellow on these birds is really truly gorgeous and can be best described as Lemon Curd, or maybe Buttercup. Delightful things, and so sweet in the frenetic movement as they zip over the water on secluded streams and shallow waterways, or as they perch fleetingly on rocks in the middle of a hidden river.

I get to see these charmers every so often as I take a wander down by the river in our town, or upstream near my parents-in-law’s house. I always enjoy seeing them from afar, quietly watching and trying to avoid making a noise (the wagtails, not my wife’s family!!).

On the bus I regularly catch to work I pass through the tiny village(?) of Hele, with its big factory by the water, and as the bus trundles over the bridge I always take a peep at what might be down in the shallow, rocky stream.

Then one day a few months ago I was jolly pleased as I saw this distant streak of lemon swoop down and land on one of the stones mid-stream. My eyes lit up as the 3-second viewing (time the bus takes to clear the bridge) ended and I looked around to see if anyone else had shared my happy treat. Nope. No-one looks out of those windows. Nothing seems to grab their attention in the fields, woodland and waterways of East Devon. I have completed that journey perhaps several HUNDRED times over the years and I can say that there really is never a dull day when you look out of the double-decker’s windows. (Ok, rant over!)

So the next day I looked as I crossed the same bridge, hoping that it wasn’t a one-off. No sir, not a wagtail in sight. But… ooh, look everyone (I didn’t say) there’s a Dipper! (Look it up – beautiful brown bird with a white chest).

Surprisingly I have keep up with looking out at that one particular place every journey. Over the following days I had some days with no birds in view. Then one day the next week I saw 2 Grey Waggers! Wow.

However, over the last few Summer-y weeks I have had the pleasure of watching EVERY DAY a 3-second snippet of the antics of up to 7 Grey Wagtails. All flitting, bobbing, wagging and jostling about for space on the few rocks and the parapet of the other bridge. What a delight!

Oh, and still none of the other commuters have seen them.

For those of you who read my blog regularly you’ll know that I posted a ‘guest’ article on wildaboutdevon.co.uk about the Cave Spiders I had spotted at Killerton last year, and my follow-up trip back in February.

Well I had a chance to pop back for another visit the other weekend. I took a torch and camera, and my patient wife kindly accommodated our extended stay in and around the Ice-House.

As you no doubt guessed from the title of this post, I wasn’t disappointed. There were indeed 8 adult female cave spiders on their hair-fine webs.
I find these spiders truly wonderful and beautiful. They have lovely patterning under the fine hairs on their back and they are subtlely varied. I’ve popped a whole album of photos on the Gallery page, so you can have a good look and see if you agree…
I also hope to pop a short video up soon to show you just where they were (they might move around a bit, but it should help you get an idea where to look), but I’d suggest you take a torch if you do visit, as the lights and torch provided by the National Trust often aren’t working.

I am planning to write a short Fact File for this spider to post up soon. If that goes down well I might have a go at compliling a bunch of them into an eBook. Just a thought :)

Ok, so I thought it might be worth writing something that isn’t related to spiders or the website… Good idea?

I had an afternoon off on Friday (the day before my birthday) and my wife and I visited Knightshayes Court, a National Trust property near Tiverton, Devon. The woodland gardens there are gorgeous and we spent a lovely time relaxing on a rug in a remote area and listening to the near-silence and the resulting birdsong and stillness. After a while I spotted the flitting about of a small birdy in a low tree nearby. Now I am particularly poor at identifying trees, but this one was about 10 feet tall, but widely spread over 20 feet or so and had yellow blossomy stuff all over. I guessed from the movement that the cute bird was a goldcrest, which is one of the UK’s tiniest birds at 9cm long! They are very fast moving and rarely stay still, especially when people are tramping about. It disappeared from sight.

A little while later and Susie was photographing some prettiness amongst the low-hanging branches of that tree, when I spotted movement nearby. Our visitor was back! As Susie watched it I came to join her amongst the branches and we quickly confirmed that it was indeed a goldcrest. To our amazement it was not bothered about our presence and carried on its hummingbird-like flights around the tree, bouncing and flitting between the branches collecting invisible insects with its pin-sized beak. It spiralled around the tree, in the branches beside and above us, and at times was within about 3 feet of us. It was an incredible experience that we will never forget.

After a minute or two she (I’m guessing here, the gents are identical to the lady goldcrests) finished her rounds in our tree and went off beyond our view. We couldn’t believe how close and how clear the views were. We could see every feature of this sweet and delicate bird.

We stayed in the area for a while, photographing other things, but a little while later the dear goldcrest returned. We both took some photos – Susie using our digital SLR and me with my trusty digital compact. Very tough work as her movements are almost constant and very hard to focus on. But you can see that the results were good enough to prove our story.

We had been unusually close to a wonderful bird, but in reality if you spend time in tree-ish and secluded spots and your behaviour is sensitive to your surroundings you can get views just like these.

Get out there and get spotting!

Hi guys, just a quick post to say that Denise at ‘Wild About Devon’ has just posted a short article by me about my experience meeting the Cave Spiders of Killerton.
Check it out here: http://www.wildaboutdevon.co.uk/?p=1243

Enjoy :)