Motacilla alba yarelli – SIGLEN FRAITH – Breeding resident and passage migrant
In general, the largest counts of Pied Wagtails are usually at winter roosts, which can be in natural areas such as reedbeds, and man-made urban sites that provide some degree of warmth. These can sometimes hold over 600 birds. There was a roost of 600-1,000 in gorse at Martletwy, Pembrokeshire, between January and March 1935, and in more recent times roosts at Teifi Marshes have regularly held over 100 birds, and several hundred have used Withybush Hospital in Haverfordwest each winter.
Outside the winter months such gatherings are unusual, but may represent pre-migration staging posts and often include white wagtails along with the pieds. The largest gathering recorded in Pembrokeshire was 1,000 birds, were at the Gulf Refinery, Pembroke, on 18 May 1998.
The following tables show the counts for each site, compiled from the Pembrokeshire Bird Reports, Graham Rees’s Archive of records, and the Pembrokeshire Bird Sightings Blog.
Goodwick/Fishguard Harbour reedbed
Year | Month | Count |
1988 | Aug | 100 |
1988 | Dec | 50 |
1989 | Oct | 60 |
1992 | Aug | 30 |
2003 | Aug | 162 |
Teifi Marshes reedbed
Year | Month | Count |
1996 | Sep | 50 |
2009 | Mar | 100 |
2009 | Nov | 100 |
2012 | Mar | 20 |
2013 | Apr | 80 |
2014 | Aug | 50 |
2016 | Mar | 128 |
2016 | Jan | 60 |
2017 | Apr | 100 |
2019 | Jan | 120 |
Tenby Marshes reedbed
Year | Month | Count |
1930 | Aug | 100 |
1930 | Sep | 300 |
1984 | Dec | 107 |
Haverfordwest/Withybush buildings
Year | Month | Count |
1984 | Oct | 106 |
1986 | Oct | 200 |
2017 | Dec | 420 |
2018 | Dec | 780 |
2019 | Dec | 650 |
2020 | March | 100 |
2021 | Jan | 550 |
Other roost sites
Year | Month | Count | Place | Habitat |
1935 | Jan-Mar | 600-1000 | Martletwy | Gorse |
1984 | Sep | 350 | Texaco Jetty | Industrial |
1984 | Sep | 60 | Stackpole | Maize field |
1994 | Mar | 50 | Nevern Bridge | Reedbed? |
1996 | Sep | 150 | Gann | ? |
1996 | Sep | 53 | Tegryn | ? |
1998 | May | 1000 | Gulf refinery | Industrial |
1998 | Sep | 70 | St Davids School | Sub-urban |
1998 | Mar | 30 | Stackpole | Reedbed |
1999 | Sep | 75 | Pembroke Millpond | ? |
2000 | Sep | 150 | Llys-y-fran | ? |
2020 | Aug | 50 | Picton Ferry | on a boat! |
2020 | Sep | 40 | Winterton | Reedbed |
References:
BTO website
LOVEGROVE R, WILLIAMS G, WILLIAMS I. 1994. Birds in Wales. T & A. D. Poyser, London