Grey Wagtail

This was a surprising bird to see this morning. It was not down by the stream as might be expected but was finding insects to feed upon on a piece of land that had been under flood water the day before. This is possibly the most inappropriately named European bird. My attention was first drawn to a flash of black and white, and although this was only a glance, something about the shape made me immediately aware that it was not simply another chaffinch. The bird had flown up into a blackthorn and as it returned to the ground to feed, I was able to observe it in its full splendour of vivid yellow underparts and soft grey upper parts.
Later in the day I heard the skylark singing once more over the rape fields below the North Downs, whilst wherever I go I seem hardly to be without the soft whistle of the bullfinch, a bird that seems to be more plentiful than has been the case for some years.