Chiswick Flyover

image courtesy of RSPB, copyright of Mike Read

 One bird call I am hearing again is the 'Chiswick Flyover.' It's really the pied wagtail but I heard it referred to as the Chiswick Flyover some years ago by the late John Tully of the British Trust for Ornithology. This is because you see it pecking around on the ground, then it sees you and calls "chizzick" before it flies over your head and up on to a rooftop.

 

As you might guess from its name, it is black and white - a bit paler in winter - and has a long tail which it wags up and down much of the time.

I don't think we have recorded any pied wagtails in Filnore Woods but I have seen and heard them outside my house in Thornbury High Street, both on the pavement and on the roof ridges.

 

"Chizzick!"