This is a Grey Wagtail and it's a male. What is quite interesting about it and of real significance, is the pre-nuptial moult that it is undergoing.  As a breeding adult it will have a black bib, this is almost showing now, as you can see there are lots of black feathers. The black bib  will be retained until the beginning of Autumn when it will moult again and the black will be replaced by white. I had noticed today that the grey Wagtails on the brook, were moving around in pairs. We are almost in to March and breeding will begin soon. In the late summer and early Autumn last year I had seen both males and females together and then there had been territorial fights and the females departed the scene……. now they are back, well one at least.  So, it's official, spring is on the way. It is quite interesting to me to note that birds at this time of the year go through their most stressful time. They not only need to survive the cold winter but build up enough reserves to moult in to breeding plumage in the case of males. Females need to feed well enough over the winter to produce a clutch of eggs and all the stress that this entails. I will be hoping to photograph some breeding behaviour of this species over the summer.

At the brook there were further signs of Otter and a fresh spraint mound which was not as close to the water as the others I have found.

In the garden, I am glad to say that the breeding male Collared Dove is safe and today things were starting to return to normal. I watched the pair  acting normally again.