Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

My early start paid real dividends this morning and by 9.05 I had enjoyed all the protagonists at the nest site including my first fly-by Kingfisher  since I started this project, I had been wondering why I hadn't seen one yet. The most interesting occurrence of the day was the arrival of the male dipper who landed on his favoured boulder as normal.  What he didn't know was that the Grey Wagtail male was up in the nest.  He quickly exited the nest followed by the Wagtail. I wouldn't say that there was conflict at all, just a surprise for the Dipper. It wasn't long before he returned and then he was joined by the female and he displayed to her (see photo) as she landed.

Male Dipper greets the female.

The wagtails have been the main show today though with lots of parachute flights from both sexes and at one point a stranger came to join in. This caused a lot of aggravation  and much chasing and calling but afar a while the 3 became two again and the relationship was sorted. Since then I have seen both sexes in and out of the Dipper nest, at least 5 or 6 times.  The male does a little fluttery thing with his plumage as he excitedly enters the hoverhang, perhaps this is an invitation to the female to come and check it out.  It seems as though we are going to have nesting Grey Wagtails as well as Dippers which is a real result (although it hasn't happened yet).  As I sit writing this waiting for some more Dipper action I note that this is my tenth visit to this hide so far and a total of 40 hours watching so far.  It was interesting to read some comments yesterday on the DBWPS blog from someone who had visited the woods here on Saturday.. He said that he had heard two different Tawny Owls on his comparatively  short visit?  I must say, that intrigues me because in 40 hours I would have expected to hear just one at least. Am I deaf or have some people got fertile imaginations?  I quite often smile to myself when I read of other people's sightings particularly when you see specific numbers of birds.  For example,  876 Black Tailed Godwits for.  This is total poppycock in my opinion, it would be absolutely impossible to be as accurate as that with a large flock of constantly moving birds yet information like this is recorded as fact almost constantly. (rant over). Anyway back to the hide. Here are some pictures of Grey Wagtails, their breeding activity is really ramping up and they seem to be constantly chasing and displaying.  As yet I haven't seen them carrying any nesting material, but I am certain that will happen very soon.

Female wagtail (note no bib)

Male Grey Wagtail with black bib

At the end of the morning the female Diper arrived and immediately began to pluck moss from the favourite boulder.  I expected her to take it up to the nest but oddly she flew downstream with it.  Very strange behaviour, either thee is another nest or this is a distraction/devensive ploy.  I hope the later is the case.  It would be odd I am sure if they were both coming and going to this nest but building another nest nearby.  I am sure that I will find out sooner or later. Finally one of the pair, or even a third Dipper arrived on the waterfall and I managed a flight shot at last. A bit more work needed.