A couple of hours at the dam and a brief visit to the lagoons...
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Possible Sykes's Wagtail (beema)
(better quality images on Ornisobscura flicker site)
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flava wagtail race identification is challengiing to say the least but this male wagtail is a very strong contender for Sykes's Wagtail a bird of south-east Russia and western Siberia and following a few days with a strong easterly airstream in late spring the timing couldn't be better. I have seen this race in the breeding range and this bird looks spot on it would be a long odds fluke for any hybrid such as 'channel' wagtail to look like Sykes's to this degree. The status of birds resembling Sykes's in Britain is confused with most being considered or rather dismissed as variant flavissima, 'channel' type hybrids or genetic flukes. I've checked well over a hundred pictures labelled 'Channel Wagtail' (flava x flavissima hybrid) on the web and none have quite the appearance of Sykes's as this bird most clearly does; the possibility of a genetic fluke remains of course.
The key features:
Strikingly pale grey head with non contrasting ear coverts
Short white stripe in ear coverts
Broad white supercilium (a little narrow infront of the eye perhaps)
Broad dark loral stripe reaching bill
Broad white sub moustachal stripe
white chin yellow throat
Brighter green upperparts
Looked ever so slightly larger than the local flavissimas
Call sounded somewhat more strident
Otherwise 3 Sanderling and 6 Ringed Plovers on the dam, 2 Avocets and 3 Little Egrets on the lagoons.
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