Garth Peacock
A Large Dung Heap

Archive

West Norfolk 30th April

Wednesday 6th May 2026

Water Voles at Fowlmere RSPB

Monday 4th May 2026

What's showing at Fowlmere RSPB

Wednesday 22nd April 2026

Thetford Forest

Friday 17th April 2026

A Grafham Wagtail-fest.

Thursday 9th April 2026

A couple of hours or so locally

Sunday 5th April 2026

A trip around my home county

Friday 3rd April 2026

The Norfolk coast.

Tuesday 31st March 2026

Grafham Water and Willow Tree Fen

Wednesday 25th March 2026

Welney WWT and area

Tuesday 17th March 2026

A lucky visit to Fen Drayton Lakes

Thursday 19th February 2026

A rainy day in West Norfolk

Sunday 15th February 2026

Abberton Reservoir Essex

Friday 23rd January 2026

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Sunday 23rd June 2013

Having been informed by a friend of a place where Yellow Wagtails were coming in to feed, last Friday, I made my way to the side of a large dung heap in the middle of a rape field. The heap was not high but probably 15 to 20 metres across so I parked up the car next to it and waited to see what happened.

The first and regular visitor was a juvenile Starling coming quite close but rather strangely, totally on its own instead of in the usual noisy flock.

Several Pied Wagtails called to feed on the invertebrates, never staying long. Obviously taking food back to young in a nearby nest.

A pair of Yellow Wagtails came in to feed but stubbornly stayed at the far side of the heap, just out of range of my 500 lense. They were also feeding young and I could follow their flight to locate the nest sited in the middle of the rape field.

The weather was very changeable, from cloudy bright to very overcast and it was when it was at its darkest that one male Yellow Wagtail came close enough for a couple of images worth keeping.

This site must be worth a further visit when the sun is shining - I will keep it in mind for the immediate future to see if I can manage any better shots as Yellow Wagtails must be one of our most attractive summer visitors.