Ashy-headed Wagtail Motacilla flava cinereocapilla
Vagrant. Italy
For many years rare wagtail subspecies were not given the attention they deserved and were not formally considered by BBRC. Lorand and Atkin (1989) describe two records of single birds recorded at Covenham Reservoir on May 4th, 1983 and May 31st, 1984 showing 'characteristics of Ashy-headed Wagtail' but details of these are not available. In the last 30 years there has been a single record of this subspecies, also at Covenham Reservoir, on April 13th, 2006 which was retrospectively submitted to BBRC and accepted (British Birds 114: 616, 2021). On the face of it, it is an extreme vagrant in Britain with just nine accepted records in the period 1950-2021, and another 'obtained' in Cornwall in 1860 (Naylor 2023). Many records will have been lost but it is clear this subspecies is a genuine rarity in Britain.
| Site | First date | Last date | Count | Notes |
| Covenham Reservoir | 12/04/2006 | 13/04/2006 | 1 | 2CY+ male |
Reference
Holt, C., French, P. and the Rarities Committee (2021). Report on rare birds in Great Britain in 2020. British Birds 114 (10): 570-628.
Naylor, KA (2023). Historical Rare Birds <https://www.historicalrarebirds.info/
(Account as per new Birds of Lincolnshire (2021), included December 2022)