Identify blue and red bird

We were driving down a country lane near Haverfordwest in South Wales and I saw a bird in the side of the road that I can't identity in our bird book. Have tried using the bird identifier and Google to no avail. It was on the ground right in the side of the road. About the size and shape of a wagtail . Vivid blue (slightly darker than a kingfisher) on the back, dark coloured tail, vivid red underpants. No other colours that I could see. Any ideas? 

  • Was it a car crash victim? I am afraid you have described kingfisher colours, so any reason why it wasn't one that had been hit by a car? (Or maybe a struggling juvenile).
  • No definitely not a kingfisher. Not electric blue and orange, more royal blue and red. Long tail like a wagtail. Most definitely still alive.
  • What were the lighting conditions?   Could it have been a Swallow?


     2013 photos & vids here

    eff37 on Flickr

  • To be fair to me, I didn't ask if it was dead. Had it been hit by a car? What was it doing in the road? Did it fly off?
  • I only saw it briefly as we were driving past. It sort of hopped up into the grass. It was quite bright sunlight so that probably intensified the colours. It didn't look injured. Very odd place to find a swallow. The thought did occur to me but I dont think it had any white on it, just completely red underpart and completely blue on top. My first thought was bullfinch but it wasn't quite the right colour or shape.
  • Think this is unsolvable. Sorry I couldn't help.
  • Could it have been a male bullfinch? This has a red underside and a dark tail. The back is grey but could appear blue-grey. It's not really wagtail shaped, though.

    If it's not that, then other very long shots might be redstart, black redstart or stonechat. If none of those either, then I'm stumped. Possibly a non-UK escaped bird?
  • Could it have been a bee eater?