Spotted flycatchers

JoulesH · #1 (**permalink**) 20-07-2009, 01:35 PM

Hi after not seeing any round here for about 4 years, I was delighted to see we have a pair of spotted flycatchers back again this summer. Anyone else seen them back again in areas recently vacant?

aeshna5 · #2 (**permalink**) 20-07-2009, 05:40 PM

I hadn't seen any this year until I visited Scotland last week when several were seen. I used to see them regularly around London, but there are now far fewer breeding birds, but I usually see the odd return passage bird in August.

teknomage · #3 (**permalink**) 21-07-2009, 06:27 AM

We had one male spotted flycatcher hanging around our house in May this year. He spent quite a lot of time peering into various holes in the house and garden walls and was completely unfazed by us sitting in the garden or going in and out of the house. I contacted a friend who lives about 30miles north of us and is involved in putting up nestboxes for spotted flycatchers in her local woods for the BTO - she gave me the relevant nest box dimensions and my partner made and sited a nest box. The flycatcher perched on it quite a bit, peered in the hole a lot, and generally continued hanging about and twittering a lot for about 3 weeks. Then he diasappeared - hopefully to fly the 30 miles north to the woodland where other flycatchers were nesting. I think his problem was the total lack of any female flycatchers here!

Oh well, maybe next year he'll return with a female and they'll use the nestbox - if the bluetits don't move in first! This is the first time I've seen a spotted flycatcher here - and I was very surprised that this one spent so long so close to the house - I've only ever seen them in woods before.

tekno.mage

Adam Cheeseman · #4 (**permalink**) 21-07-2009, 09:16 PM

Unfortunately, Spotted Flycatcher is one of those species whose national population is dropping rather rapidly.

Cheers,

Adam

JoulesH · #5 (**permalink**) 22-07-2009, 09:22 PM

That's why I was so delighted to see them and wondered if there was an increase this year or if we had just struck lucky. They are in a small spinney of trees next to our cow grazing fields - plenty of flies and good perching posts on the trees and the fence. The previous preferred site was in our old orchard - again near plenty of insects. Used to be able to watch them through the kitchen window, swiping flies from their favourite perch on an apple branch.

Crispee · #6 (**permalink**) 22-07-2009, 09:35 PM

We've had them in our garden in Suffolk every year since we moved in 15 years ago. They normally breed and raise young ok. Last year they nested in our robin box (for the first time) and all of the family quickly disappeared around fledging time (whereas we normally see the young being feed around the garden for a number of days and the adults hang around until migration). I was expecting the worst. However, a pair is back this year, although very late even for them (same ones?) not nested in the box, but have been feeding alternately in ours and neirbouring gardens. Didn't see the young, but I don't get time to study due to work commitments.

Hopefully they'll continue to make it back and breed successfully for many yers to come.

Monika · #7 (**permalink**) 23-07-2009, 06:38 PM

We, in a Yorkshire Dales village, used to have several pairs of nesting spotted flycatchers until about six or seven years ago, since then, their numbers have gradually dwindled until this year when only one pair was sighted and we are not quite sure if they nested successfully. Local conditions don't seem to have changed and we still have plenty of suitable habitat.