Checking on LBC reports (and additional bird websites), and speaking to other LBC members, it appears that this year Spotted Flycatchers are even thinner on the ground/in the trees than last year.
Stimulated by David Morison's 3 photos of Fulbeck Spotted Flycatchers yesterday, I decided to take the bull by the horns, so to speak.
Today (Mon) I toured around the Lincoln area checking on 5 'traditional' sites where Sp.Flys have nested or been suspected of nesting in the last 5 years or so :
Riseholme College Churchyard area - NTR (nothing to report)
( Lindsey Hall Gdns- gardener gave me duff gen. - the nesting Sp. Flys turned
out to be nesting Chaffinches)
Stow - St. Mary's Church area -SUCCESS!
Nesting pair on the same creepered wall as 2009, presumably with young (from the rapid frequency with which flies were being brought in).I didn't approach the nest for obvious reasons.
Willingham-by-Stow Churchyard - NTR
Aubourn Hall area - NTR (and where a barrier just off the main road now prevents one driving to the Church area).
Waddington Churchyard - NTR
I saw no Sp.Flys in the NTR areas above; the birds could be there but, after a reasonable amount of checking time, I didn't see them.
That leaves me with one further location to check out later in the week - in the Doddington Hall area where Richard Gunn and I found nesting birds in 2009.
Have other LBC members had better luck with Spotted Flycatchers this year?
Regards,
Freddy
It more than compensated for the recent Greetwell Hollow disappointment. Thanks again Stuart .......much appreciated!