The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A walk home from work after getting a puncture was my best walk home yet!!

Walking down a footpath I noticed a small brown bird, spotted flycatcher came to mine with no camera or bins with me I couldn't see very well I walked towards the bird and it flew off, confused and excited I carried on walking and the bird flew into a tree very close and was delighted to see a spotted flycatcher infront of me! A new village tick for me

So I quickly went home and returned with my camera, the light was terrible but still any shot of a spotted flycatcher is good in your village. On returning I noticed a huge amount of activity all kinds of small birds were feeding in the treetops and in the bushes. In all i saw some good birds.

2 Spotted Flycatcher
1 Red kite over new village tick
1 Lesser whitethroat
1 Chiffchaff
1 Bullfinch (Juvinielle)
1 Kingfisher
4 Whitethroat
12 Chaffinch
1 Wren
1 Robin
2 Greenfinch
2 Blue tit
1 Great tit

All in all a very good hour

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http://anthonybentleywildlifephotography.blogspot.com/

UK life list 310 (Harlequin Duck)
Lincolnshire List 246 (Puffin)
Village (Brigsley) list 99 (Shelduck)

Thanks Anthony

Anthony,
Brigsley really is very well placed in " Spotted Flycatcher country ", especially now that you have located them in the village area itself.
Nearby you have

to the West, Hatcliffe with your recent report of a family group there

to the South-West, Swinhope with 2 pairs reported (1 pair feeding young) in early July

to the South, Beesby (just East of Wold Newton) with 2 reported territories in late June

to the East, Tetney with an adult feeding a young bird only recently.

........and all those Spotted Flycatcher locations within c. 5 miles of Brigsley, constituting a remarkable concentration considering that some large suitable and well-watched areas in Lincolnshire have had no Spotted Flycatcher reports at all this year.....eg. Whisby NR and Chambers Farm Wood, to name but two.

The 4 concentrated Spotted Flycatcher hotspots in Lincolnshire this summer have been :

a. RAF Waddington
b. Woodhall Spa
c. Brigsley area.
d. Fulletby area with reports from Fulletby itself and from 'nearby' Market Stainton - Edlington - Farforth - Oxcombe - Ruckland.

The " wider Lincoln area " has also performed well with reports from

Wellingore - Thursby - Doddington - Riseholme - Fillingham - Willingham by Stow - Brampton.

Freddy

Freddy

That there have been no Spotted Flycatcher records at Whisby NP so far this year is unfortunately not unusual. We only average about 2 records a year, always involving autumn migrants. Although this seems odd as the they might be expected to occur as a breeding species, there would appear to be something ecologically missing in terms of habitat requirement and therefore it would appear that at present Whisby is not currently 'suitable' as a breeding site. I would welcome any ideas as to why this might be!

Cheers

Grahame

Grahame,
Your post raises a very interesting point......why, indeed, are Spotted Flycatchers not a breeding species at Whisby NR ?.....and what could be ecologically missing ?, you say. Well from my regular observations of Spotted Flycatchers this summer, I would say that nothing appears to be missing. After all, the basic requirements for Spot Flys to nest ( other than a suitable open-fronted nestbox) are so often a broken branch/broken trunk area of a tree plus a plentiful supply of insects.....and those conditions must be replicated all over Whisby NR, and all over Chambers Farm Wood, too.

'Thinking outside the box' for a moment, perhaps there is nothing missing but is there something added.....but what ? The immediate answer to my mind is .....Nightingales. However outrageous it may sound ( no pun intended), could it be that Spotted Flycatchers ( for whatever reason ) do not stay to nest in areas already occupied by earlier-arriving Nightingales loudly proclaiming their territorial rights ? That would apply to both Whisby and Chambers Farm Wood. However, if the two species happily co-exist further south in England, that would scupper that idea !

Perhaps other members have less unusual suggestions.

Freddy

Freddy, Grahame et al!!

Freddy.

After his epic winter peregrination after the elusive!!, Waxwing, evolved into the Sfly hunter extordinaire for the summer and has raised some interesting questions!!

Following the thread it beg's the thought!

What is ideal Sfly habitat according to the books? or not! Is there an ideal habitat, nowadays?

I used to be able to watch them from my front window on the NE corner of Lincoln to about 30 ft in 2001 and even closer views in a friend's garden 75yards away, I could watch down to 3ft in the 60s though in my dad's greenhouse!!.

The habitat and neighbours have not changes but what has??

RAF Waddington has been the same.

I have struggled the past couple of years, have normally only found them after the airshow in the same areas but much reduced number of territories/birds compared to late May/early June as in previous years! Last year, only a single bird after the airshow, none before!

This year with the help of Freddy Johnson and Matt Strahan, we have managed to tie down 6/8 breeding territories and unable to confirm 2 more. My last Sfly on Waddington was the 4th of August and on fri 19th, Freddy and myself visited all the sites, we had found Sfly's and found none!!!!, this beg's lots of other questions!! . In previous years, I would find the juv Sfly's and a couple of adult's, teaching them the mysteries of life! in the barren wastes of the airfield, where they used to burn the aircraft for the fire crews to practice on and regularly end up with a dozen or more giving me an excellent flying display.

The same follows for Yellow wagtail, this time of years on the golf course, I would regularly find 80 juvs. On thurs 18th 28 juvs, fri 19th 18juv &1 adult and that is a major improvement over the last couple of years, when I have struggled to reach over 5.

So, folk's lets keep this one running and see, what we come up with???

All the best

Brian.

Could it be that the population has decreased due to survival rates following fledging and prior to the first breeding season. If there was a decrease in population for whatever reason presumably they would occupy the most productive habitats first, it may be that Spotted Flycatchers would occupy Whisby if the population was healthy but it may just not be their first choice.

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www.nickclayton.co.uk