Having got up at the crack of dawn to run my wife Inga and an Irish girlfriend to East Midlands Airport for a holiday in the Emerald Isle, I thought I'd better have some leisurely "remains of the day" after the 4 hour return flog........until I saw Ian's post re SpotFlys arrive on the web early afternoon.
It represented another possible crack at the elusive Riseholme Spotted Flycatchers....hot off the press.....an opportunity not to be missed.
When I arrived at Riseholme, I was fortunate enough to receive on-site directions from Ian himself and I soon located the small wood to be investigated. After a certain amount of time to-ing and fro-ing, I came across Ian's 'bird wave' with much activity going on. The lower tier action was mainly restricted to Titmice (4 species) and a Tree Creeper with the upper tier providing Warblers (mainly Willow)......plus 1 adult Spotted Flycatcher and 1 juvenile seen. A woodland glade was the setting for the best of the action and facilitated identification.
So, on what must have been my 8th visit to Riseholme this summer, I finally managed to connect with Muscicapa striata. Two hours well spent.
Many thanks, Ian, for your prompt posting which allowed me to catch up with the Riseholme bird action before it all moved away.
Freddy