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It is several years since I last saw a spotted flycatcher in Lincolnshire, but I watched birds (including pairs) at several locations on holiday last year in Northumberland (the Cheviots).
Might this be because flycatchers are highly specific in the type of flies they eat and feed to their young (in the same way that some seabirds depend alamost entirely on sandeels)?
By contract with Lincolnshire, there is very little (if any) large-scale cereal/ vegetable growing in the Cheviots and thus no requirement for extensive spraying with insecticides.
Has there been any analysis of the type of fly - or range of fly types - favoured by the spotted flycatcher?
Is it possible that these flies have been largely (or totally) killed off by agricultural chemical activity, resulting in the sad decline of the flycatcher population in Lincolnshire?
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