I arrived home from Linwood Warren at 3.00pm (updated post soon) and saw Andy's 1.00pm post. After a quick snack I was off again......to Swanpool.
I arrived there at c.3.45 and within 5 minutes I was watching a Spot Fly performing at the N end of the Copse, just S of the Catchwater Drain bridge as indicated by Andy. It was very active and favoured a stout c.20 foot-high Oak sapling as its main perching tree.
Some 20 minutes later as it was perched there between feeding forays, it was joined by a 2nd Spot Fly which perched within a couple of feet. Subsequently, there was a lot of Spot Fly activity around the N end of the Copse, more than enough perhaps for 2 birds. Sure enough, checking out some movement around the top of a straggly Crabapple Tree, I saw 3 Spot Flys preening......fortunately, they all stayed perched for a few minutes so that I could check that there were indeed 3.
I stayed around until 5.00pm. Many thanks, Andy, for the tip-off . Swanholme Spot Flys these last 8 - 10 days must now be well into double figures.
Freddy