The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A visit To Woodhall Spa this afternoon with my son Alex to some traditional nesting sites of Spotted Flycatcher. We were successful in :

1. Iddesleigh Road

2. Dower House Hotel garden, Manor Road.

In Woodhall Country Park near the Lake we noted a number of Hornets as well as an enormous swarm of bees a foot or so above the ground and quite close to us (we thought it best not to stay around to count them )......plus incl.

2 Buzzards circling
2 Mistle Thrushes.

Freddy

Riseholme college
10th june 1.00pm
First spotted flycatcher noted today singing - may have been here longer but unnoticed.
Also several hornets noted in the last few days and a bee hawk moth also

Ian Birch

24 June :

Two traditional SpotFly sites were visited today in the sunny weather.

3. Doddington Hall Farm Shop - behind the complex, down the hill to the large garden on the right.
SpotFly taking insects to nest site.

4. Blackmoor Farm Cottage - off the B1190 to Doddington, c.400m down the wide field track from the productive PYO Strawberry Fields.
Pair of SpotFlys feeding young in the nest in farm outbuilding.

Freddy (with son Alex)

25 June :

A visit to the traditional Aubourn site by St Peters Parish Church c. 0930 this morning (Thu).
5. A nesting SpotFly was perching on nearby wires and gravestones. ( A successful visit in 2014 was 24 June).
............with thanks to Ben Ward for the 2015 info.

Also one vociferous Song Thrush.

Freddy

26 June :

6. Adult SpotFly on wire cable at previous nest site in Caythorpe village today (Fri).

NTR (Nothing to report) from previous years' sites in Wellingore and Fulbeck.

Also Buzzards (2) and Sparrowhawk.

Freddy (with Alex)

Blackmoor farm
Access to the strawberry fields is down 2 separate tracks which are used alternately depending on which area is being harvested. The Doddington road access takes you to a car park about 400 yards from the flycatcher area and the staff have blocked off the track that leads to it.
The Skellingthorpe access takes you right past the flycatchers. I think that this access will be used this weekend, but after that......
Cheers.
Rick

Timely advice, Rick, although on Wednesday I walked the 400 yards or so down the track to the Farm Cottage blocked to vehicular traffic.

Visitors should check out the strawberries as well as the flycatchers. Very good PYO value at £3 for a generous pannetful or £4 for a pannetful 'already picked for dozy octogenarians and their non-bending associates'.

Freddy

27 June :

This morning I paid a visit to Hill Holt Wood Norton Disney (nr. Collingham) on the Lincs/Notts border where SpotFlys nested in 2014.

7. In the area of the Office complex, I soon located an adult SpotFly going to a nest site with a beakful of insects.

I was pleased to meet up with LBC member Oliver Woodman who helps organise the running of this superb site. Oliver reckons the SpotFly chicks hatched only a few days ago.

Also : singing Chiffchaff
'Oscar' - a magnificent Peacock........worth many an admiring glance as a major star of Hill Holt Wood.

Freddy

Blackmoor Farm 9am. Raining.
Taken round the barns by a member of staff. Spent an hour there and saw no flycatchers.
They will not tolerate unaccompanied visitors and I would suggest that when the Skellingthorpe entrance is open, as it is today, you park by the pond and stay by your car. The fence in front of the farmhouse is apparently a favourite spot.
Cheers. Rick

Hi Rick,

When I called in at Blackmoor Cottage Farm last Wednesday, it soon became clear that the member of staff I spoke to had no interest at all in what a 'spotted flycatcher' was. I'm afraid the staff member you met up with took you in the opposite direction to the SpotFly nest site. The barns are to the left and to the rear of the cottage whereas the SpotFlys are nesting in a detached outbuilding near the wide grass track to the extreme right. The birds perch on the fence between the cottage and the outbuilding as well as on other fences to the right; occasionally they will even perch on the cottage's TV aerial.......but not in the rain, of course.

Last year (thanks to your info) I saw the SpotFlys.The farm owner and members of his family were quite happy to chat with me about the birds but one or two under-managers I met on one visit were less than welcoming......even intolerant, as you say.

Freddy

29 June :

In the sunny weather this afternoon, I visited a number of 'traditional' Spotted Flycatcher sites :

A. NTR (nothing to report) :
(i). Spridlington (N of Lincoln, off the A15) where in the past SpotFlys have nested in the village and in/near the churchyard.

(ii). Stow - opposite St. Mary's Church.

(iii). Brampton village (near Torksey) - there were 2 nesting sites on opposite sides of the road a few years ago.

There may well be SpotFlys nesting in the above areas but I didn't connect during my visits today.

B. Successful Visits.

8. Knaith Hall (S of Gainsborough on the A156). 2 adults flycatching from the large Yew by the church. I chatted to the local resident and his wife plus a gardener who had all been 'unaware' of the SpotFlys.

Willingham by Stow
9. Adult SpotFly repeatedly flycatching from gravestones just to the left of the churchyard entrance.

10. A pair of SpotFlys feeding from wires and roofs c.100 yards away and beyond the rear of the churchyard in a private garden. I chatted to the property resident who informed me that he had seen the 3 flycatchers earlier today. The pair we were watching together were nesting in his garden 'about 7 feet up'.
( I am sure LBC member Ian Smith knows the full details of these two SpotFly families. Ian has regularly posted flycatcher sightings at Willingham by Stow over the years )

Freddy

This morning (Sunday) I checked out some sites in the Horncastle area where Spotted Flycatchers have nested in previous years :

A. Nothing to Report :

(i). Edlington Churchyard/Edlington Hall area.

(ii). Market Stainton Village Green

B. Successful Visit :
11. Trinity Centre grounds Horncastle (former Trinity Church).

Adult SpotFly flycatching from perch near 'traditional' Scots pine nesting site. Seen later feeding one fledgeling in half-cover nearby.

Freddy

There are at least one pair of Spot flys at Hill Holt Wood (HHW) as a nest was identified a few weeks ago.
Interestingly it was sited only about six inches from where there was a nest two years ago. Five eggs were laid and at least two chicks hatched, however only 1 bird fledged. It's growth rate, being the sole survivor in the nest, was amazing.
Are Spot Flys prone to poor fledging rates? I know that last year one nest at HHW fledged 5 birds but another, by a second pair, hatched 4 chicks but they all died soon after?
Good news is that i found another site at my parents house at Aubourn, a pair feeding young in a nest in the large Wisteria on the rear of the house.
They are quite obliging, perching close by affording some good photos.
It is the first time i have noticed any since my childhood when they regularly nested in a hole/ledge in an old Pear tree in the garden.

Cheers,

Oliver

A successful tour of South Lincs today (Thu) re-visiting sites where Spotted Flycatchers had been recorded by me in 2014. In all, I had sightings today in 5 of those sites. :

12. Edenham Churchyard/Vicarage Garden. On arrival, I soon caught sight of an adult SpotFly flycatching from gravestones in the Churchyard and occasionally flying into the neighbouring Vicarage garden where it also performed from various branches and items of garden furniture.

Grimsthorpe Castle Grounds. 13. A pair of SpotFlys were flycatching from wires and roofs in the Estate Yard and regularly disappearing into a large Walnut Tree.......presumably feeding young there.

14. A further pair were flycatching from railings near the Castle and repeatedly flying into the upper branches of a tall Oak Tree.......again, presumably feeding young.

(Sadly, "The Bull" in Rippingale appears to have closed down - necessitating a drive to Folkingham for lunch.)

Dunsby. 15. Thanks to much-appreciated advance gen from Dunsby resident Hugh Dorrington, I saw an adult SpotFly with a beakful of insects land near the (known) nest site on a creepered cottage wall within one minute of my arrival.

Kirkby Underwood. 16. I had to wait a good 30 minutes on the edge of 'The Old Rectory' garden before an adult Spotfly put in an appearance.....flycatching from low shrubs.

Billingborough. I had no success with SpotFlys but there were 3 items of interest :
- a Red Kite appeared and circled low over the village green area
- a Red Admiral settled nearby.....my first of 2015
- a Tree Creeper landed on the bole of a tree closeby.

Freddy

4 Spotted Flycatcher - 2 ads. with 2 juvs. in the graveyard of St. Nicholas' Church, Grainsby.

Regards,

Josh Forrester (with Chris Atkin)

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