The Lincolnshire Bird Club

A single adult spotted flycatcher this afternoon (31st July) at Lawn Woods LWT reserve nr Castle Bytham. This was my 4th visit to the site to check for spotted fly's - one of my (former) reliable breeding sites - with the 1st three being unsuccessful. So was this bird there all along and I missed it/them?? No sign/evidence of breeding. Vin

Vin, a few comments on the questions you posed in your earlier post today (Fri).

- if your 3 former visits were roughly evenly spaced (say, in June/July) in reasonably fine weather, then it seems unlikely that SpotFlys were breeding in the Lawn Woods LWT Reserve this year.....otherwise at some stage you would have seen plenty of activity as the parent birds fed the young in the nest.

- further, your 4th visit produced no evidence of adults feeding juveniles.

- your single adult today could be one of a pair which failed to breed or one of a post-breeding pair BUT clearly away from your visited site. In the cicumstances, SpotFlys move around and pairs for whatever reason can separate as they do. The literature tells us that some juveniles may be left to fend for themselves after a week or two with the adults, perhaps in the relative safety of well-foliaged tree tops.

- what is now most interesting in the Spotfly calendar is the August/September phenomenon whereby multiple family groups - including independent juveniles - meet up prior to migration in traditional sites, some of which are not recorded as SpotFly breeding sites. I have seen many such gatherings, which can reach double figures on occasions, in Lincolnshire at :

Hubbard's Hills
Baumber Churchyard
Linwood Warren LWT Reserve
Fillingham Cowfields
Swanpool Cowfields.

Does any LBC member have details of other Lincs post-breeding/pre-migration gathering sites?

Freddy

Sat 1st August

Torksey Churchyard, Brampton and Willingham by Stow Churchyard

A successful afternoon today (Sat) except for the first site visited, despite the occasional shower.

a. Torksey Churchyard - a site where SpotFly have been recorded earlier in the summer but today it was NTR.

b. En route to a recommended site in the centre of nearby Brampton village, I came across a group of SpotFlys flycatching from road and garden wires and roadside trees........about two thirds of the way between the Golf Club and the centre of the village.
26. Having pulled over and parked, I checked out 2 adults and 3 juveniles. I must have watched them for c.30 minutes as they flew around the same general area - with the juveniles being occasionally fed by the adults. The juveniles were also 'practising' flycatching and they came very close to me, perching on wires just a few feet away.
- re the recommended site in the centre of the village....it was NTR, BUT perhaps the SpotFlys I had just seen were from this site but moving on.

c. Willingham by Stow Churchyard. (revisit)
Nothing seen for some 20 minutes or so.
27. Then I found 2 adults flycatching from the ridge tiles of the Church - the first time I've seen SpotFlys up there. One disappeared; the other flew across the Churchyard and perched for a minute or so in the upper bare branches of a tree on the boundary of the large garden next door. It then flew into the garden out of sight. I didn't notice any juveniles around the area, although they have been reported recently.

Also Red Admiral and Holly Blue.

Freddy

Thu 6th August

Spridlington area (off A15 N of Lincoln)

I received a pm yesterday evening from LBC member Colin Scott. He had returned from birding in the Spridlington area where he had come across no fewer than a total of 22 Spotted Flycatchers in separate neighbouring groups in a wooded area overlooking fields and mature hedges.

We arranged to cover the whole area again early afternoon today (Thursday).
28. Some of the SpotFlys had moved on, perhaps deeper into the wood, but in our walk around we still recorded at least 12 SpotFlys. Brilliant! - and yet another Lincolnshire area for post-breeding/pre-migration group gatherings.
Also seen : Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, 9 Yellow Wagtails, Buzzard.
Thanks, Colin, for the lead, your company and your sharp eyesight.

En route home to BBH, I called in at the Fillingham Cowfields - another Lincs post breeding/pre-migration gathering area for Spotted Flycatchers. There was NTR in Field 1 (a favourite SpotFly area) and, further to a prominent notice, there was a (very large) bull, some cows and calves in Field 2 and beyond. I thought it prudent to give them a miss - I can't run as fast as I used to.

Freddy

Just 5 this evening Freddie where we first stopped.

From 22 to 0 in three days..

Sat 8th August

Ancaster, Buckminster and Harlaxton (near Grantham).

On 27th July, Ben Ward and Dave Roberts saw a pair of SpotFlys at Woodland Waters, Ancaster during their Grantham to Boston trip (108 species). I tried for the SpotFlys at Ancaster on 30th July but without success in cloudy weather. I went again this morning in bright sunshine.

29. After 30-40 minutes searching, I eventually came across 1 adult SpotFly flying out over the main lake and flycatching up to c.15 yards from the bank. It was active some 30 feet or so above the water and was then repeatedly perching on the outer branches of lakeside trees.
Thanks Ben (and Dave) for the original Ancaster lead and for further details.

I also visited previous SpotFly sites in Buckminster and Harlaxton Manor grounds but NTR.

Freddy

Hi Colin,
Re your " 22 to 0 in three days " :

Post-breeding/pre-migration groups of Spotted Flycatchers have this habit of disappearing, often en masse overnight. That would register of course as "22 to 0 overnight!" Several times over the past few years, I've gone to check out an autumn group numbering in the teens reported on the LBC web in the evening, only to find after a clear night, that not a single one is around the following morning.......'the birds had flown.' Sometimes another group of SpotFlys move into the traditional site a few days later and are hopefully recorded. The same disappearing act can apply to pairs and singletons of course.....here today, gone tomorrow, but fortunately for SpotFly chasers some stay around for a few days.

Freddy

Goodness gracious. I saw Freddy's name and thought to myself surely it is to early for waxwing

Hi Chris,
..........and when I saw your name opposite "Spotted Flycatchers", I immediately thought "Brilliant! Chris has tracked down a post-breeding group in Hartsholme". But it wasn't to be. Come on, Chris, do us a favour - sort 'em out and round 'em up!

Freddy
PS. I'm putting Waxwings on hold until October/November. Will it be another full irruption year?








......

Sun 16th August

Woodhall Spa, Baumber, Linwood Warren and Fillingham Cowfields.

I visited the above 4 'traditional' sites today (Sun) which have attracted groups of Spotted Flycatchers in August/September in previous years. I came across no groups but managed to locate 3 singletons and 1 pair :

a. Woodhall Spa

30. A very active adult Spotfly flycatching in the sun from the branches of a large Oak Tree in Spa Road.

31. Another adult perched in a low tree and then flycatching at the Manor Road/Coronation Road junction about 150 yards away.

b. Baumber Churchyard. I met up with local birder Greg Roberts who told me that SpotFlys had been around some days ago in the Churchyard but none had been seen/reported there these past few days.
32. My luck was in, however, for returning to my parked car at the entrance to Baumber Farm (about 300 yards away), I came across an adult SpotFly flycatching from an overhead wire.

c. Linwood Warren (Market Rasen)

There was NTR around the Pine Trees near the entrance and none in the cattle-field to the left (2 popular areas). Walking along the path towards the pond, I caught sight of the signature flight pattern of a couple of feeding SpotFlys in the distance across open ground and in the line of Conifers about 400 yards from the entrance.
33. I made my way closer to the trees and watched the feeding SpotFlys for 20 minutes or so.

d. Fillingham Cowfields. NTR (other than a Willowchiff flycatching) in the first field - a popular site - and I didn't go any further into Fields 2, 3 or 4; as the notice said : 'Bull, Cows and Calves' - and I could see them in the distance.

Freddy

Mon 17th August

Haverholme Park (near Ruskington/Anwick)

Looking through my copies of past Lincs Bird Reports, I read that 8 Spotted Flycatchers were reported at Haverholme Park in Sep 1992 and 8 (pairs) bred there in 1995. Lincsbirders also had a report showing that 8 (yet again) were seen there on 1st Sep last year. It occurred to me that the park area might be an underwatched 'traditional' group post-breeding site.

I hadn't been back to Haverholme Park since the Hawfinch twitches some years ago, but I remembered the general layout of the area with the dedicated carpark. I spent this afternoon (Mon) searching for Spotted Flycatchers at the principal park attraction - along the banks of the River Slea which runs through the park. The main flight distractors - as ever at this time of the year - were fast moving white butterflies across the face of the trees, dragonflies and innumerable high-drifting round clumps of dandelion seeds; and even the dragonflies occasionally flew up to investigate the latter.

34. Although I didn't come across a group, I was successful about 300 yards past the river bridge/sluice, when I saw an adult SpotFly flycatching from the bare upper branches of a tall Oak Tree. (Inevitably, - and thankfully - Spotted Flycatchers are attracted to the bare upper branches of a tree in a sea of green just as much as to wires in other settings as 'super perches' for flying-insect catching). I'll do another 'group search' in due course.

Also (incl.) :
Grey Wagtail (by the sluice)
Great-spotted Woodpecker
and
Comma
Gatekeeper
Holly Blue.

Freddy

Freddy,

A bit more news on Woodhall Spa flycatchers. On the morning of Friday, 14 Aug. there was a small group feeding in the trees on The Broadway opposite Boots and in the evening of Saturday 15 Aug. there was small group feeding in the lime trees opposite the Dower House Hotel. I was engaged in non birdwatching activities at the time so didn't stop to count.

John

John,
Many thanks for keeping me up-to-date re Woodhall Spa Spotted Flycatchers. That's great news re the two small groups last Friday/Saturday. They might have been family groups or possibly more numerous. Woodhall Spa delivers yet again!

Apart from Colin Scott's report from Spridlington on 5th August, there doesn't seem to be anything else from anyone/anywhere else in the whole of Lincolnshire .......some 3 weeks of August gone with no reports and during one of the most active periods for SpotFlys in their 4 months in the UK. Still, hopefully, some Lincs birders may come across SpotFlys soon and post reports on LBC Bird Sightings.


Thanks again, John, for your interest and support in my SpotFly Project.

Freddy

Yesterday evening I managed to locate 4 birds at the Spridligton site. I can not say if they are new in as they may have been lurking in the wood. However it is my fourth visit since I first had a count of nil.. and therefore my first record since that day..