The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Great news, Colin. As you say they might be remainders from your original sightings or new birds in. Brilliant. Your Spridlington area could well be another 'forgotten' traditional Lincs post-breeding/pre migration site. It is an aspect of Spotted Flycatcher behaviour that seems to have had little coverage in the literature.

In point of fact, the Spotted Flycatcher itself has attracted little interest among the professional bird writers other than in articles in the specialist publications. Unlike many other species, there is NO monograph on the bird. The bibliography refers us to a small 73 page book :"The Spotted What!?" by John Clarke (2005), published by Plum Tree Publishing Ltd, Worcester. The book is a very interesting account of John's Spotted Flycatcher research project in a set of villages in Worcestershire over the years 2001 to 2004. John writes with knowledge, warmth and humour. I have a copy of the book and John and I have exchanged emails on a number of occasions re his beloved Spotted Flycatchers.

Freddy

Freddy.

Re. the Willingham birds, I have a pair of juveniles in my garden daily but I haven't seen the adults for over a week. I will check Fillingham cow fields when all the cattle/bull have been moved.

Went back early morning and had a group of 4 at the spot where I had the 11.. Also I found 3 probable 4 but can't be sure at the spot where I had last nights 4..
I find it hard to believe that I have had 7/8 new birds in since last Saturday unless have have found Lincolnshires Heathrow Airport for Spot Fly's..
It may be time to dig the machete out and create a bit of a pathway through, surely they must have a hideout in the wood...

Ian,

Further to your post, we do know from observation in Lincs that a number of the post-breeding/pre-migration groups contain both adults and juveniles. However, perhaps someone with the relevant literature sources might be able to comment on whether some juvenile SpotFlys actually migrate through the South Coast Observatories AFTER most of the adults have gone through rather than with them.

Good luck at the Fillingham Cowfields - I look forward to reading any positive results. I believe the bull, cow and calves move further away from Fields 1,2 and 3 into Fields 4 and 5 as the late summer wears on - giving us birders better chances to track down any SpotFlys in the area.

Freddy

Colin,

From what I remember of the wood, the trees were quite close together with few, if any, glades. If any SpotFlys had been feeding from the upper branches of the trees in the wood you would probably have picked up some movement from eg. the elevated OP we used on our visit on Thu 6th August. Your original 22 SpotFlys had - and were using - the whole line of the outside trees (360 degrees) of the wood from which to flycatch. I can't imagine why they would trade those top rate feeding sites with sunshine and shelter from the wind for limited opportunities inside the wood. In other words, further to your several blank visits over a number of days, I think the birds you've seen in the last day or so are new birds in. That 'chain procedure' of a new group (or singletons) later arriving after the departure of the preceding group (or singletons) after a few blank days has certainly applied at other post-breeding/pre-migration sites such as Hubbard's Hills, Linwood Warren, Fillingham Cowfields and, I suspect, Swanpool Cowfields. (Andy Sims may wish to comment).

Freddy

Flycatchers at Woodhall Country Park. I led another nature walk there this morning. We saw 4 birds feeding in the wooden bridge area and towards The Village Limits. After the walk I had another look and there were four, perhaps five, birds feeding from the dead birches by the lake.

John

Called in yesterday morning (friday) to find no visible birds. I took a bit of a walk in through the nettles within the wood to find 3 darting around inside up in the canopy but did not have enough time to get all the way through.. Also I was in shorts...!

The great result of the day though was getting home to find a single Spot Fly feeding from the trees in my neighbours garden.. A new garden tick and I believe the first sighting in the village for around 5yrs...


SFC by Col Scott, on Flickr

Sat 22nd August

Linwood Warren, Hubbard's Hills and Woodhall Country Park

Further to Dave Worrell's post re SpotFlys at Linwood Warren yesterday (Friday),......I'd noted on the BBC website weather forecast yesterday evening that overnight Fri/Sat there were long periods of no cloud and little wind : ideal conditions for any SpotFly group to take off, so I half expected they would be gone by this morning. Sure enough, searching all the usual Linwood Warren SpotFly autumn haunts for a couple of hours this morning resulted in seeing not a single one. I met up with 3 other people there......again, no SpotFlys seen by them either.

I went on to Hubbard's Hills, Louth - my first visit there this autumn. i was in luck :

35. A pair were flycatching from the upper branches of very tall trees along the river, conveniently viewable from the steep grassy hillside opposite.
36. About 300 yards further along into the 'park area', a singleton adult SpotFly was also feeding from the topmost branches of a tall tree along the river.
Also : Buzzard, Long-tailed Titmice, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk; Brimstone (male).

Further to John Watt's post today, I visited Woodhall Country Park from 4pm.
37. I soon came across what I reckoned was a total of 5 SpotFlys (ads/juvs) very close to John's locations in a large Oak by the lake overlooking the sheepfield. They were feeding and then occasionally dashing out of the foliage in pursuit of one another - a typical SpotFly autumn group activity.

Also nearby (as flight distractors) :
Family of Goldfinches
Juvenile Chaffinches
Titmice
Greenfinch
Many thanks to John for the lead. Woodhall delivers yet again!

I was pleased to see some SpotFlys today. In addition to the Linwood Warren (near Market Rasen) dip this morning, I'd had zero success in pursuing the following well-meant leads at :

Grimsthorpe Castle Park (near Bourne).......... Thu 20th Aug
Denton Cowfields/Reservoir (near Grantham) - Fri 21st Aug
Belton House Park (near Grantham) .............. Fri 21st Aug.

Freddy

Sunday 23rd August

Spridlington Sheepfields and Wood

Colin Scott arranged for us to re-visit this private estate this morning (Sunday) and we spent an enjoyable couple of hours wandering around the sheepfields and wood. Towards the end of our visit, we came across our target birds (presumably the ones Colin had seen in the past few days) :


38. Two adult SpotFlys with a juvenile, flycatching in the sun and out of the strong wind along a line of Hawthorns near the wood. It was a real pleasure to get repeated, close views of the 3 birds feeding almost at ground level; my recent views have been of birds in the tree canopy or amongst foliage.
Also : Green Sandpiper
.........Buzzard
.........Flycatching Willowchiff
and
......(incl) Common Blues and Small Heaths.

Thanks, Colin, for a most enjoyable visit.

Freddy

Always a real pleasure Freddie, I hope I find more so we can go again...

Monday 24th August

Fillingham Cowfields

I arrived early afternoon today (Mon). There were no cattle in Fields 1, 2 and 3, and they were just visible straight ahead in the far distance in Fields 4 and 5. This meant that it was 'safe' to check out the first 3 fields.

There was NTR re SpotFlys in Fields 1 and 2 but then I soon caught sight of flycatcher flight movement in the Hawthorns on the far side of Field 3.

39. Getting closer, I had very good views of 2 SpotFlys repeatedly flycatching from the Hawthorns - my first record from Fillingham this autumn. The cattle carried on munching contentedly in the distance.

Freddy

Thursday 27th August

Swanpool Cowfields, Fillingham Cowfields and Linwood Warren (Cowfields!)

I visited 3 SpotFly autumn passage hotspots today (Thu) :
1. Swanpool Cowfields

I arrived c.8.45 and after a walk around the usual autumn SpotFly haunts there was NTR. I should have visited later in the morning : within a couple of hours or so of my visit, 2 SpotFlys were noted in a favourite place......the Elders; although they had gone from there by 2.00pm.

2. Fillingham Cowfields

40. For the first time this autumn, I recorded SpotFlys in Field 1. There were 2 flycatching right ahead of the entrance stile - about 100 yards or so distant across the field. As the cattle were just visible in Field 5, I also checked Fields 2, 3 and 4.

41. A singleton adult SpotFly was flycatching from Hawthorns in Field 3, accompanied mostly by a flycatching Willowchiff, a family group of Goldfinches and a dozen tree-perching Swallows.

Linwood Warren (Cowfields)

There was NTR re SpotFlys around the entrance to the Reserve, in the large Cowfield to the left or along the extensive line of Conifers/Deciduous trees stretching into the distance. I took the path to the pond area. As soon as I had entered through the gate of the fenced-off Cowfield (with its half a dozen or so cattle), I caught sight of flycatcher activity in the trees near the pond.

42. Moving closer, I had good views of 4, possibly 5, SpotFlys feeding from the trees and occasionally perching on the upper strand of the barbed-wire fence nearby. They were very active, criss-crossing in flight in front of me. Within half an hour they had all moved on about 200 yards away from the initial sighting area.
Also :
Green Woodpecker (in flight)
Willowchiff (flycatching)
Chaffinch (flycatching)
and
Small Copper
Small Tortoiseshell
Peacock
Red Admiral.

Freddy

Baumber, 1st September

Greg Roberts reports a party of 7 Spotflys in the Churchyard this morning and then whilst I was having lunch I watched 2 birds flycatching from the garden fence.

Further to Andy Sims' post this morning, I arrived at the Swanpool Cowfields at 10.15 (every bit of 4 miles from BBH). After one hour's searching the usual hedgerows, there was NTR re the reported 4 SpotFlys. However, I did find a cracking male Redstart at the far end of the 'Elder hedge' by the entrance to 2 cowfields. It was perching out in the open about 2 feet up in a Hawthorn and stayed there for a minute or so giving excellent views.

Reaching the top of the cowfield to the right of the Elders, I noticed a lot of bird activity in the hedges around a gate leading into a stubble field. 43. I found 2 Spotted Flycatchers, a family group of Goldfinches, a Yellowhammer and a female Redstart in the area. The SpotFlys had taken me some 75 minutes to locate and it was the first time I had seen any in that area. Thanks to Andy for the lead and early posting on the web.

Prior to the Swanpool sighting this morning, I'd had 6 successive SpotFly dips : at Woodhall Country Park and Haverholme (Sat 29th Aug); and at Swanpool Cowfields, Fillingham Cowfields, Linwood Warren, Hubbard's Hills (Sun 30th Aug).

Freddy

I seem to be doing quite well with the Spot Fly's.. After getting a garden tick a few days ago I have had one in a tree outside the workshop all day today..