Spotted Flycatchers

Spotted Flycatchers are back in Meldreth

With the unseasonably cold May weather, we wondered if these summer migrants from Africa would return to Meldreth this year. How do such small birds manage the hazardous journey? To our dismay we discovered that a Song Thrush had built a nest immediately adjacent to the old Flycatcher nest prior to the latter’s arrival. However, their old nest had suffered the ravages of time and we thought that the Flycatchers might deem it unusable. So last January, with the kind approval of the house’s owners, we erected a nest box not far from the original nest to encourage them to stay. The box was made by Ken McLean to a design specifically recommended for Flycatchers by the British Trust for A Spotted Flycatcher in the nesting box Photograph by Kathryn Betts Ornithology. And so we waited … and true to form, on 16th May two Spotted Flycatchers were seen near the church - one clearly identified from its posture. At the same time another was seen - possibly a mate of the first. On 17th May a ringed bird was seen and three days later two birds were seen investigating the new box. Imagine our delight when the birds were seen building a nest in our box the following day! A week later the female was sitting on a branch, fluttering. The male arrived and fed her with insects. This male was seen hunting around the large lime tree in the churchyard and has a ring on its right leg. Hopefully it is the male that we ringed last year. There seem to be an additional one or two Spotted Flycatchers in the locality, not visiting the nest box at all, but just flitting around the tree tops without singing or displaying.

Towards the end of May the female was seen to be sitting on five eggs and was being visited roughly half hourly by the male with food. She was popping out about ten minutes before he arrived and then going back to the box to be fed. We hoped he would be a bit more diligent by the time the eggs hatched. By 9th June some of the eggs had hatched. Stop Press: On Wednesday 16th June we caught the female bird. She was ringed with a red ring on her right leg, then weighed and measured before releasing her. The chicks were then carefully taken from the nest - there were four chicks and one unhatched egg. The chicks were ringed with silver rings before being replaced in the nest. The photograph opposite was taken later that morning, with the female once again sitting on the nest, totally unperturbed.

Jan Butchers

Friendly, Professional, Expert

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