Spotted Flycatcher 2

Spotted flycatcher   Muscicapa striata

Spotted Flycatcher 02

Pied Flycatcher 58

Pied flycatcher  Ficedula hypoceleuca

 Pied Flycatchers typically nest in dense oak woodland here in the Forest of Dean, and as a result the white areas of the bird can pick up a green hue due to light reflection off the foliage (typically in the shadier areas of white).

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  Pied Flycatcher 49

I have always loved to watch this active and gentle looking birds busily catching flies and damselflies to feed their young.  Many of my images are taken in proximity to a nest box, carefully done to keep disturbance low. I think it is because I point the camera away from the box that I have been rewarded with many close encounters, with some males preening and stretching just 3 metres from me, and females hunting for insects on the ground near my feet.  But here are just 2 examples of them at the box.

  Pied Flycatcher 84

Pied flycatchers typically arrive at the nestboxes in Nagshead (RSPB) in the Forest of Dean in mid April.  However, they are just as much at home without nest boxes.  They were originally introduced to help promote a healthy timber industry here, and research by Campbell in the mid 1940's helped to understand their requirements.  But since then, very little in the way of progress is evident.   I really wish that nest boxes, but particularly the ringing (this bird suffers terribly with bling) could be reduced to encourage the birds to utilise natural and surely healthier nesting sites.   They certainly seem to have a lot of competition with many other woodland birds in choosing and keeping a nestbox, so lets reduce the stress in more ways than one and dump the boxes?

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