It was while watching the new series of the BBC’s Springwatch (which is turning out to be one of the best yet in my opinion), that I had the dawning realisation that I was rapidly running out of time to go and watch Pied Flycatchers at their best. These summer visitors are at their most accommodating when they are busy feeding young in the nest, whether than be a natural nest site or one in a man-made box (the latter seems remarkably popular). I have a couple of favourite sites that offer the perfect combination of a decent numbers of birds, a nice walk and stunning scenery and they were exactly where we headed yesterday.

The first of these is the RSPB Dinas reserve near Llandovery, which regular readers will have seen me visit on a number of occasions over the last couple of years. Yesterday even my high expectations for this locality were exceeded as within a minute of leaving the car we had already seen our first male Pied Flycatcher as well as a red flash from the rapidly retreating rump of a female Redstart. This was a pattern that was to be repeated throughout our time there, with seemingly every turn revealing another pair of Flycatchers busy attending a nest or a couple of Redstarts (including the stunning males) flitting through the trees. In all we saw at least seven pairs of Pied Flycatchers and six pairs of Redstarts, though numbers were hard to gauge accurately. We were also fortunate to see recent fledglings of both species being fed by parents, so it looks like we timed things just about perfectly. The highlight was probably watching a pair of Pied Flycatchers  near the start of the walk who had chosen a nest box right next to the path and who were popping in with food for the noisy youngsters inside every couple of minutes. We stood and watched them happily go about their business for a good while and as a result can certainly vouch for the quantity of insects that were in the air, most of which thankfully didn’t have too much of a taste for humans.

Unfortunately my best efforts at photographing the pair resulted in nothing more than a few grainy shots, the inevitable outcome of a very shady woodland. Fortunately we have another excellent spot for Flycatchers a few miles further north on the steep sides of the Elan Valley. Here we were once again tripping over ourselves with nesting pairs, and I just about managed to get a couple of photos before we lost the lighting for the day. The male is the black and white bird whilst the female is the duller brown one.

24438 - Pied Flycatcher, Elan Valley
24441 - Pied Flycatcher, Elan Valley
24440 - Pied Flycatcher, Elan Valley

Both locations gave us other great sightings when we weren’t focusing on the Pied Flycatchers. At the Dinas reserve a family of five Spotted Flycatchers was also present, a first for me at this location and a bird that made a couple of visitors very happy when we pointed them out. There were also several family parties of Nuthatch, Great Tit and Blue Tit, as well as a couple of very vocal Wood Warblers and even a Garden Warbler that seemed to be in the process of building a nest.

Back at the Elan Valley Redstarts and Wood Warblers were also present though in lower numbers, but we did see a pair of Redpoll with a recent fledgling, a Treecreeper and what may have been a roosting Tawny Owl in a nest-box. The light wasn’t quite good enough to see into the boxes shadows to say for certain but there was definitely a shape in there. We saw a pair of well developed checks in the same box two years ago, a photo of which can be seen in this post, so the possibility of it being an Owl are high. We’ll have to make a return visit in a couple of weeks to see if the box is indeed being used again.


8 Comments

TexWisGirl · June 5, 2011 at 2:57 pm

they are beautiful!

J · June 5, 2011 at 4:02 pm

Delicious Pied Fly shots – a species I haven't seen in quite a few years.

Hilke Breder · June 5, 2011 at 5:18 pm

Fantastic shots, Adam!

holdingmoments · June 5, 2011 at 8:08 pm

Wow Adam, superb captures of these beautiful birds.
I've only ever seen the male from a distance; and you got the pair! Well done.

theconstantwalker · June 5, 2011 at 10:09 pm

Lovely captures Adam of a beautiful bird I have yet to see.

Unknown · June 6, 2011 at 7:52 pm

Great shots Adam, we get these at the Nagshead RSPB reserve in the Forest of Dean. I have seen them plenty of times but never managed to get a photo. Well done.

Adam Tilt · June 7, 2011 at 11:14 pm

Thanks texwsgirl.

Thanks Jeremy. This year seems to be a bumper one for them.

Thanks Hilke and Andrew.

Cheers Keith. I was very lucky to get both of them. Even better is the fact that they are actually from the same pair.

Thanks forestwildlife. I keep meaning to head over to the Forest of Dean but haven't managed to yet.

FAB · June 8, 2011 at 12:42 am

Dinas and the Elan Valley … I have fond memories of both and great locations for the birds you have featured Adam.

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