I've been abroad for several weeks so today I was keen to catch up on the progress some of our breeding birds have made. The Pied Flycatcher on my last post, on the 19th May was using a natural nest hole and I was particularly interested to see if they were still around as most of the local Pied Flycatchers use nest boxes, some of which I put up with Alan Stewardson more than a dozen years ago but they are still in use!
The Pied Flycatcher incubates its eggs for around 15 days and it takes a further 15 days for the young to fledge, its 26 days since I last saw the male so if they had just started egg laying the young birds could still be in the nest.
I had to wait a little while but first the male, then the female turned up at the nest to feed the youngsters which must now be very close to fledging.
The nest hole in a Silver Birch looks to have been excavated by a Great Spotted Woodpecker.
I also made a visit t Youlgrave and a Common Quail calling close to Harthill Pond was unexpected and the first time I have heard one there.
Pied flycatcher -male
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