Spotted Flycatcher

Had to go and see the doctor last week, the health problems throughout June were not going away, and I ended up being signed off for rest and recuperation. Unfortunately, its back to work tomorrow, and having spent the last week doing basically nothing I thought I'd better go out for an hour or so this morning.

At some point I would like to get up to Therfield as the Chalkhill Blues are out and there are also a lot of Dark Green Fritillaries around. It was still dull, cool and a bit drizzly when I left, and so I headed off to Sandon.

I spent around forty minutes in the churchyard surrounded by low flying House Martins, Swallows and Swifts. Not something that happens in Stevenage anymore. Nether was the family of Spotted Flycatchers. Once upon a time, I could go out anywhere in the Stevenage area, and expect to find them in any reasonably sized wooded area, and occasionally gardens, but like so many insectivores the population has plummeted and I am lucky to see more than a handful in England every year. They are hanging on in the more rural parts of north east Herts, and villages like Sandon and Wallington still hold breeding birds.

I only saw two flycatchers as they were rather elusive, sticking to the big Sycamores and Horse Chestnuts, only making the occasional foray out of the canopy.

Sandon also has a Laughing Dove-got to be an escape but a few have been to see it 'just in case', largely because it was found at the same time as the Cornwall Amur Falcon, and could conceivably have arrived on the same weather system. Its been rather hard to find and I never managed to locate it.

I then drove up the road to Deadmans Hill and stopped for a while. Several Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers were in the hedge by the gate, and eventually one distant Quail was heard calling from one of the wheat fields.

Since it was still cool and breezy I decided to forgo Therfield and returned home via a drive around Wymondly. The local Raven wasn't around and I couldn't figure out a good place to park and check out the Peregrines.

Edit. The Dove was seen about 30 minutes after I left the Church.