The Return of the Spotted Flycatcher

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 I note from my previous blogs that it was 17th May when I noted that a spotted flycatcher had laid eggs in a nest by our kitchen door. On that occasion she laid 5 eggs and all 5 chicks fledged. On 13th July I noticed that the birds had laid a second brood of eggs (only 4 this time) and today I used my phone to sneak a photo showing that the eggs had hatched (or at least one of them has). It's hard to get a good photo with my phone in an awkward place in  short space of time to avoid upsetting the adults but here are a couple of fuzzy photos of the eggs and of this morning's shot showing a young bird. Great news as these birds are becoming much rarer in this part of the world.



Diary.
Thunderstorms and heavy rain overnight has not been sufficient to get the stream running again. The water table must be very low at the moment. We caught a brief glimpse of a stoat transiting the garden yesterday. Yesterday evening we saw four red squirrels all at the nut dispensers in the garden at the same time with quite a lot of bickering and chasing going on.


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