I originally planned to drive down to Somerset today to search for small pearl bordered fritillaries but decided against it as I was feeling rather tired from the recent trips I've made, so instead, I opted for a slightly nearer destination of the Forest of Dean. I missed out on the pied flycatchers back in April but decided to have another attempt and maybe even find a spotted flycatcher too!
I therefore didn't leave until 8 o'clock and had a good run so was at Nagshead RSPB by 9.15. It was quite chilly and cloudy so I needed my sweatshirt and coat, especially as the hide I wanted to visit faced into the wind.
A couple of people were already in the hide and said they'd not been there long but had already seen a male pied flycatcher. In a few minutes I saw another bird, on a post 30 metres or so in front of the hide, which they assumed was the female, but on a closer look, I realised that it was actually a spotted flycatcher!
We did see the female pied flycatcher too, and had some exceptionally close encounters with the male pied. In fact there was quite a bit of flycatcher action over the time we were there; we also saw nuthatch, treecreeper and the usual woodland birds. Eventually we saw a redstart on a tree in the distant pond.
After leaving Nagshead, I stopped off at Cannop ponds at a place where I had been told I could see a dipper. I did see it in a distance, but it quickly disappeared. Instead I found a pair of mandarin ducks on the path ahead, although they quickly found their way back to the water and swam off.
I'd been regularly reading reports of a black winged stilt at Slimbridge and today I noted that it had been seen from the Discovery hide at South lake and the Rushy Hide. I decided that it might be worth taking a detour and popping into Slimbridge for a couple of hours to see if I could find it, especially now the sun had come out and it was warming up.
When I got there, I found it was busy with half term families visiting, although I knew it would be probably be peaceful in the hides. I went to straight to South Lake, but was told that it had been flushed with other birds when a red kite went over head and hadn't been relocated. I was advised to try the Rushy hide instead, but although I looked, I couldn't see it. There were plenty of avocets there, and the long staying male garganey was a bit closer than on my previous visit. I walked up to some of the other hides in the vicinity but decided it might be worth waiting at the Rushy hide to see if it turned up, or indeed anything else!
After a while some staff members came in and they said that although someone had spent 2 hours looking, the stilt hadn't been found. It seemed as if my visit was in vain. Then a couple of visitors came in and I asked them about the stilt. They had seen it about midday, they said but more importantly they had just spoken to someone who had just seen it in front of the Hogarth hide ( a hide that looks over another area of South lake).
I thought I might have one last try, so made my way over there. The hide was empty apart from a family who didn't really look like birdwatchers, so I assumed it wouldn't be there. But looking out, there it was directly in view from the hide! The family didn't stay long so I was left alone in the hide.
I managed one photo before the bird suddenly took off and flew round and landed at a distance on an island to the left. Maybe it was about to return to the other end of the lake. But after a minute or so, up it went, and flew round a bit and then came back to where I could see it even better than before! It spent the next 20 minutes or so having a good preen and wash, and I took plenty of photos before my battery ran out! It was time to go!
spotted flycatcher
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