Lake District birds April, Pied Flycatcher, Redstart and Marsh Tit

 A quick visit yesterday and dull but fine weather around Esthwaite and White Moss walks - no Wood Warblers back but plenty of beautiful Pied Flycatchers singing with a few Redstarts and nice to see two pairs of Marsh Tits without trying 

Pied Flycatchers - bird of the month

forget all the rarer birds I didn't find the numbers of Pied Flycatchers were nice to see

a day at Rimac

my coastal birding destination of choice for so many years but now somewhat overgrown and difficult to bird so it was more of a gentle amble than a hard slog - yesterday

Pied Flycatcher

the vireo's companion but only the second I had seen this year!

Pied Flycatcher rarity

in 32 years doing bird surveys in the forest I have never seen a Pied Flycatcher so when I stopped to look at a nice sunny corner that produced 7 Spotted Flycatchers and various warblers it was a slight shock to pick up this Pied Fly; it initially proved elusive but then took to hovering and feeding over a stony path in front of me taking small moths and the odd butterfly -- from the Birding World article I make it a first-winter and from the tail and uppertail covert colour possibly a male but sexing is said to be optimistic in first winters

Pied Flycatcher 2cy male

an interesting looking 2cy male from Sweden