12th May - Yarner Wood, Devon

Our last day in Devon and I had the opportunity of an hour at Yarner Wood part of the East Dartmoor National Nature Reserve, which lies in Dartmoor between Haytor and Bovey Tracey.  It is one of the reliable sites for Pied Flycatcher.  Pulling into the car park I noticed a birder with a telescope set on a dead silver birch bough, checking with him I found that that here was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest in the dead tree and I watched as one of the adults flew to the nest hole.

Recognising that the woodpeckers would not go away I decided on trying to find the flycatchers and we set off down the main path.  We hadn't gone further than 50 metres when I heard one singing.  As is always the way though they do this on branches just under the canopy which makes photography difficult let alone finding the bird.  Find it I did though and as you can see not the best views.

It was fortunate it was singing as otherwise we would never have found it

Then it moved and the view was a little clearer and you could actually see some of the distinct markings and the fact that it was a ringed bird, probably having been raised in this very wood.

And leaving the best to last another fly catching flight returned it to a perch in even a better place.

Then it was gone so we walked on and found another singing, but only managed distant views right up in the canopy, the only reason I could tell it was a Pied Flycatcher was that it had to be the owner of the song.  We also heard Redstart singing but little else.  Like everywhere else these days Wood Warblers were not present their numbers having reduced over the last years to nothing in 2021 and probably the same in 2022.

We walked back to the car park and set up to watch the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.  Once again the light was against me but setting up with a high over exposure allowed me to get some acceptable shots and probably the best I have managed in this country.

Both adults were coming to the nest hole and at one point one of the adults met the other at the entrance to the hole.  They would return after about 3 - 4 minutes so the young were probably well developed.

This is the male making its way to the nest hole, the male has red on the crown

The usual approach to the nest hole is to fly up to the side of the tree on the opposite side of the trunk, work their way around the trunk and then climb up to the hole.  At one point there were a pair of crows about and they aborted the approach.

These birds have a conservation status of red and normally to witness them close to the nest would require a license, but in this situation you were able to observe them from the car park without any possibility of disturbance. 

So an hour well spent and it also included my first Swifts of the year as they flew above the canopy.