Pied Pipers

I did my first nest box check of the season in my allotted woodland at Longshaw today. It was a beautiful morning enhanced by there being lots of lovely birds around - including our target birds - a single male (this one) and a pair of Pied Flycatchers wasting no time in getting there nest box ready for raising a family. My fellow checkers are seeing lots of these Summer visitors at the moment which augers well for the breeding season ahead. They are very site-loyal birds as we know from ringing them, and last year we had one bird return to the box where he was hatched to raise a brood of his own.