| Pied flycatcher - Ficedula hypoleuca - Family: Muscicapidae
 Pied flycatcher - Ficedula hypoleuca© Robin Chittenden www.harlequinpictures.co.ukPied flycatchers favour deciduous woodland in the more hilly areas of NW and SW England, often close to running water. Males are black above, with a white patch on the forehead and wings, and white underparts. Females are brown above with blackish wings marked with a small patch of white, and pale underparts. Pied flycatchers normally nest in holes in old trees but nests have been made at ground level, and they readily use nest boxes. Numbers in some woodlands have been greatly increased in this way. They are summer visitors only, like the spotted flycatcher, but arrive a little earlier, in mid to late April. When they first arrive in areas where they breed, they may be quite conspicuous as males occasionally scrap with each other over nest sites and the white flashes on the wings are then very obvious. They are not common visitors to gardens but may turn up in unexpected places, far from breeding areas, in spring or autumn. FoodMostly small insects caught in flight or taken from tree leaves. Predator of bugs, flies, mosquito's and midges, sawflies. PlantsHoneysuckle, Pedunculate oak, Sessile oak PreyBees and wasps, Bugs, Butterflies, Dragonflies and damselflies, Mosquitoes and midges, Moths, Sawflies, Small tortoiseshell PredatorsSparrowhawk |
