Birdwatching: Flycatchers arrive to enjoy home comforts

For one of these, the pied flycatcher, the solution is the nest boxes we provide- at least half the British population use these.

The male flycatcher is unmistakable, a small black and white bird with a dark eye and tiny feet..

The female is duller but, like the male, has conspicuous white wing bars.

The males are arriving back from West Africa and they go straight to the nest boxes, or tree holes where they wait outside.

They sing a sweet little song which at first sounds rather like the 'teacher teacher' song of the great tit before changing into a cheerful warble, aimed at attracting passing females.

Once a male has lured a female inside one of the nest holes and she stays there, he only defends a small territory and this allows a number of pairs to live close together.

Their strongholds are in the hillside oakwoods of the west of England and Wales up into Cumbria and Scotland where they are abundant.

In our region they are much more localised but, since the 1970s, have done well where nest boxes have been provided for them.

Probably the best known place to see them is in the Strid Woods at Bolton Abbey where they can easily be observed around the nest boxes.

Once the breeding season is over the males exchange their smart black and white plumage for the duller plumage of the females and it is difficult to tell the sexes apart.

They leave us from late August onwards, moving south through France, Western Iberia and Morocco back to West Africa,

Ringing recoveries show that the males are very site faithful, returning to the same breeding sites each Spring, a habit not always shared by the females.

Other arrivals have included whitethroats, lesser whitethroats and grasshopper warblers.

A Slavonian grebe continued to be seen with Black-necked grebes on the St Aidan's reserve, even photographed dancing in courtship display with one.