Hello,
another bit of good news: the spotted flycatchers have made a reappearance two days after my complaining about the lack of breeding success. Yesterday, spotflies were feeding at least three very noisy fledglings in the limes next to stores. They are around again this morning.
And, during an impromptu wetlands walk yesterday lunchtime, we saw several sparrowhawks in the Cam bridge/railway area.
Thanks,
Sabine
From: Sabine Eckert
Sent: 28 July 2025 11:46
To: 'wetlandscommittee(a)wellcomegenomecampus.org' <wetlandscommittee(a)wellcomegenomecampus.org>; Christopher Adamson <ca14(a)sanger.ac.uk>; Carla Stark <cs52(a)sanger.ac.uk>; 'Iain.Webb(a)wildlifebcn.org' <Iain.Webb(a)wildlifebcn.org>; 'Lee Outhwaite' <Lee.Outhwaite(a)wellcomegenomecampus.com>; 'Neil Rawlings' <neil.rawlings(a)outlook.com>
Subject: Sparrowhawks!
Hello All,
I just walked along the path near the bridge to the wetlands (52.078072, 0.180483), and came across five sparrowhawks. Three of them were obviously youngsters, huddled together on the ground, practising flying, and falling over a lot. Two birds were hovering around low in the surrounding trees - either more competent youngsters, or more likely the adults. There was also some begging going on, one youngster was faffing with something on the ground (prey?). They eventually moved off along the river towards the bridge. The location is very close to the big beech where they bred last year. I have a number of grainy pictures and videos I can send.
On the downside, I have not seen any spotted flycatchers since 18/6/2025, nor heard them calling this year. I now suspect that only one of the birds came back, the one I saw between 3/6 and 18/6, prepared the nest, and its mate didn't show up. I think this was the only pair around this year.
Thanks,
Sabine
