More spotted flycatchers today. There were two at the top of Kilminning in the same place as the three eleven days ago. They were keeping close together and making a circuit around the tops of the sycamores, oaks and pines, only occasionally coming out into the open. Much more like a breeding pair than a couple of migrants. But then as I entertained this theory a third flew over towards the golf course. And then later there was a fourth down at the bottom of Kilminning. I won’t completely give up on the hope of a breeding pair: the top of Kilminning is just fine for them and 40 years ago I would be expecting a pair to breed somewhere like this every year. But it is probably just an odd year when the winds have pushed the westerly birds our way. I suspect this is how colonisation events happen though: after all the yellow wagtails weren’t here until five years ago and reappeared after a good spring when a couple of pairs arrived simultaneously on passage. Fingers crossed.
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