Spotted Flycatcher - Muscicapa striata

I found these photos in a memory card from 4 years ago. This (type of) bird comes every year and loves to sit on the car aerial - is it the same? We'd have to put a ring on its foot to find out I guess.

We also get swallows - both types of birds are migratory and spend winter in Africa. Here they both share the same nesting space. They are safe: away from predators and normally wet weather. It's an area we call the coach house which is where we store wood. Currently I know there are birds there so I don't go to avoid disturbing them.

This type of bird is in decline in the UK and you can read more about their plight here and here. Sadly the most worrying article paints an extremely sad prospect for this visitor.

The photos date back to end of June 2014. I'm happy I found them a couple of days ago. I remember I was in the kitchen and heard a loud call. Initially I thought the bird was inside the house (not uncommon). I was glad to ‘spot’ the young one below on the outside of a window. So I was inside the house and we were separated by a 'clean' window.

I have no ability to be selective when it comes to cute little birds, so I took many photos...

My biggest concern at the time was buzzards or even red kites coming to get the bird - we've lost grown chickens to them. That would just be nature and that would probably be a good photo, but I didn't want it to end like that.

The little bird got very close to the edge and then suddenly its parent came by.

They moved around truly fast and then both birds flew away.

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all photos by @cryptocariad