Spotted Flycatchers at Wallington Church

27th May 2026

Spotted Flycatchers have been reducing in numbers in Hertfordshire for several years now and as recent as three years ago there were three pairs in Wallington and Sandon. However, no sign of the Sandon pair today for the third year running and the pair at the junction of The Street and Kits Lane in Wallington are no longer there but have been seen on occasions a little further away. So off to Wallington Church to see what is going on there.

As a walked into the churchyard I was welcomed by one of the usual suspects, a Red Kite, looking down at me as it drifted over but not at all concerned by my presence.

You often hear Nuthatches nearby from the churchyard but today one was particularly close and a quick scan revealed it was collecting food for its young. Not at all easy to photograph as it was high in the tree and often the wrong side of branches and moving very quickly. These are the best I could get but unfortunately none looking at the camera.

But the biggest surprise today was the sudden appearance of a Black Squirrel bounding along the wall. Black Squirrels are common in North Herts particularly Hitchin, Letchworth and Baldock but this is the first I've seen in Wallington since I started coming here in 2012.

So what about the Spotted Flycatchers? Well, I think it can be summed up by the words of the song "Fings ain't what they used to be". When I started coming here in 2012 it was easy. The flycatchers bred in the churchyard and to photograph them all you had to do was lean against the black barn and photograph them sitting on the gravestones just 10 yards away!!!

However over the last couple of years they have moved into the garden of Wallington Chase next door. This garden is 4 acres in size with approximately 2 acres to the south of the house which can be viewed from the track by the church and the churchyard. The other 2 acres are to the north of the house and can be viewed from the public footpath that runs down past the dead ivy on the black barn to the paddock at the bottom, but the views are fairly restricted.

Most observers this year have said the birds are very elusive and some having no success at all. From this and the only two flights I saw when I was there I can only conclude they are centred in the garden to the north of the house and possibly around the tennis court where they have been seen in previous years. If this is the case then the Yew trees they seem to like next to the churchyard are on the boundary of their territory which would explain the sparse number of visits. I was there for two and a half hours and only saw one for about five minutes.