Wild Wednesday: Flycatcher with Chicks

We're now safely back home after our brief travels, but before setting off we spent time walking along beautiful Dovedale, from the formal National Trust car park to the pretty village of Milldale and back.

Lots of photos were taken, several of which vied for a place on today's blip - including a shot of my Editor duly standing on the famous stepping stones. However right at the end of our walk, near the car park while we indulged in an ice cream, my trusty Editor noticed a little bird flitting too & fro and each time returning to the same hole in a tree. Out came my long lens which showed us that it was feeding four chicks with flies: the chicks were squeezed into a nest in the tree. The main blip shows a moment when it arrived with a fly in its beak and the extra shows all four beaks (look closely, they're all there!) waiting for their next morsel.

We had no idea what the species was: the free Merlin bird app identified it from my photo as a spotted flycatcher although we're now wondering if it's actually a pied flycatcher (if anyone knows, please say so - they look pretty similar to us!).

Naturally I'll tag this blip for Cailleach's Wild Wednesday challenge.