Spotted flycatchers are a menace to all flying insects. From a high vantage point, they perch upright and alert waiting patiently for an unsuspecting insect to fly past. Once spotted, the insect has no chance. The flycatcher launches from its perch, snapping its perfect, fly-catching bill shut like a trap. Spotted flycatchers make a sound not unlike a squeaky cartwheel, and might sound out of place in the woodlands and parks of Europe and western Asia. They arrive in the UK to breed after a long migration from a winter spent in central Africa.

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