Historical study into pied flycatcher nesting

An interesting article on the nesting habits of pied flycatchers. The one thing I took out of it is although they rely on an oak dominated woodland for finding food, the actual tree that the box is fixed to is far less important.

https://www.britishbirds.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/article_files/V27/V27_N09/V27_N09_P251_255_A039.pdf

One other thing I read about a few years ago, and has proved to be true in Calderdale to date, is that pied fly's much prefer to have a branch above the box they can land on, have a look round, then continue the last couple of yards into the box. The photo is the pair that nested in Jumble Hole last summer, and the dead branch was about 2 feet above the box, extending about 6 feet out, They used the branch on the way into and out of the box.