House Martins, Swallows & Swifts

My swallows have been very busy renovating the nest and for the last few days have been bringing in white feathers to line the nest, so hopefully eggs will be laid soon.

 

Not seen any yet.

 

First egg laid by our swallows this morning

 

I'm seeing the first swallows in the sky this morning.

 

Lovely to have them again @CatDouch
I asked my sister if her housemartins had appeared, but she said no. The nest had disintegrated, and nothing was attempting to improve it.

 

Sadly just one or two here in Mid Wales whereas a few years ago there was dozens.

 

There are usually about 5 pairs of swallows nesting here in various sheds, all raising two broods at least. This year, sadly, nothing like as many. Maybe one pair and a 'spare'. Very sad, after years and years of waiting to welcome them back, usually in late April. I miss hearing them all twittering overhead and lining up on telegraph wires.

 

At last saw 2 swifts flying around the garden and then one swallow. Numbers so low.

 

Dont they shoot anything that moves in southern Europe, so only the remnants are getting back to the UK.

 

Perhaps they have heard that government will only send them back!

 

Yes they do @pete as most governments have close connections to the 'hunters'. In Malta. Cyprus, Lebanon and Italy it still goes on. Police and Judges often have 'hunters' in the family so turn a blind eye to it. It is totally indiscriminate, Swallows, Hoopoe, Bee Eaters, red listed birds such as Turtle Doves and even Storks!

 

Even before we left Italy 5 years back they had much tighter control over hunting. You could shoot people and get away with it, but shoot the wrong bird at the wrong time was much harder to get away with. It the last few years there we never seen or heard hunters out of season and the season was much smaller - even so we dreaded it.

 

We now have 5 eggs in our swallows nest, she’s laid one every night for the last 5 nights. I think that might be all of them now as she’s started incubating them whereas until this morning she was leaving them for long periods. So in approximately 16 days we’ll hopefully have chicks.

 

What a beautiful sight....

 

It is isn’t it @DiggersJo