House Martins, Swallows & Swifts

I've yet to see any swallows or house martins this year. I've seen a couple of swifts knocking about.

 

Sad news from one of our swallow nests. We have a nest in our carport and I found 3 tiny chicks dead on the floor, they looked like they were 1 or 2 days old.
I’ve never seen this before so I’m not sure what’s happened. The female is still sitting on the nest so I presume she has a couple more chicks in there. Yesterday our weather was extremely windy so perhaps they couldn’t find enough insects to feed all the babies? I hate this part of watching nature, I find it quite upsetting

 

Our swallow nest in our porch has hatched its first egg this morning, I’m so pleased. I just hope they manage to find enough insects to feed it as we’re due to have rain all day, fingers crossed. I love the way its beak is open calling for food already.

 

They clearly love the wee site you have for them @CatDouch
Fingers crossed they all do well.

Life/nature as it really is. Some disasters and some successes

 

Thanks @fairygirl I'm really hoping this nest does well. Last year we had 3 pairs and we’re down to one pair now. After the chicks from the other nest were found dead underneath the nest I’ve not seen that pair so I’m really hoping for good news with this one

 

It’s not looking like it’s going to be a good year for swallows here. The first chick from the 5 eggs hatched on Thursday but none of the other eggs have hatched, I’m so disappointed. The one and only chick is being fed and is growing but it’s not got a very comfy nest as it has to contend with 4 eggs!!

 

Nothing here
Jenny namaste

 

When I first moved here we used to have bats, swallows and swifts every year but as soon as the wind turbine was erected and new people bought the old house and barns across the road, they all disappeared.
At the time I found a long eared bat hanging on a beam in my snug so when I think I saw a couple of piperstrell bats flying around a couple of evenings ago I was delighted. I hope I wasn't mistaken.

 

I still say they are all getting slaughtered on the trip across Southern Europe, I've only seen swallows on one occasion and that was weeks ago.
Apparently there are bats around in the area but I dont see them anymore either, they used to fly around the street lights catching moths, not seen any moths either.

I think there is a trend here, no insects perhaps?

 

We have swallows and house and sand martins nesting here and successfully breeding. When we moved here there were 3 nests in the ground floor of the ruin and there are still 3 nests. Then we had a nest in our "cave" which is a storage area in the middle of what is now an annex but used to be part of the old farm buildings. There may be more nests upstairs to the left but part of the roof is falling down on the right side now so we don't venture up there.

A couple of years ago a new nest was started, rather precariously, in the garden shed on the end but it was clearly novices as it fell one day. There were 5 chicks in there so I picked it up and put it in an old hanging basket I hung from the same bit of wood. That worked OK and they all fledged.

This year there are 3 nests in there and 3 in the cave and I've seen birds flying in an out of other openings in old doors in the ruin so our lot seem to be doing OK. We've had birds swooping into the house, presumably looking for new nesting sites, so I'll put up extra wee shelves on beams to encourage them.

I love to see them swooping over the garden and pond and the calls they make as they fly.

 

100s of house martins here, swallow and swifts, not quite the numbers but still here and feeding today.

 

What remarkable progress our swallow chick has made in 10 days, none of the other eggs hatched sadly.
Day 1

Day 5

Day 10

Once this chick fledges I’m hoping she’ll have another clutch of eggs and more will hatch. Last year we had 3 pairs nesting and 15 young fledged from the nests.

 

We've still got a few bats knocking around by us. There's quite a few old buildings nearby so my guess is they are roosting in there.

 

We have a bat that arrives at just after sunset and whizzes around,
Jenny namaste

 

A distinctive lack of House Martins here this year too. My garden is usually a stop off point for them for about a week. Bats roost in my neighbours old wooden garage and they have been out and about at dusk over the last month.