The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: Penninehillbilly on April 11, 2023, 11:22:09 am
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Heard that wonderful twittering and chuntering in the barn this morning, lifts my spirits :excited:
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First one of the season here in South Scotland this morning as well. Quite early for us. The Ospreys were early at Loch Arkaig too :D
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Very early for us as well, and they've just sent hubby out of barn :D
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Haven't seen any here in Carnoustie yet.
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They're on their way, Rosemary. I saw our first yesterday, and we're in Stirling.
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And I thought I was going to be the first one to post! I thought I saw a swallow on Easter Monday but the wind was so strong that it whizzed past me too quickly to identify properly. But I saw three at the same spot this morning so they are definitely here. Spring has definitely arrived! :sunshine:
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aaaand they are back ! 10 days earlier than last year. North Aberdeenshire by Peterhead
Thank goodness .
I promised myself to hang on until they arrived, ever so pleased to say the least.
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aaaand they are back ! 10 days earlier than last year. North Aberdeenshire by Peterhead
Thank goodness .
I promised myself to hang on until they arrived, ever so pleased to say the least.
Now enjoy the whole summer they are here RtB :love:
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The second brood of chicks fledged and have been learning skills suck as catch the feather dropped by mother , never seen this before , over an hour watching this , picking up water fro the puddle whilst still in flight and the adult who still cant get it right without splashing in to the water, I think this is " Dopey" a juvenile who had the same issue last year.
But unlike previous years there is no sign of any laying of eggs for a third hatching ,just no sign of any one nesting anywhere on the place.
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We’re on our third brood. We had 8 or 9 nests and they all had 4 or 5 in each. The number on the third brood is less though. The earliest brood seem to have moved on as the place has quietened down considerably! The level of guano production has consequently also reduced!,
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Seems to me all species of Hirundinidae here (mid Cornwall) are in extremely low numbers this year (perhaps they've decided to move farther north for their brooding summer holiday !!??). For example, previously abundant Martins at one of my gardening client's place have been in very "short supply" this year and the very few have already gone. However, good to see at least one of two swallow nests at a friend's house has another brood (I don't know whether 2nd or 3rd).
[In passing, I have been enjoying the sight of Red Kites while sitting-out in the above-mentioned friend's garden over recent months. However, no sighting during a visit last week so I'm wondering whether any off-spring have fully fledged and whether the family has moved elsewhere for whatever reason.]
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We've just had a brood fledged, I think it's 3rd lot, but something strange, if it's from the same pair, they've moved from original nest to one on other side of girder. But out this morning. All babes sat on top of bird box outside barn, waiting for breakfast.
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Our house martins have done well .... usual 2 nests have produced 2 broods each and a third nest went up mid summer and has also produced a brood.
Swallows here have had real issues the last 2 years .... only one pair (instead of the 5or6 of previous years) and they seem to have done same as last year ... first brood failed .... last year second brood fledged but I'm not sure if the second brood is growing or not this year ... there was lots of activity but not in last couple of weeks. I'm going to pull these nests down late Sept and see if there is any evidence.
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Weirdly our swallows have all gone! After a busy summer and lots of babies, there's no-one in the skies ???
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Just sat down with a cuppa and thought it was quiet .... then realised all three nests of house martins must have left today (I said hello to them this morning!)
Now feeling very SAD
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My swallows are still here: had a good year compared with previous i think: 4 active nests that i know of, 3 2nd hatchings - i don't normally see /notice more than 2 hatchins per year (i can hear the latest being fed as i type this), and there's 1/2 dozen flitting around with the sheep in the near field.
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So our ours, at least the fledglings still are.
The parents made themselves scarce once the young ones could fly but the four that hatched still come back to roost near their nest each evening and hang around in the barn outside during the day.
I guess it won’t be long though. I will miss them, even though they poo on my bikes.
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Our first ever nest of swallows fledged on bank holiday Monday. There are now regular flying practice sessions around our back garden. Marvellous to see them diving and weaving at such close quarters. The fledglings still go back to the garage to roost and I think the parents are still feeding them. I am so thrilled that we were finally judged to be a suitable site for raising swallow chicks!
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Apart a handful of young ones our Swallows went yesterday morning, nothing back overnight, looks like as before flying on the full moon as in previous years, now very quiet, I will scrape up the poo and wash the floors one more time.
They have always been a pleasure to host and have always enriched our lives in so many ways.
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WEIRD!!!! Our housemartins have returned after vanishing 5 days ago ..... all now in nests and flying round the yard! ..... what a wierd year!
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Just as the sun set tonight the sky filled with swallows, many more than we had in the couple of nests that were successful here this year. Perhaps they are starting to gather ready to head off.
What a joyous noise they made though as they came down to earth. It sounded like they must have been having a wonderful time soaring in the heavens! One of those moments it is nice to be among in nature.
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...and this evening there were 7 swallows flying around here, after we had seen none at all for at least a week! I think they must just have just fledged, so there must have been 3 or 4 adults around, keeping a low profile. Now they can enjoy this late summer spell :D
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They're still flying around the stables at the dog fields we go to. A second brood definitely, maybe even a third. I wonder how many of the third lot of chicks will survive that long journey ahead of them :'( :'( :'(
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They're still flying around the stables at the dog fields we go to. A second brood definitely, maybe even a third. I wonder how many of the third lot of chicks will survive that long journey ahead of them :'( :'( :'(
A fair proportion must survive to make it worth their while trying for a third brood. Perhaps the late ones overwinter in the south of France or Portugal :sunshine:
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I think most years ours seem to leave, then come back for a while, maybe they are taken on a trial trip, or better feeding grounds, haven't seen ours for a couple of days, but seems very early for them to leave?
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Ours are swirling around today in much larger groups, perching on trees and cables.
Perhaps a sign they are getting ready to go.
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Ours left the roost yesterday but I like to think they are part of the 40 or so that have been gathering on the telephone wires at the end of the lane.
I hope they spend another week or so here in Somerset. I don't like to think of them flying to Africa (or even the South of France!) when they are so recently fledged.
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A short article on "Times Radio" made my ears prick up regarding hollow "Swift Bricks" becoming (potentially) a legal requirement for all building developments so as to provide additional nesting sites for Swifts, in particular, and others such as Martins. Given that I've hardly seen a Swift this year and much lower numbers of House Martins, I will keep my fingers crossed for mandatory "Swift Bricks".
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The swallows have gone today - a few still visible out in the fields but the group that was roosting in the barn and near their birth nest has disappeared .
I will miss them. Good luck little ones.
Already thinking about the curlews and lapwings in spring.
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Remarkably, we still have a few left down here. I thought the north-west wind that we have now would have helped them all on their way down south. But there were still three or for flying around the fields this morning. perhaps it's the last batch of youngsters. :)
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It does seem to have been a really scattered departure this year. Most of our swallows left a month ago which is unusually early, then I realised a few were still around. Yesterday I noticed a couple of young ones still flying around the barn. They will surely go now. During the mini late heat wave there were lots of newly hatched flying insects for them to feast on, especially over water, but including a lot of butterflies, but now it's really quite cool here in the south of Scotland so there isn't much left for them to eat.
Personally I am dreading the winter, but looking forward to the migrant birds' return gives me something to look forward to :thumbsup:
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There are still a few flying over the centre of our village. Very mild at the moment so still lots of insects around. Looking back at last year, Penninehillbilly saw some in Yorkshire on 1st October so we may have another week to go :fc:
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Despite the silly temperatures here (+4C over seasonal and a new record for September) all ours left yesterday. Their numbers began to reduce last week, but despite all the flying insects, there are no more flying about. Perhaps they can only eat so much?
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They are STILL here. And there are some young chiff-chaffs as well.
Must be the warm weather. It was 17 degrees here last night, not the 6-7 degrees that we normally have at this time of year.
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They've all gone now. Haven't seen any for a couple of days. They probably took advantage of the north-westerly wind that we had in the middle of the week.
We've still got a couple of chiff-chaffs though. I've read that some have started to overwinter in southern England so it will be interesting to see what happens.