The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: tizaala on April 13, 2012, 11:22:48 am

Title: Swallows are back
Post by: tizaala on April 13, 2012, 11:22:48 am
Happy to report our first swallow reported in this morning.    Summers on the way
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: robert waddell on April 13, 2012, 11:26:56 am
one swallow does not not make a summer ;) :farmer:
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Mel on April 13, 2012, 01:09:51 pm
Ours have not arrived yet ??? ,they normally skim the pond :thumbsup: Really looking forward to Summer this year ;D
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: MAK on April 13, 2012, 03:14:27 pm
Yes I think I posted that they had arrived here 2 weeks ago - sods !! Now we have had rain they are collecting my carefully raked new grass seed area to nick the soil for a house. Very difficult to shoot as they fly so quick !1 ( just joking).
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: tizaala on April 13, 2012, 06:06:05 pm
Mak. you could try fly fishing for them..........!!!!!!!
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: robert waddell on April 15, 2012, 11:06:50 am
they have arrived in central Scotland this morning  and it is as cold as a witches tit must be some shock for them weather wise :farmer:
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: jaykay on April 15, 2012, 11:11:48 am
Firat one here (high up in Cumbria) last night, in the goat byre when I went to shut up. It's pretty cold here too!
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: MAK on April 15, 2012, 03:26:04 pm
Found it -
March 22nd

We have just seen ou first swallow fly over house Limousin France).
So another month or so to wait if you live in South England but late August for those of you in the soon to be Independant Republic of Scotland.
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: lill on April 15, 2012, 06:06:41 pm
Just 1 swallow here at the moment need a few more before we can say that summer is coming.
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Lesley Silvester on April 16, 2012, 12:01:39 am
Summer.  Yaaay!
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Beewyched on April 16, 2012, 08:59:45 am
Still watching-out daily - loadsa bl**dy midges here for their dinner  ;D
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Sudanpan on April 16, 2012, 03:20:33 pm
Saw 3 whizzing along about a foot off the field yesterday
 :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: chairmanphil on April 16, 2012, 05:53:08 pm
seen them today, and house martins yesterday! so i planted the courgettes!
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: MAK on April 16, 2012, 09:39:07 pm
Hang on Phil - We had swallows on the 22/3 and it touched 30 in the sun. My courgettes are still under glass because we had a frost last night and <5 degrees under cloud. ( mind you the greenhouse did overheat when the sun came out. I think I will leave mine another 10 days ( end of the month).

Do you cover them at night when you plant them out this early?
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: chairmanphil on April 16, 2012, 09:42:30 pm
just put the seeds in the pots in the green house mate! it was about -4 last night far too cold for them  :D but it is deffo the first swallow today. i love them and i have been looking for them everyday.
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: MAK on April 16, 2012, 09:48:38 pm
Ahh - for one moment I thought you were planting out. I will try to check my plants with a little light shield as they are strong enough to plant out ( bit early oops).
chees Martin
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Beewyched on April 23, 2012, 08:20:24 am
Still no sign of mine ...  :(
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Daisy on April 23, 2012, 01:06:24 pm
No swallows or martins here near Kelso yet, they are usually here by now
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: chairmanphil on April 23, 2012, 01:56:06 pm
they have been doing their acrobatics today! in pairs wheeling around the place!
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Mel on April 24, 2012, 09:31:13 pm
Ours arrived today!! ;D
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: HelenVF on April 25, 2012, 11:12:45 am
Ours arrived last Monday, which is about a week later than normal.  What was different this year was that they all came at once.  We usually ahve them arrive in dribs and drabs but they seemed to arrive, and then started to get busy.

Helen
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: lill on April 25, 2012, 11:38:59 am
we have 6 swallows here now I wonder if they thought about turning back when they came here, too bloody late now.
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Bangbang on May 03, 2012, 06:43:04 pm
Our swallows arrived yesterday and are settling nicely back into there old homes.
 :thumbsup:
we're north Aberdeenshire!
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: chairmanphil on May 03, 2012, 07:38:19 pm
first swifts in on the Oxfordshire levels!  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: arl on May 03, 2012, 11:52:19 pm
First sighting of ours today in east yorks.best put newspapers on the mat ,they are right above the door. House sparrows not too impressed tho
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Beewyched on May 31, 2012, 10:31:18 pm
Looks like we've got 3 pairs this year - summer's now officially here  :)
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: Bionic on June 01, 2012, 07:39:22 am
There seem to be loads here at the new house. I've never had swallows before.
We have 2 nests in the stables but I haven't seen any sign of life in them recently. Would they have flown the nest already?
Sally
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: MAK on June 01, 2012, 08:23:11 am
I think that I have evicted a few from 3 nests in one of the barns that I have just started to use. Shame but I needed somewhere to keep hay. The plus side is that when I clibed up onto the next floor I found owl pellets and we have seen ( and heard the screatch) of barn owls these last few nights.
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: suziequeue on June 01, 2012, 08:24:09 am
We've incorporated the old barn behind the old house - where the swallows used to nest - into the new build

When the swallows returned this year they nested where they usually do....... In the old barn......but now it's our front hall!!

I think we've also got some nesting in the roof space so when the loft hatch goes on it's going to have to be left open.

We had a pond dug last summer and it's great to see them skimming across the water
Title: Re: Swallows are back
Post by: MAK on June 01, 2012, 08:38:27 am
Sounds great - we have had some infra red lights to rig up and a camera so that we can scan the barn thru a small window in our attic bedroom. I think that the OH plans to set this up soon so we can watch the owls and anything else. becuase we have plenty of spare time of course !! ;D