[Rupert the bear]

Despite all thats going on in the world one thing we can all rely on is the return of the Swallows.
10am this morning in the warm sunshine a pair of swallows zoomed down the yard loudly announcing themselves .
Every year is a little bit emotional for Me to know some have survived the winters trip away and back, even more so
this year as they are about a month early, it seems this year spring its self is early too.
This evening I have been back outside , they are still here and hunting for food. And now its time to put the cardboard down !

[Rosemary]

Lovely . Not seen any here yet but fingers crossed for soon.

[Penninehillbilly]

Came on to say we had a swallow (or 2?) in the barn this morning.
Heard it before I saw it. I think they are the advance scouting party, we seem to get them then they disappear for a few days,
Lifts the heart and puts a smile on my face to see them again. 
At least there are flies and midges for them this year.

[Rupert the bear]

Its been almost a month since the first arrivals, the rest have now arrived. I can count about 48 ish , more cardboard down.
But one bird stands out , its Dopey, the swallow that cant collect water on the fly but has to splash down into the puddle, I'm sure its the the same one , if it is she will be 3 years old now.

The best thing so far, sitting in a warm sunlit corner of the yard watching the aerial display whilst classic fm is playing Ron Goodwins 633 squadron theme , perfect

[Rupert the bear]

We have chicks !

[chrismahon]

Against my better judgement we allowed a pair to nest in the garage this year, for the first time. Counted 4 eggs but they had 6 chicks which are rapidly reaching fledging time. The sky is full of them at the moment- parents with young, so the adults in the garage are struggling to catch enough to feed theirs.


The garage has an uninsulated steel roof. To stop the chicks from frying with the heat from the panels (have measured 56C) I went up with planks to protect the area over the nest from direct sunlight. Seems to have worked, although they still overheat in the afternoon.


Hopefully they will have gone in a week and I can go back to working in there. It's the arc welding is the biggest problem, but the adults get very agitated if we just walk in to fetch gardening tools.

[Penninehillbilly]

Its good of you to try and shade the area, just something about them is so special.
Luckily we put a layer of insulation to prevent condensation, hope ours are OK up there.

We are only allowed in the barn for short periods of time, I don't do too bad, as my third is walled off up to about 3M, but husbands stuff is below the nest area.
They do have a narrow access, but as soon as I open the door and the stable type door top, they whizz in and out of there, sometimes sometimes having to make avoidance manouvres if we meet in the doorway