Dave at kelton Posted September 30, 2022 Report Share Posted September 30, 2022 Hell of a day today with high winds and heavy rain but finished with lovely late afternoon sun which brought the midges etc out. By the end of the day the lines to the house were full of swallows and martins, probably up to 100. I was surprised they are still here in SW Scotland as they are normally gone by the time the pinks arrive in numbers. Is anyone else still seeing them in quantity? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royden Posted September 30, 2022 Report Share Posted September 30, 2022 Saw half dozen Swallows two days ago here in the midlands but for the biggest part have been thin on the ground for weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
holloway Posted September 30, 2022 Report Share Posted September 30, 2022 We were just saying today here in Devon they seem to be leaving it late to leave ,just starting to form up on the wires ,closing the door on the summer for another year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnphilip Posted September 30, 2022 Report Share Posted September 30, 2022 Not seen any for the last week here near stranraer , they did not build on my house this year ,yet there was a few about , was the ground to dry to build nest . We're they just waiting for there time to leave , hope next year is better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twenty Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 Still plenty of Swallows and House Martins up on the Cotswolds during the past week, they were congregating on the overhead lines, and hawking the recently drilled fields, and the cover crops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yates Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 Still some around in Rotherham but the numbers of a few weeks ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldypigeonpopper Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 Hello, I'm not to good on remembering which is which but there's been very few on the farm these last few years that I've seen on the wires and nesting in an old shed, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjpainter Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 It's hard to say how many of ours are hangers on and how many are northerners already on their migration routes. There's some evidence to suggest that more and more swallows in particular will be ditching this long distance migration business and doing micro-migrations to the coastal regions, banking on it being easier to tough out a UK winter than face the Sahara twice on journeys to Africa. So watch this space on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnfromUK Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 I used to get a lot of House Martins - peak being about 10 years ago when I had 13 nests around the soffits (which are large) on the house. They have been declining since and this year, for the first time I had none. I have no idea why - there have been no immediate changes in the site or near locality. Conversely, I have seen a few more swallows, but they have never nested on the house, preferring barns and open buildings. There also seem to be a lot of bats around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twenty Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 3 hours ago, JohnfromUK said: I used to get a lot of House Martins - peak being about 10 years ago when I had 13 nests around the soffits (which are large) on the house. They have been declining since and this year, for the first time I had none. I have no idea why - there have been no immediate changes in the site or near locality. Conversely, I have seen a few more swallows, but they have never nested on the house, preferring barns and open buildings. There also seem to be a lot of bats around. With our dry summer, did you still have areas of damp mud in your vicinity? Studies have shown that damp mud within 300metres, (preferably 150 metres) is a requisite. A new nest can take 1000 beakfulls of mud over the ten days of construction, and or repairs. House Martins are in rapid decline (BTO), and are amber listed in the birds of concern. They have declined by 16% from 2001. and 65% from 1965 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnfromUK Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 2 minutes ago, twenty said: With our dry summer, did you still have areas of damp mud in your vicinity? I would say yes as there is a ditch that runs just below my garden. It would have been harder to find damp areas certainly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twenty Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 1 minute ago, JohnfromUK said: I would say yes as there is a ditch that runs just below my garden. It would have been harder to find damp areas certainly. They don't tend to use ditches (but I am not saying they wouldn't), preferring puddles and pools with flat gradient edges. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnfromUK Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 5 minutes ago, twenty said: They don't tend to use ditches (but I am not saying they wouldn't), preferring puddles and pools with flat gradient edges. They have certainly all dried up this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old man Posted October 1, 2022 Report Share Posted October 1, 2022 Sadly, this year not seen even 1 of any this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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