I once read that the countryside could be a brutal place and I know that is right. I have seen dead lambs, squashed hedgehogs and badgers, I’ve heard about young calves not making it and nearer to home I’ve watched red kites being driven off by crows and, two days ago, while walking on the coastal path with Carol, we watched a red kite being relentlessly pursued by three seagulls. And yesterday, by the eaves of our own cottage we watched house martins and swallows having a right go at each other – it was a little bit like ‘neighbours from hell!
Above left is the house martin and above right is a swallow and here is the story.
House martins have been nesting in the eaves and the doorways of all three of our cottages for years. In autumn each year they migrate and overwinter in Africa before arriving back here in the spring. The same thing happened this year and it was great to see them back. Last year’s young, now fully grown, return to the nest in which they were hatched and their parents build a new next close by or take over an empty one. Sometimes they dismantle an old nest (see below left) and use the mud to build/repair this year’s nest. Their nests are really neat although they do make a right mess on anything on the ground directly below the nest – like our patio! See below right.
We also see many swallows flying around here although, hitherto, they have not nested on the cottages. Something, however, must have happened to the nest of one pair of swallows because they turned up only a few days ago and moved into an unoccupied and partly dismantled house martin nest and started to repair it. We took the photo below of one of them and we did feel sorry for them because they were clearly behind the nesting ‘curve’ and needing a home pretty quickly. Now these guys have no style compared to the house martins when it comes to building as you can see below! It really is a case of just stuff in whatever is to hand and let’s get laying!
To make matters worse their nest is right by one of our bedroom windows and they start building and yelling to each other at about 05:00 in the morning – that does not go down well with Carol!
At first all seemed to be going ok and the neighbours seemed to be getting on reasonable well when a third swallow turned up on its own and started trying to muscle in on the nest. In-flight fights and serious chirping at each other seemed to drive him off so he decided to try his luck with the house martins in the next nest. They were having none of it either and another commotion ensued before he was driven off not to be seen again. Unfortunately now the neighbours don’t seem to be getting on either. I wish we could understand bird language because I can imagine the slanging matches each time they are anywhere near each other! To compound the whole issue, a sparrow turned up and sat in the other dismantled nest but that also attracted adverse attention from all concerned and we have not seen him/her again! it’s all go round here! Below you can see one of the young house martin just peeping its head out of the nest waiting to be fed.
The swallows are elegant in shape and graceful flyers but the house martins have the most amazing ability to slam on its air-brakes and stop instantly in mid-air. They approach the nest at a hell of a speed and then just stop and either hold onto the side of the nest or disappear straight into it through a tiny hole at the top. The swallows are very different. They approach a bit more slowly and then sit on our windowsill or on the guttering for a moment before hopping into the nest which is much more open at the top. Perhaps they are not as confident that their nest will withstand the impact which the house martin nest can take. I really don’t know but it is fascinating to watch. Below you can see one of the young house martins being fed and a rather blurred shot of one parent flying away to gather more insect food while the other stands guard.
A couple of weeks ago we saw egg shells on the patio (see below – the glasses are there to give you a sense of size) and as I said earlier we have seen small heads sticking out of the house martin’s nest so all seems to be well in there despite the parents yelling at the neighbours every day! I have read that swallows usually lay 5 eggs, same as the house martins, so we will watch out for those.
They don’t seem to mind us sitting close-by and watching – well it is our cottage!
I don’t know if it’s a sad confession or not, but Carol and I both know already that we will miss them all when they migrate to Africa in September/October – to us they feel like part of our family – despite the noise!