Swallows!

borderlinemeath

Following on from the post in the chillout zone - here's a pic of the beginning of the swallows nest in the outhouse. Nothing much to look at now, but in a day or two there will be an extra layer of mud, a bit of grass/straw and maybe in about a week a full nest to raise their little family. Hopefully there will be 4/5 eggs laid and they should hatch in about 3 weeks.

The outhouse has been a perfect nesting spot for the swallows, they've been returning for the past 4 years and have successfully raised at least 2 clutches of eggs per summer, sometimes 3. There are ample perching spots, on wires and on paint tins and the metal roof acts like a perfect incubator.

Pumpkinseeds

I always get swallows confused with swifts for some reason. I posted yesterday that I had 2 swifts/housemartins flying around the kitchen, according to my Dad they are swifts. We get a lot of midges out the back with our trees and I think thats what draws them. I love watching the acrobatics, they are amazing birds.:)

borderlinemeath

They're really similar, but swifts are bigger and have a plainer coloured feathering also swifts tend not to perch on things, rather they cling to walls as they have very short legs!

The swallows that nest here are the common barn swallow, lovely rusty orange faces, white breast feathers and blue back and tail feathers. The males have longer streamers (the forked tail that sits together when perched) than the female. But both tend to the nest and eggs and help raise their young.

http://youtu.be/-Qfn8zMgf1Y

This is a short video of the parents feeding the young. I must have just put on the tumble dryer, I can hear it going in the background! The mother is feeding first then the daddy with his longer streamers comes in.

noddyone2

Lovely to see them around a place. A pair nesting in my lean-to as well.

boomerang

The swallows arrived to us yesterday, yay! Boo will chase them all summer long. They only make a laugh of her!

Super-freestyle swallow chasing

I have a starling nesting in the eaves right over my bedroom window. Far, far noisier than the house sparrows, she woke me up this morning!

We have dozens of house sparrows - love the sound of those. Cheep cheep cheep.

borderlinemeath

They drive our pair demented as well. Particularly Benson, he will sit for ages at the door of the outhouse waiting on them so he can shriek/bark at them. He has two distinct barks - his big girly shriek bark for excitement and getting birds, and his stranger danger big boy bark and it sounds like two completely different dogs.
I never actually thought to video him doing it - I was too busy watching the birds! And watching the circling sparrowhawks who are always on the lookout for a meal:(.

Chuck Stone

How about setting up a webcam and streamming it to us so we can watch their progress?

Only if you have decent broadband ofc.

borderlinemeath

Chuck Stone wrote: »

How about setting up a webcam and streamming it to us so we can watch their progress?

Only if you have decent broadband ofc.

If somebody wants to come out and do that type of set up technological thingamajig then they are more than welcome:D. I am fairly useless when it comes to that type of stuff.

Broadband isn't the best either unfortunately. (Don't ask me what speed it is, I just know it's slower than some friends/relatives!)

boomerang

Love that last bit of Boo's video where not only is she chasing the swallows around the lawn, but she's carrying her favourite busted football in her mouth too, for good measure!

Galwayguy35

I see they have made a nest in between the slates and the gutters on the roof of my house, best to leave them alone I suppose, I read somewhere it's better not to disturb the nest.

aonb

absolutely do not disturb the nest - you will have a work of art in a week, and then babies to watch. Lucky you!

borderlinemeath

Another layer of mud pellets and a good few twigs/grass added over the past day! There was a long piece of grass hanging out of it at this point although it's difficult to see it with the white paint tin stacked on the green tin, when I went back in later on it had all been tucked away nice and neatly.

borderlinemeath

The nest looks almost complete at this stage. I also sneaked a little pic of them sitting on it this evening.

boardbrowser

Thanks for sharing your story. i have swallows that come each year back to their nests(under the outside rafters of the house).
my cat perches on window to watch them come and go, it's her version of live tv entertainment i suspect, no need to worry she will never get to disturb them though- way out of harms reach.
always delighted to see them return after such a long commute back here.

borderlinemeath

Right so my cunning plan to keep them away from the utility side of the outhouse has failed. Another pair of swallows have moved into the old nest:o. There was an almighty racket from my pair this morning, and lots of swooping and aeriel displays from the swallows and there were more than two, so when I was in at the freezer this morning getting our pairs dinner out I noticed that there was droppings underneath the old nest - and both pairs have been in and out all morning, sitting on both nests and vantage points.

It's going to be a very noisy summer:o

Mo60

Any experienced builders available?

I have swallows that come back every year to build a nest outside at the top of the roof apex. Unfortunately twice in the last couple of days the nest has fallen down, the last time a couple of hours ago. At the moment there are no swallows there, but hopefully they will return tomorrow and it will be third time lucky.

borderlinemeath

Got back from holidays last night, the pair are still on the nest and mammy was sitting in it - checked today and yep 5 eggs!



The other nest is still occupied by a couple but they only moved in just over a week ago so no eggs yet. They're still in the honeymoon period;)

borderlinemeath

One of them flew into the house this morning. It never normally happens to the adults but every year the fledglings always make the mistake. You can see it up at the velux window top left (blurry image) and then bottom right is the outhouse door it was meant to fly into. I suppose they fly at such speeds they can make the occasional mistake. Problem is they head straight for the velux windows to try and get out rather than out the door again. (and I need a stool and the special catch opener on an extendable pole to open the velux:o). Usually after a minute or two flying around they settle on the door frame or the chimney and realise the way out.



Got this shot of one of them flying off the roof earlier on too, lovely wingspan.

Chuck Stone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMwfbg7wuBs

bluecherry74

Great shot of the eggs with the mirror! Is it just an urban myth that birds will abandon their nest if they think someone's been near it? Or are swallows different because they tend to nest in man made structures?

borderlinemeath

I think it's a bit of a myth but I still wouldn't touch the nest or the eggs. I've had to put fledglings back in the nest after they've flown into the living room (usually on their first few flights) and they get so agitated they stun themselves by bashing off the veluxes so I usually just pick them up and put them back in the nest. They've always recovered and grown up so it didn't seem to do them any harm.

mymo

Lovely photo's, keep em coming!

No sign around here of any, but with 3 cats not surprised.
Always had a nest outside my window in last house, until idiot neighbour did me a "favour" and knocked it >:(
Thankfully they hadn't started using it yet that year, but I was really annoyed.

Galwayguy35

Think my house is becoming a bird scantuary!

Another pair of swallows have arrived yesterday and started building their nest on the side wall of the house, it's amazing because it is like it has been glued to the wall with nothing supporting it.

Whispered

There are loads of birds at the kennels. They seem to gather at feeding time and steal bits of dog food. It's absolutely wonderful to watch. There are babies in the roof and if you watch for long enough you'll see them poke their heads out and scream for food. I went into the shed today and was dive bombed by 2 swallows. I didn't realise there are 2 nests in there. I quickly left before one of the beasts pecked my eyes out :pac:.

borderlinemeath

There's eggs in the second nest now
so there'll be about 2 weeks between babies hatching. There's also lots more swallows trying to build a nest under a gutter, another couple of pairs, I think. One also settled on the bathroom window when it was left open one night, I made sure to close it every night afterwards in case he got any ideas:o.



I get dive bombed all the time. If I walk in they fly out but if I'm in there they fly in and settle down and don't seem to mind. They also sit on the gutters and taunt the dogs. Benson goes MENTAL. I always maintain the reason he ended up in rescue is that he was probably bought as a working dog but dumped as he's got a bark like a siren when chasing birds, just to let them know he's coming:D.





And I just like this photo because I think he's looking straight at me:)

SillyMangoX

Our pair of swallows that comes every year are back, only this week they actually came back! They love to try to fly as close to the cats as possible. Dude is fascinated by them! Actually there was one year they didn't come back, my old cat Bounce was in the shed where they nest and she jumped up on the lawnmower and caught one mid flight. They didn't come back the following year, but none of my cats since her have been good enough hunters to catch one!

dodderangler

Seen plenty tonight and one unfortunately was dead on the ground still soft so I assume he was only dead within an hour

hedgehog2

Still waiting on them out west,we had them in the barns for the past 4 yrs and no sign yet.
Really enjoyed watching them weave in and out of the little gap in the door frame and raise their young.
Hope they nest again with us

borderlinemeath

They're here.....:D

borderlinemeath

Not a great shot unfortunately but I didn't want to stay up there for any longer than I had to. Looks like all 5 hatched so it'll be a feeding frenzy for the next 3 weeks.

In other building news the 3rd nest is in progress, looking to be longer rather than the traditional cup shape it's not in a very easy position for me to access but we'll see how they get on.

Pretzill

Great shots border... we have many nests in the barns and coal shed what I've noticed this year is they are dismantling the old nests for rebuilding never noticed this before most times they just build a brand new one because possible parasites etc in the older ones - love seeing the swalllows returning they are busy this evening a few more insects out there for them.