House Martins Preparing To Leave

My wife managed to catch these House Martins on video, which were preparing for their very long flight back to South Africa. Every so often they have a mad half hour and dive bomb the road outside the house, in between sitting on the electricity lines. It’s fabulous to watch and it looks like this was a final goodbye.

Sparrows Aren’t Happy

You don’t see these birds in the cities, come to think of it, you don’t see many species of birds in the cities. So you can imagine our surprise when we moved here and discovered a nest in the eaves of our roof. Our neighbour tells us that the same birds come back to the same nest, year after year and usually around May 2nd. Apparently, the Sparrows are not too happy with them and we have seen them feuding over nests. I suppose it’s a territorial thing.

It’s just great to be able to watch these birds….

Fascinating To See Them…

This summer has been lovely with so much sun, it has enabled us to spend many an hour in the garden watching these fine birds. Fascinating to see them swooping low over the road and presumably finding the food they need, mainly insects. They never seem to rest, either. From the first light in the morning until it’s too dark to see in the evening, these industrious little birds never stop. To me, it seems as though they work in pairs, back and fore to the nest.

Working To A Rota?

Another strange thing appears to be when one bird enters the nest another bird will leave, as though they are working to a rota. I hope you’ve enjoyed the video. It’s a shame to keep it to ourselves. We count ourselves so fortunate to see this sort of thing on a daily basis and to be able to capture it for posterity. It’s gone very quiet now the House Martins have finally left. Still, there’s plenty of Sparrows, Black Caps, Blue Tits and the Robin to keep us company until May next year.

For more information on House Martins click here.