On Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:08:15 +0100, Sacha wrote
(in article ) :

On 28/8/07 23:14, in article
, "Sally Thompson"
wrote:

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 22:52:39 +0100, Sacha wrote
(in article ) :

We saw a couple of dozen sitting on the wires as we went out to dinner
tonight. ;-(



Still around he two nests in the (cartshed) garage, and two broods
raised
in each this year. Mind you, our cars have to stand out in the summer so
the
cats can't use them as a ladder :-)


'Ours', as in locally, seem to me to arrive late and leave early. They
never nest here but choose an area mere minutes away and among those is the
wall of my step daughter's house. But I know so little of their habits that
I could be in a real muddle as to their going or staying intentions. I just
feel that when we see them en masse, they're not going to be here a lot
longer. In a previous house, we had a cowshed with a dangling light flex.
The clever swallows built their nest on this and it was protected from all
predators, apparently. This went on for years. At my son's house, there is
a broad granite archway with oak beams across part of it. It's entirely
weatherproof and his grandfather set up a few of those fake nests. I've
known that house more than 30 years and those nests have never failed to be
inhabited and other swallows have built real ones beside them year upon
year. I really am going to have to find out a bit more about this. Every
year it both puzzles and intrigues me!

Ours arrive about 21st April - we keep a record. The first year they
inspected but didn't build, and the second year we were privileged to
actually watch them build their nest, raise their young and watch the young
birds learning to fly. (We hid behind the trailer, which must have intrigued
the next-doors.) I have a wonderful photo of all the babies lined up along a
beam watching me - a bit Disney-like! The second year they used the same
nest, raised a brood and then to our surprise built a second nest and raised
a second brood in that. This year we have two pairs which each appear to
have raised two broods in the existing nests. We would be happy if they built
more nests, and it would be interesting to set up a few fake ones for them as
well. We have a pond as you know, and sometimes we hold our breath in the
summer if we are sitting there and they dive and swoop over the pond like an
aerial ballet, presumably both taking insects and drinking. While they are
building the nest, they dip into the pond for the water they need for the
nest.

Beats working for a living!



--
Sally in Shropshire, UK
Burne-Jones/William Morris window in Shropshire church with conservation
churchyard:
http://www.whitton-stmarys.org.uk