Anyone seen any Swallows yet??

[alibali]

Not here in my part of the Scottish Borders yet, usually return to my shed around the 18th.....

 

[spacefaer]

Friend had hers return yesterday (in Shropshire)

 

[Berpisc]

Just seen a couple! South Yorkshire

 

[SlinkyMinxy]

I saw my first one yesterday morning, sitting on the electricity wires in my field. I'm in West Devon. They normally return here around the 11th but last year it wasn't until the 15th, so I was surprised to see it yesterday.

 

[AmyMay]

Spotted my first one this morning.

West Wales

 

[nellietinker]

yes South Gloucestershire two spotted when we were moving sheep on Saturday morning

 

[HeyMich]

Nope, but the house martins are back! Not long now...

 

[Mrs B]

Saw my first one this morning - such a bitter-sweet sighting.

Yesterday, we lost one of the yard's most lovely horses: one of those really special one, you know? Well, due to it being Sunday afternoon and with the current situation, collection couldn't take place ... so there I was early this morning, lost in sad thought looking at the quiet shape of him under the rugs, when the very first swallow appeared and kept swooping and passing over and over him in his little paddock.

So sad and so very beautiful at the same time ...

 

[EventingMum]

First ones are here on the west coast of Scotland.

 

[Sussexbythesea]

Yay they’re back! Saw them swooping in and out of the stables this morning. I looked for them last night and didn’t see any so must’ve arrived late evening early morning.

 

[cobsandbassets]

Update. Saw one yesterday down at the yard. We have a group who come back every year to the Marina where we live but I haven't seen any of them yet. Hoping!

 

[cremedemonthe]

First one this morning up the lane here in West Wales (Tanglwst)

 

[Wagtail]

Yes one pair of swallows an one pair of house martins Sunday teatime. Not the main lot though as we have around twenty pairs.

 

[Surbie]

Not seen any in Surrey yet, usually about another week for us. There were very few last year, I hope we do better in 2020. I've not heard a cuckoo for at least 3 years either

Saw a swallow yesterday on an electicity wire (also Surrey). Cobbus has an old nest in his stable, and there's one in our storage stable too - just need to move his rugs so they are out of poo range!

I love seeing them, so glad they are back.

 

[CavaloBranco]

Yes, saw our first one this morning! It's such a beautiful day here in Sussex, why wouldn't you want to return to such a des res!!

 

[Rumtytum]

After one week of constant rain on this island in the northern Aegean finally the sun appeared at 4p.m. followed minutes later by the swallows ?. They must have been sheltering somewhere. The hoopoes arrived a couple of weeks ago, fantastic noisy little things.

 

[chocolategirl]

We don’t get swallows we get house martins instead, and I’ve seen a few already. Sooooooo pretty ?

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

None here yet.

I'm sure it was around this week last year when they returned.

Yes two flew round here yesterday but today there is not sign of them.

 

[Suby2]

Second one arrived today looking rather scruffy. Don’t think it’s the first one’s mate. Maybe last year young.

 

[millikins]

They were back this afternoon in Surrey, but looked like they were flying through rather than stopping.

 

[WandaMare]

Ours haven't arrived yet in Bristol. I did see a bat circling over our pond yesterday evening which seemed quite early, we usually see the swallows first.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

We thought we had heard them yesterday and then saw one coming out of the stable where they usually nest. I haven't seen them today though.

 

[Petalpoos]

None yet, but the first of our nightingales has turned up! Hopefully more to follow ?

 

[PurBee]

They arrived this morning! ? Just a pair so far...

shooting around the place eating the newly hatched biting thingies!

This evening i spotted 2 bats flying after each other too..

 

[Jayzee]

Yes! saw my first one this evening in Sussex

 

[shortstuff99]

We have swallows in Cambridge

 

[southerncomfort]

Still none here. ? Hope they arrive soon as a swarm of midges has taken up residence over the yard which im sure the Swallows would enjoy taking care of.

 

[Sofiamarsella]

They are here in Ireland watching them flying around right now

 

[Duckanasteroidiscoming]

The first house martins arrived back on Monday (South Wales). No sightings of the swallows yet but they are usually later than the HMs.

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Whilst we are on this thread can i just recommend that if you pull out horse tail from your brush that you either dispose of it in a bin or cut it with scissors so its not too long.

I wrote about this last year but in 2019 we had a fledgling that wouldnt leave it's nest. It's siblings had all fledged and were flying in and out of the nest and mum was still feeding it. Eventually there was just one that chose to perch next to it until that flew off. The following day my partner tried to take the bird out of the nest to check on it and it had died.

The reason? Because it's mum had used tail hair from our muck heap/yard flood to line the nest and it had become entangled in it with it's leg and died.

We were devastated and very upset, me particuarly because if only I'd have told my partner earlier we would have known it was okay to interfere with the nest and would have seen what was wrong with it. We kept thinkimg that if we disturbed the nest and it couldn't fly mum wouldn't keep feeding it.

So please remember to cut tail hair