Bit more light-hearted Swallows arrive home yesterday!

[KarynK]

Amazing little birds, my swallows arrived back in Hampshire yesterday, I heard that distinctive chirping and saw them swooping around, they have again timed it to perfection as the midges appeared and they are already courting and looking in the stables, so the first batch won't be too far off!!

Anyone else got them back yet?

 

[shellonabeach]

Yep

Noticed mine swooping around the horses and the droppings one evening a couple of days ago.

Their nest is still in my mares stable from last year and it looks like they have added some of the hair I clipped off my gelding last weekend The resident robin is no doubt having a heart attack as he had recently taken up residence in the same stable enjoying sitting on my rug rack leaving droppings on my rugs

They had 2 batches of 5 last year and all of the babies fledged

 

[Tormenta]

Mine haven't arrived yet Hoping it will be soon, we had five babies out of a late nest last year and it was beyond adorable when they fledged, all lined up together in the stables. The nests are waiting......

 

[KarynK]

I'm sure they won't be long had another pair turn up today and now they are fighting over who gets the des res and who gets the field shelter!! And tonight I heard the cuckoo!! Its Spring yipee and a bloomin frost tonight!

 

[CorvusCorax]

No sign yet.

Last year one pair actually came in through a hole in our ceiling and were swooping around the living room. I did not scream. Honest.

They used to nest in the dog's stable before we renovated, they worked out that it was the only place, year after year, that the cats would not come and drag the nests down.
One smacked me in the head as it came zooming over the half door!

 

[KarynK]

One smacked me in the head as it came zooming over the half door!

Ahh so you do have an excuse then!!!

 

[CorvusCorax]

Very funny . For a few moments I couldn't work out what happened, I was stunned and all I could see was blue!

 

[mle22]

Ours arrived back last week and have taken up residence in the stables again. I just love to see them arrive. I'm amazed by how they can fly in past the horses heads when they are looking out over the doors and how the horses are so used to them they don't even flinch! We have a little balcony outside our bedroom and lasy year the fledglings used the rails of it as a landing and taking off spot to practise flying. \it was great to lie in bed and watch the show.

 

[KarynK]

I love how they line the babies up for flight school! They are all wobbly to start but within days you can hardly tell them from their parents, and it's so weird the way they all squeeze into that tiny nest, I'd hate to be the bottom one!

CC did the poor bird survive your head butt!!!

 

[siennamum]

Only one!!

I'm hoing nothing has happened to the rest of them, there should be two pairs.

 

[herondell]

mine came back thursday,i love seeing them flying about when im mucking out they fly around outside waiting to come in the stable,i dont like the mess they make when they poo all down the walls.

 

[JEP]

Mine are back too, they arrived last week and are repairing the nest they used in my coloured cob's stable last year, we also have a second pair which look like they are building a new nest in the TB's stable. It lifts my heart every year when they come back.

 

[KarynK]

Just thought I'd bring this back up as my swallows were back this week (around the 28th) and I noticed that it's about two weeks earlier this year!!! Anyone else or are mine pioneers!

 

[Dobiegirl]

Ours havnt arrived yet they normally come about 10th April but every year they get earlier and earlier.

Might go down to the lake tomorrow because they go there first to feed up. Lots of midges around here though so plenty to eat.

My friends husband found a grass snake 10days ago in his garden that is very early and shows you how hot the sun has been.

Im lucky if I hear 1 cuckoo a year now there used to be lots so they are in decline.

 

[Hedgewitch13]

Didn't hear any yesterday down the yard but I saw them on their travels over Tenerife last week Always makes me smile to see the first swallow of the year!

I shall scan the skies later

 

[1stclassalan]

The return of migrating birds has more to do with the prevailing wind than anything else as they do not risk crossing large expanses of water against one even if they sometimes get carried along with one.

Swallows travel up from South Africa in short .... hops ( sorry ) and can spend quite a while in one place before moving on while in other years they will be more persistent.

I know of many nest sites in Buckinghamshire and as yet no returning swallows - though I heard a willow warbler very early - no cuckoos either - didn't hear one all last year.

I have a very old tortoise which woke up three weeks ago and started feeding last week which is early.

 

[Doris68]

Here in Suffolk, ours normally arrive around 20-23 April - none so far. It was great to see them when we went to Barroca and that was early March - definitely felt that Spring had arrived a little early, even though it was in Portugal!

Our friends in Shropshire said that their swallows normally arrive around 1st May!

 

[gingerarab]

Mine arrived last night/today and I am on the outskirts of the west midlands ! Really lovely to have them back, a definate sign that things are on the up

 

[Mrs B]

Nope. Not yet - near Banbury... Keep scanning the skies, listening hard and getting excited until I realise it's finches tweeting

We had about 7 nests over the season last year and M had them zooming into his box between his ears. Lol.

And then we can look forward to that amazing sound of the swifts screaming as they fool about in the sky... and the twitter of the house martins as they swoop down and gather mud for the nests.

The wisteria buds are lengthening too and with the next sunny day will explode into a firework of purple and sweet scent.

We do have a robin nesting in the tack room on one of the shelves - not the most sensible place as you can see right into the nest

Happy Spring, everyone! x

 

[Mike007]

So ,all you ornithologists, were the birdies that were swooping and diving around Bob the not a cob ,and myself , out on the chalk downs yesterdaySkylarks or swallows.. Dont really care but Bob says they are much nicer than Pigeons. (according to him ,practicaly anything is)

 

[millimoo]

Still waiting for ours to arrive in Yorkshire....... they had a poor winter year before last, just hope they weren't hit as hard this year as numbers have been down over the years.
We love them, in fact the Barn conversion we have is called Swallow House.
They did live in there, but thankfully have moved into the Barn entrances & the stables.

We didn't close the barn until the winter months, and they found other places no probs before anyone asks - and it's actually safer, as the nests were so high, we often found dead fledglings who had fallen from the beams, we don't have that problem anymore

 

[lily1]

I'll go out and have a look and see if ours have arrived back safely. They nest either side of the chimney breast.

 

[HashRouge]

Oh I love swallows! On my old farm I used to get two families per year roosting in the beams of my stable, one in each corner. I'll never forget the day I arrived at the farm to find that all the young chicks had been pushed out of the nests and killed . I don't know what had done it - a cat couldn't have got up there and I doubt there was room for a rat either. It broke my heart having to dispose of their bodies. One of them was still alive and I tried to hand rear it but it died shortly after

 

[EAST KENT]

No,still waiting in Kent,but a family of jackdaws have taken over the chimney.

 

[KarynK]

Mike if they were little black birdies with pointy tail feathers and white tummies swooping very very fast then yes Swallows! like this

All my horses hate pigeons, it's the noise they make as they fall through the three or bush they are stuck in, dumb noisy birds!!

 

[NOISYGIRL]

yep noticed them for the first time yesterday eve, I love watching them expertly swooping around, I love looking in the stable and seeing the babies lined up on the corner hay racks and their first flights

 

[NOISYGIRL]

So ,all you ornithologists, were the birdies that were swooping and diving around Bob the not a cob ,and myself , out on the chalk downs yesterdaySkylarks or swallows.. Dont really care but Bob says they are much nicer than Pigeons. (according to him ,practicaly anything is)

Mine hates pigeons, they wait until you're right close to them before flapping off, it spooks him every time ! He even remembers where they spooked him and spooks anyway if they're not there !