I have found 3 dead house martens under one nest over the past few days. Any ideas why? They appear to have been thrown out of the nest.
Do you also have house sparrows?
No. We have 3 nests in a row where the house martens appear to be doing well and then 1 nest about 15 foot away which seems the problem
If you have no house sparrows at all in the area of your garden/property, it suggests a house martin has taken over the nest. Not had that myself in terms of throwing out young. How developed were the young? Well feathered or still very small?
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They have all looked like this and are under the nest which is under the eaves
Thanks for the photo. The extra info helps narrow down the possibilities. Hard to make out. However, whatever it is looks developed. Do you have a cat? Also, do you have a large window above where the bodies are ending up?
No cat and the nest is resting on top of a metal outdoor light- which we do not use- and is just under the fascia boards. It is south facing so we wondered if they are overheating? The 3 have appeared on the lawn just under the nest
Thanks. I'm surprised they have chosen south facing. Maybe limited options otherwise. Possible re overheating, though you have three other nests that haven't failed. If the nest is resting on metal, it would get very hot, but presumably the nest would fail too as martin nests are made with mud? Not sure. The bird appears well developed so not sure being able to fly can be ruled out. Martins don't have issues with heat normally, so it would really only be the metal making the difference, if it is that. You also said they were appearing over several days, which would have included less hot days. There were two hotter ones not that long ago, when they would also have been chicks. I was wondering if they could fly and collided with the window nearest where they ended up. Young do return to the nest site in many cases.
Thank you I will monitor closely
Has the nest been taken over or is it now just empty and unused?