The four birds that epitomise summer, namely screaming swifts, jabbering sand martins, prattling house martins and trilling swallows are now all here. Sand martins arrive first (usually late March/early April), followed by swallows, house martins and finally the swifts (usually late April/early May) and depart the earliest, during August. By now they are all extremely active hawking for aerial insects as their time is shorter this year to make nests and raise young.
Common swift with scythe-like wings, torpedo head and largish eye.
The swift often looks black as they dart by above us but is actually dark brown with a small flash of white under the chin. Seemingly oblivious to us, flocks will fly at over 60 miles an hour over your shoulders and if one passes inches from your face, you can hear the air rush through their feathers. If above you, you may also become aware of the increasing density of insects as they are pushed downwards by the birds. Constantly on the wing to feed, drink, mate and even sleep by closing down one half of its brain at a time, a young swift will fly about 300,000 miles in its first three years –that is further than the moon from the earth. A swift will create a nest, mostly from straw and saliva to hold it together in any small crevice or gap. The young take between 37-56 days to fledge because if food is scarce they can slow their metabolism and enter a state of torpor, such as during rainy weather but their parents will fly 500 miles a day to dodge around rain and find insects in the rising air behind a cold front
Over Lowther, smaller sand martins have a brown back and ‘necklace’ and a mucky white front.
The sand martin is so-called for its habit of building nests in soft riverbanks or cliffs. With their weak beaks and feet, a pair excavate out 3-4 inches a day to create a tunnel 2-3 feet long. One of the earliest artificial sandbanks was constructed at Walton Hall, near Wakefield by gentleman naturalist Charles Waterton using 50 drainpipes sunk horizontally into a wall and it was fully occupied in its first year. Obviously, those weak beaks and feet appreciate any helping hand.
Looking like an aerial killer whale, a house martin is blue/black on top and gleaming white below
Same size as a sand martin, the house martin used to use inland and coastal cliffs for its mud constructed cup-shaped nest with a small opening. Then it discovered buildings because all it needs is a vertical surface and a cover above for protection from the weather. One pair used a burglar alarm as their anchor. It takes approximately 1000 beak sized pieces of wet mud to make the cup over a period of 10 days.
The barn swallow is distinguished by its dark red head, blue-black back and long tail streamers;
The barn swallow originally used caves for its open top cup-shaped nest made from from mud and so robust can be re-used for up to 15 years. Some have been found in coal or tin mines before it favoured farm buildings and one pair even used a Carlisle paddle steamer that plied back and forth over the Solway Firth. A swallow needs 6000 insects a day to survive but because it frequently flies close to the ground, it is the most affected by pesticide use in agriculture. From late summer, roosts in reedbeds.
Recent Sightings:
The woodland around Lowther lake, along to the warren and the old lock are populated with singing blackcap, chiffchaff, garden warbler, whitethroat, lesser whitethroat, willow warbler, marsh and willow tit, long-tailed tit, cetti’s warbler, bullfinch, sedge warbler, reed bunting, the odd grasshopper warbler, green woodpecker and jay. Near Lowther is also a good place to hear cuckoo.
Belting out a song; a male whitethoat
Around the dragline/car park/visitor centre area, the little owl are starting to show more in the finer weather, a red-legged partridge, stock dove and the kestrel pair are back on TV incubating 5 eggs. Other birds of prey around the site include red kite, buzzard, marsh harrier, peregrine, sparrowhawk and the dragonfly-hawking hobby. Along the hillside/pastures are reed bunting, sedge warbler, meadow pipit, skylark and a stonechat continues to be seen.
Around the reedbeds among the gorse are linnet, fledgling tree sparrows and a resident wren that usually calls as you pass by. In the reedbeds are pochard, great-crested grebe, little grebe, a pack of mute swans, still booming bitterns and a few black-necked grebes make regular appearances. In the reeds are sedge and reed warblers and occasional bearded tit sightings, who can have up to four broods in a year so expect sightings to fluctuate based on the parent’s responsibilities and appearance of fledglings.
A female linnet atop a gorse shrub.
On the ridge and furrow and the adjacent Main lake are lapwing, curlew, redshank, black-tailed godwit, oystercatcher, dunlin, snipe, ringed plover, little ringed plover, turnstone, greenshank, grey plover, common tern, garganey, a teal pair, shoveler, a goldeneye, cormorant, jackdaw, starling and lately little egret. With the canada and greylag geese, apart from the numerous goslings, have been 2 barnacle geese. These are likely to be escapees from somewhere as their wild counterparts will be on their Arctic breeding grounds. At Lemonroyd lake, little gull and black tern have visited.
Silhouetted against the morning sun; a greylag crèche.
Seen at Astley lake are common tern, avocet, little ringed plover, common sandpiper, turnstone and kingfisher. At Bowers lake are sand martin, swallow and warring coots who seem to like a lot of personal space and will run on water to chase away any who invade it.
The finer weather is bringing out the insects, including butterflies/moths such as common & holly blue, large & little skipper, dingy skipper, small copper, small tortoiseshell, speckled brown, orange tip, peacock, tortoiseshell, and green-veined white. Plus, the damselflies and dragonflies are starting to emerge.
A banded demoiselle damselfly
Brief visitors during May have included several whimbrel, egyptian goose, great white egret, spoonbill, arctic tern and eye-balling us from above, osprey and common crane.
And finally:
Anyone missing a sandwich? A carrion crow with half a baguette.
Yours, K Sp-8