Thursday 2nd June, after the weekly shopping trip in the morning, it was a trip to Baddesley Clinton, a Nat Trust which has swallows in the gateway, literally right above peoples heads!
But I got a bit more than I expected, in an interesting and fascinating way, the first sings of nesting were jackdaws in the eaves of the medieval moated house.
Up on the roof (original by Little Eva summer 1962, charted by Kenny Lynch Dec 1962 and Julie Grant Jan 1963, though The Drifters did have their own version), with food for the brood!
After going in through the back door, one came out through the front door....
And using the front door to go in this time!
"And don't forget to close the door behind you..."
Then a wander around to the gatehouse, and right on cue, an occupied swallows nest. Not the one in previous years, and I felt this nesting pair were probably first timers, but that is only a wild guess.
The area where the nests are...
The team at Baddesley say the swallows have only been there around a week or so, and quite late in arriving this year.
Settling down and awaiting the next catch to arrive
The doting partner arrives complete with insect
Once happy all is safe, flies up to the nest
Fed and settled, until the next food supply comes in
Mike
Flickr: Peak Rambler
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Regards, Hazel
(Pardon the Scottish Accent)
PimperneBloke said:Lovely Swallow shots Mike... I need to find out where they go locally when they're not fizzing about at 100 miles an hour lol
Thank you.
I've no idea on your home location, worthwhile places would be Nat Trust buildings, and many farms with good public access to start with.
Unknown said:Good to see you got back to Baddesley Clinton and timed it for the late arrival of the swallows; very nice pics Mike.
Thank you Hazel.
Thankfully, HS2 road closures permitting, its easy to get to, and always yields good on the wildlife, and fawna.
All being well I'll make a return visit or two to capture any progress, along with any other activity.
i love robins said:Great Photos Mike I bet it was lovely to see the swallows so close
Thank you ILR.
It is always good to see them so close, and literally only a couple of feet above peoples heads.
Linda257 said:Now that looks like a perfect place to actually get a decent pic of a Swallow....my kind of place.... where they sit nice for you lol
You're welcome.
Isn't just a perfect place.
I've been capturing the swallows there since 2017. The following links will take you to my Flickr pages for their swallows.
June 2017 https://www.flickr.com/photos/peak-rambler/albums/72157684610038426
July 2018 https://www.flickr.com/photos/peak-rambler/albums/72157668911518227
June 2021 https://www.flickr.com/photos/peak-rambler/albums/72157719377477540
I though these next few photos of the swallows at Baddesley Clinton would be better here rather than a new thread, because it is basically an update.
Sunday 12th June, it was nice and sunny, the forecast looked promising, so I made an early trip to Baddesley Clinton to see how the swallows, and jackdaws, were progressing.
I was there a little before opening time, which was my intention, so to get an unobstructed view of the magnificent moated medieval house.
However, the swallow activity considering how sunny and warm it was, was causing alarm bells to ring!
The house didn't open until 11:00, so I made good use of the time to have a look at the youngsters around before the public were at large, and as expected, lots of Canada goslings and mallard ducklings.
The goslings, though still downy and growing fast, were being very heavily protected by mom & dad. They didn't like the camera, because when I lowered it, they seemed more relaxed, until, I calmly raised the camera again, so respecting the parents I've no photos, but plenty of mallard ducklings....
There's always one unruly infant!
But mamma mallard soon had them taking a well earned nap
A bit of ducking and diving!
A grey wagtail gathering food for the brood. The nest was situated in the kitchen roof, at the rear of the house.
By now it was getting to opening time, and the resident roof jackdaw was keeping a close eye on proceedings. It was almost, and I'm sure they know the routine perfectly, coming up to 11:00, it was on the chimney, looking down at the very small queue waiting for the doors to the house to open.
and cropped
Though I was watching the jackdaw and not the few people waiting to go in the house, it was obvious the door had been opened, cos it went the other side of the chimney to look down on the courtyard and watch the people go in the house....
and a cropped photo
Once the people had gone in to the house, I then went to where the nest is, wondering what might have happened, and it was good to see swallow chicks, probably around 7-10 days old by now, quietly waiting for food to arrive.
Then, all of a sudden, they must have heard the call, "lunch is on its way" and all hell broke loose!
Me, me , me, me, me.....
i wonder if this pair of swallows are first timers here, possibly offspring of previous years parents, there are a few things that make me think that, along with them using a different nest to previous years. But it is only a wild guess, and good to see the progress.
Though the photos are record shots of only one chick being fed, the others didn't come out too well with the light being poor and no flash used, I did note the feeding of the chicks was very orderly. It was a case or left to right by both parents, automatically, so no chick had more than its fair share.
There were five chicks, though only four are seen in this series of photos, though I have some video to add, taken using the 5D4 on a tripod, which I'll add at a later date, once i've sorted and uploaded them to my Flickr pages.