This year on the Angus Aberdeenshire border, there have been noticeably fewer swallows, house and sand martins. Usually we have two and sometimes three pairs of swallows nesting in our stables - but this year only one pair have raised two broods.
From end of August to date, on previous years, the telephone wires around here were heaving with swallows and martins - perhaps between 1-2 hundred on any day - but this year there has only been a daily handful passing through.
Last week we discovered a dead swallow and a dead house martin in the garden. The sand martin colony nearby had partially collapsed over the winter months.
Are there any other reports which might support a decline in the return of these hirundines?
ClaireM
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" - Wlliam Blake
Hi,
there is talk on the jungle telegraph that House martins returned in smaller numbers this year- we'll have to wait and see from national breeding returns if the drop in numbers is country wide.
S
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Hi Claire
I'm sorry I can not you an answer to your question but I do wonder if the volcanic ash this year had anything to do with the amount of birds we have seen ?
Robert
Swallows and Martins passing through Aberdeen in there 100's everyday here. I dont think I have seen so meny in years for this late in the season..
Cheers
AL
If its no fun Yer no doin it right!