house martins

I haven't seen one House Martin at all this year - although there are a few Swallows and plenty of Swifts - all very worrying. I miss them too.

I see that you are in East Yorkshire - I'm fairly nearby in North Lincolnshire - Perhaps it is a geographical reason? It has been very cold here until this week. It is also very dry. I have swallows nest each year and although they arrived on 30th March they still haven't started nesting.

CJ

cjbeady said:

I haven't seen one House Martin at all this year - although there are a few Swallows and plenty of Swifts - all very worrying. I miss them too

CJ  Thank you............ It is a little depressing I hope they are just late

Buzzard said:

Hi Robert,

I have seen reasonable numbers of House Martins.

I would suggest it is down to the cold spring as a number of other migrants have just started to arrive in the last week.

The BTO carried out a survey in 2008, it makes very interesting reading and may shed some light on your concerns.

http://www.bto.org/home/house_martins_final.pdf

Regards Buzzard

thank you

could be, it has been cold here, my wisteria was killed by the cold and wind

Hello Robert

I have also been very concerned about our house martins. They nested succesfully at my house for years then just stopped. However, there are always groups in the surrounding area. I have not seen one this year. It has been an extremely cold winter so I do hope they appear soon.

Thank you for your information Buzzard, which is reassuring.

I hope someone can answer this question. I have heard (somewhere!) that females return to the nest they were bred, to have their young. Is this true? If it is it may explain why my house martins stopped breeding here, it could have been that none of  'my' females returned one year.

 I would be grateful for any information, thank you.  

what a relief ! Just seen the first pair of the year............ I hope there are many more to follow