Lack of Swallows this year.

[Johnboy]

Following my record of young Swallows raised on my plot last year I am saddened to have only five breeding pairs to date this year.
There seems to be a real scarcity in this area this year and noted by the local birdwatchers brigade. (of which I am one)
South of the county the density seems similar to last year but in the north of the county here there are but a fraction of the normal population.
Has anybody noticed this in their area.
JB.

[robo]

We where over in spain 2 weeks ago they are there in abundance as well as swifts i can honestly say ive never seen as many

[Primrose]

i have yet to see any arrive in our village yet but it saddens me that we seem to have fewer returning every year. And it also saddens me to watch them wheeling around the older buildings and to see people totally ignorant of their presence and of the migration miracle that is happening under their noses. People have become so obsessed with the wonders of technology they have lost sight of the wonders of nature.
And I have almost given up listening for the sound of the cuckoo too. ,

[Monika]

Johnboy, sadly there has been a steady decline of swallow numbers in our village over the last few years, even though there have been no major changes like more house building, barn conversions etc. Even more noticeable has been the lack of house martins. When we moved here, the (even new!) houses had house martins nests, so we fixed up an artificial nest in the hope that they might also settle on our house, but the numbers soon dropped and our cup-shaped nest was mainly used by bluetits as a roost.

So far, I have only seen three swallows at their usual site in the village this year, but hoping for more!

I would think the decline is as much a result of changes in their overwintering areas as conditions here or even predation on their migration.

[Johnboy]

Primrose you are so right. It seems that it is people of the older generation that notice the differences and the young couldn't give a fig
about anything not finance related.
You would imagine that with the supposed global warming looming that we would be getting more swallows and not fewer.
Normally at this time my property is total mayhem with the birds flying every which way imaginable but not this year it seems.
In the past we have had pairs that have had more than three broods and still incubating their last brood up to a month after most of the others have hightailed it on their miraculous journey back to south of the Sahara.
I have contacted the RSPB who couldn't be bothered to offer an explanation and treated me rather badly. I have learned to expect this from the RSPB because they, like the young, are only interested in finance. What a greedy nation we have become!
Monika, predation seems an unlikely solution because it is generally only the Hobby that predates on them and the Hobby is becoming as scarce as hens teeth I suppose because of the lack of swallows.
Robo, I am gladdened by your observations but still remain very sad with the situation here.
JB.

[robo]

A large part of spain has now got agricultural water it seems it is a long term plan ,places that where dry and mainly barren are now producing a lot of crops, where we have our pensioners bungalow all the old almond trees are getting ripped out and the land is getting planted with fruite trees other areas are growing wheat and barley along with the crops comes flies and a lot of other insects there is no need for swallows and swifts to fly north in spring when there is an abundant amount of food farther south, i was strimming our field last year in early spring i must have had over a 100 swifts sweeping down taking the flies that i was sending up with strimming it was a wonderfull sight

[Elaine]

I have noticed a dramatic decline in Hirundine numbers around my home area for the last four years JB. Swallows and House Martins used to be whizzing around with their lovely calls from mid to late April. Last year, there were no Swifts at all and very few of the other two. I used to sit on the patio in the evening watching and listening to them...my "night music". I then used to wait for dusk and the emergence of the Pippistrelle bats to take over the fly patrol and watch those too. Sadly, there aren't many of those either.
I haven't seen any Swallows round here or at the allotment yet.

Over the allotment, we gardened accompanied by screaming parties of Swifts and the "music" of Swallows and Martins in the past but not any longer. There were few last year and one party of Swifts.

I really miss them.

[Primrose]

A couple of swifts spotted flying around over our village green this morning doe the first time.
But where have all the others. gone?
Hopefully a little late in arriving snd that these won't be the only ones to return this year.

[WestHamRon]

A large part of spain has now got agricultural water it seems it is a long term plan ,places that where dry and mainly barren are now producing a lot of crops, where we have our pensioners bungalow all the old almond trees are getting ripped out and the land is getting planted with fruite trees other areas are growing wheat and barley along with the crops comes flies and a lot of other insects there is no need for swallows and swifts to fly north in spring when there is an abundant amount of food farther south, i was strimming our field last year in early spring i must have had over a 100 swifts sweeping down taking the flies that i was sending up with strimming it was a wonderfull sight

A very good point, well made.
Thry didn't come to the UK by choice.

[Monika]

Just as an added thought: is it lack of food? Our bat numbers are greatly down, too, which suggests a lack of insects.
About 25 years ago, a wildlife organisation (I can't remember which one) asked everyone to count any dead/squashed insects on their front number plates after an evening drive and record the result. Well, if you did that now there might be the odd moth or other night flying insect, but then, the numberplate (as the windscreen) would have been covered with dead bodies!
Perhaps agriculture's love of pesticides has come home to roost??

[Elaine]

Monika, I have been wondering the same thing. Where I live, we are a stones throw from agricultural land and in the summer used to be inundated with thrips when they were cutting the fields. The air used to be thick with them and they would be all embedded in the towels on the washing line! Not these days though....seems to be a lot of house flies but not the ones we associated with crops any more.

[robo]

I counted 10 swifts swooping over the allotment today first time this year

[PLUMPUDDING]

I've noticed a huge decline in the number of swifts, swallows and house martins in recent years. The man at the end of the road actually got someone to remove the nests of the swifts that came every year to raise their broods under his house eaves as he didn't like the droppings on the path!!!!
The pensioners flats next to our house put up lots of satellite dishes all over the end of the building where the house martins nested and they stopped coming and all the local farmers seem to have retired and their children aren't interested in farming so they have converted the farm buildings into yuppie homes and blocked up all the openings that the swallows used to enter to build their nests. This along with the barns collapsing and most of the fields being taken over by horses instead of crops have ruined the nesting sites and insect populations.

Another thing I was wondering about regarding insects - Could it be the huge increase in vehicles that has contributed to the very noticeable decline in insects as well as the use of pesticides? If we used to notice our cars plastered with insects every time we went out and now we don't it is very possible that it is the drivers that are killing them all off. If most insects are fairly low flying they really don't stand a chance if they fly near roads.

[Ricard with an H]

Same here, I was waiting for the usual evening sit-a-long the telecom wires to decide if we were down on swallows/swifts. We do have a reduced number though with the wind being persistently strong I have found it difficult to get to the calm-summer-evening array on the overhead cables.

Another way of making a decision is when I cut the paddock grass, the swallows love the disturbance to whatever lives in the grasses so we get an aerobatic display and a lot of twittering.

This evening we have a lot of twittering though not many birds, maybe they are posturing and building nests under the door canopies.

[Clive.]

I have seen a couple of Swallows 2 weeks ago at work but not seen them again. 4 martins about over home here a few days ago....and today sighted a single Swift high over work location.

I believe it would have been Hobbys that we were seeing above the recently overhauled Ice House Pond across the parkland at work last year.


Clive.