HouseMartins

[naturediva]

A cheery sight yesterday was the return of the housemartins weaving their dance across the sky over the garden and roof tops. Last year they blessed the house by nesting under the eves, so waiting to see if they create a new des. res. here again.

Not sure whether this is about the time they usually arrive - any other sightings?

The lengths some people go to: many years ago when I lived in the South East, housemartins built their nest under the eves of my house. On day upon returning from work I noticed that their mud nest had completely gone (remnants were on the ground below) and then saw that the adjoining neighbours (we weren't particularly pally) had made a crude nest out of orange terracotta clay under the eves of their house in an attempt to lure the birds to their house! The housemartins were very particular and chose to nest somewhere completely different as I never saw them again.

[naturediva]

Yippee! another joy on a lovely sunny day the Housemartins have now made a nest under the eves at the rear of the house and also a pair have started to build another nest at the side where they had one last year.

Anyone know whether the same pairs return to the previous nesting site each year ?

[oldherbaceous]

Dear Naturediva, i think the Swifts must know where a loving home is.
And i'm pretty certain they do return to the same nest sight.

[Elaine]

Hi Naturediva. What a lovely part of the country you live in, we're often to be found round Whitby and North Yorkshire in general.
Re your housemartins...yes they do return to same nest sites. Following generations return to nest in the area too. Brilliant. A few years ago, where I used to live, I was absolutely furious to find one of my neighbours had destroyed a Martins' nest, because "they made such a mess". I would gladly have put up with the mess but for some reason, they chose her house and not mine. They didn't return to our row of houses but nested round the corner. If it was dry when they arrived from Africa, I used to add water to the mud to give them a helping hand and spent hours watching them to-ing and fro-ing with beakfuls. Lovely birds. Cheers.