swallow....

[J Darcy 5,871]

just took this.....

[J Darcy 5,871]

Ah, they probably think you are one of those little gimpy rats mooching about..... i made a hide from a couple of bales.

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Now that's interesting, JD. Your nest looks just like mine does ~ moss conspicuous by its absence. And you're, I believe, in NE england? About on the same line as me then. Where as TBF is way down south and his nest has heaps of spagnum moss included. I wonder if it's a lattitudinal thing?

 

My birds, by the way, are a bit skittish during the day time. Granted, I only tend to pop into their shed once a day in the 'Day'. But usually, round about now or 20:00, when I go to feed my 'stock their supper, she'll be on the nest and quite ignores my presence.

 

Fun this. Being able to all compare notes on the same species

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Ye say that mate, but I live in a bog! Believe me, there's plenty of spagnum round here. In fact, I was recently examining a whole bank of the stuff, just 100 yards from here. If they can go far enough to gather my nearest neighbours hens feathers, they can sure as heck find moss.

 

This has got me scratching my head now

[J Darcy 5,871]

I found a linnets yeaterday with a moss base. never ever seen moss used by a linnet before...

[land rover 0]

just took this.....

 

took this photo some years ago. At 7-30 am one was facing the other way, when I went back at 8am they were all the same way round, SAY CHEESE!

I found a dead chick on the floor of the stable the other day, when I looked in the nest there were three more dead chicks. The only thing I can think of is that it poured with rain for 3 days solid and was cold. Shame.

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

Dead chicks? Surely that must be a sign of a young and inexperianced parent; Building a nest where such things as rain could effect them? Maybe my own birds chose the smaller 'stock shed, as opposed to the massive cow shed, precisely because my donkey and goat are in there at night, chucking up body heat?

 

Millet; Do 'our' swallows nest again then, in Africa? Never thought of that!

[Guest Ditch_Shitter]

these master's of the skies never seem to land on terra ferma apart from telephone wire's and to nest..

 

 

That's another damn fine point! Though I've personally seen them land on the ground to collect mud for their nests. So they can land on flat and take off again ~ unlike Swifts are supposedly unable to do.

 

I'm a bit busy right now but, if I can hold the thought and have the time, I'll have a look at Google and see what I can find out.

 

Mheanwhile, here's another one for ye. One that's been bugging the shit out of me for years now, actually! Starlings: We all know they form massed flocks in the later part of the year and then appear to f*ck off somewhere. But where do the f*ck off too?!

[J Darcy 5,871]

If i were to hazard a guess i would say swallows only nest once a year. more than that would simply drain them too much. Also, would a swallow be able to make the magnificent journey if full of parasites?? I doubt it, perhaps they pick them up when landing on prospective nest sites for the first time back. Let us not forget but swallows probably do not land at all from leaving here to when they return...

[land rover 0]

The nest is in the eaves of our stable. there is a slight breeze coming through. The swallows have been nesting in the stable since 1989. Some years They have had three lots of chicks and had no problem, the last two years they have got to the stage where they are fluttering around the stable, then for no reason I found them dead on the floor last year four the year before 3. Then again the other day one was on the floor and the others in the nest. they had just started to get their feathers.

The stable is empty but the horse has never bothered them.

I just don't know why this keeps happening.