House Martins

[mycats]

I get house Martins every year building a nest right above my front door. But there are none this year :-( I am getting a bit worried about them. Or am I being stupid and it is too early in the year for them? I honestly cant think what time of year they usually appear lol

[Kozmic Blues]

Due to climate change the may be late.The link is about climate change and birds.

http://www.abcbirds.org/climatechange/

[Kozmic Blues]

And the royal society for birds hanv a section http://www.rspb.org.uk/

[Kozmic Blues]

I think the come in the middle to the end of june.

[gessoo]

Likewise, I get swallows every year and they are very punctual. But none this year. I have heard several reasons for it. Some say that they came across earlier but perished because of the cold weather and others that they are coming late because of the cold weather! Have also heard that the swallow population is 30% down.

I really miss them even though I spend every summer continously cleaning out my front porch under their nests. The babies roost on a ledge in the porch too and they are just so lovely.

Our house martins abandoned us years ago when we changed our windows for double glazing :o(

[gessoo]

They used to come on May Bank Holiday without fail!!

[spudqueen]

Not seen any house martins so far this year but the swallows are busy nesting here in Lancashire.

[WendyS]

I heard it mentioned on BBC Springwatch programme that because we had a very cold spell earlier, a lot of migrating birds came to England, found there were no insects because of the cold weather and flew back to the warmer parts of Europe. Some of them are now returning for the second time, so hopefully yours will soon return. Can understand your anxiety if they're regulars - one tends to think of them as part of the family ! We're in Bucks and have had them around for about a fortnight - later than usual I think. However, as I believe the same birds return to the same nesting locations every years, possibly your birds have achieved their natural life span and died. Do hope this isn''t the case. These birds have a very hard life with all their travelling and I don't know what their normal life span is.

[aka pixi]

hi cat, the houses opposite us have house martens nesting every year, they came back about a fortnight ago :)