For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
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By T6Harvard
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839101
There is a specific telegraph wire just down the road from us and I can pretty much guarantee a swallow will be sitting on it next Tuesday. The date, 13th April, is memorable (hubby's birthday) :D Swallow arrives there every year since we've lived here, never a day earlier!

I bet I'm not the only person who says, "Welcome back", eh?
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839118
The swallows on our airstrip had a navigational brain fa rt about ten years ago and settled in our hangar instead of their usual roost, the only other hangar on the strip . There then followed two consecutive years of ankle deep swallow cr ap all over the aeroplane necessitating covering the entire Ac with dust sheets.

Complete pain : Solved by one of our members putting chicken wire on every nook and cranny and flat surface in the hangar roof trusses.

Now they return once again to their original roost and Ac paint lives to see another day.

Deffo not welcome :wink:
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By T6Harvard
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#1839135
PeteSpencer wrote:The swallows .... ..... ..... settled in our hangar instead of their usual roost, .... .....

Now they return once again to their original roost and Ac paint lives to see another day.

Deffo not welcome :wink:


I bet you love to see them flyjng!
By Rjk983
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1839258
This is our 5th year in our new build house. Years 1 and 2 they roosted in the apex of the roof above our main door and covered the door and step in piles of excrement. Unfortunately the nests wouldn’t stick to the wooden cladding very well, the first year they came down while the eggs were still incubating. Year 2 it lasted long enough for them to hatch and a couple seemed to survive, only one dead one found in the wreckage.

Year three they moved to the other end of the house but unfortunately had similar results as it was West facing and likely baked in the sun and suffered the worst of the prevailing wind.

They didn’t come back to us last year but settled in the surrounding barns quite nicely.

I now realise I have about a week to protect the kids climbing frame as the roof is going to make the perfect spot for them and lovely as that will be I don’t fancy the impact of a curious youngster on a nest that he can easily climb up to!
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By skydriller
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#1839351
Not house martins, but to our surprise, as even for France we thought it early in the year, 2-3 weeks ago we had a couple of thrush feeding their first brood on our wooden porch. They have now departed the nest and we regularly see a couple of the youngsters in the garden. First thing in the morning you often awake to them bashing snails on the windowsill!!

Regards, SD..
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By seanxair
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#1960458
condor17 wrote:Seanxair , agree approx 7 April last few years , occaisionally late . This year not seen any yet .
That's in N daarset , wheraway are you ?

rgds condor .


East Staffordshire. Quite close to Tatenhill so a fair bit north of you. Without checking we have had swallow arrivals 7 - 9 April for the past few years but no house martins last year sadly
#1964605
Was getting worried - swallows have just arrived here (quite late). Seems they have more sense - we’ve had strong south easterlies for about six weeks and bliddy cold. I’ve only mown the grass once in the garden !
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