A Swallow's Tale

Last summer wasps colonised the underhang above our front door and with mixed feelings I zapped the nest with spray foam. This year swallows chose the same place. The nest took shape and on 12^th June the parents began to sit on it. Through the window over the door was a good vantage point and I watched for much of the next three weeks. Surely they shouldn’t leave the eggs for so long on such a cold day?

Eventually they hatched and the sitting switched to non-stop airlifts of food and refuse collection. The parents spotted me behind the stack of books in the windowsill that acted as my hide and screamed as they hovered in front of the lead panes.

Each morning I’d take a look until Sunday 10^th July, 8 days later, the nest was gone. Outside in the pouring rain, there it was on the stone slabs. One dead on its back, the other two face down in the nest but breathing, parents out of sight.  

I looked in my workshed and improvised a nestbox out of a plastic shelving tray covered with a plank fixed by rubber bungee. A lump of timber to weigh it down and wedge the nest in place with a stick across the front to stop it falling out then placed it on the nearest windowsill.

When the rain eased off the parents returned, one with its beak full of flies, and flew repeated sorties into the corner where the nest had been. Frustratingly they perched nearby but failed to look at my impromptu haven.

I got a laptop to the open window and played back the sound of baby swallows crying for food, but still they didn’t get the message. After 20 minutes of pressing the play button I gave up on the strategy and, feeling quite sad, took the dog for a walk.

By the time I got back the parents were flying into the new position of the nest feeding their remaining 2 chicks. By now I felt as involved, committed and protective as the natural parents and enjoyed watching their progress.

For some reason I was not expecting their maiden flight until much later but on 18^th July off they went. They both struggled but one of them made it to the greenhouse roof and subsequently took up residence in the workshed.

The other hopped around beneath the nest unable to fly but calling out each time the parents came by with food. Its wing was damaged and the rain was pouring down once more. I filled a beach bucket with wood shavings and rested it on its side in the dry beside the front door. By the time I went to bed the chick had settled in to its shelter.

For the next two days I watched as the chick seemed to get stronger but no closer to flying. Someone said I should put it out of its misery, but I didn’t.

In recent weeks the house had sprung a couple of leaks through the roof but I delayed calling a builder because of the nesting swallows. As the nest was no longer in use I called him and as he drove up he ran over the crippled baby. I didn’t have the heart to tell him.

If you can bear to watch it here’s the video diary. It could have been worse, at least the one chick survived.

On the way to the Royal Welsh

Natur Cymru does not have a formal presence at the Royal Welsh this year, but Kate and I will be on the Wildlife Trusts stand all four days and I'll be delighted to meet any subscribers and even recruit a few new ones! I'll have a few recent back numbers to sell.

On the Trusts stand you'll be able to see a story-telling chair, kindly donated by Sylvantutch who operate from the craft centre at Corris near Machynlleth. A week or two ago Kate and I took the chair down from North Wales to the reserve at Gilfach, just north of Rhayader. The picture shows Susie from the Radnor Wildlife Trust putting the chair to good use, an hour after it arrived there. We also called in at the kite feeding station at Gigrin, a few miles away, to leave a Natur Cymru display stand.

On the way back up to North Wales we visited the Mont WT reserve at Dolydd Hafren, on the Severn near Montgomery. Access is easy.......once you've found the small carpark! Butterflies were superb along the field margins as we walked to the hides, and the view over the Severn is really remarkable, with cattle in the water-meadows and even in the river. Reed buntings, reed warblers, sand martins and a common sandpiper, but we couldn't spot the little ringed plovers which breed on the shingle there. Brayton Holt gives an excellent account of Dolydd Hafren in Natur Cymru #22. It is one of the hidden jewels of the Wildlife Trusts in Wales (no shortage of those!).

Earlier this week I was able to pop in to another Mont WT reserve on the far side of Wales, to see the ospreys at Cors Dyfi. The three young seemed well-fed and not very interested in a flounder the parents had brought in. Do call in if you are passing, it's right beside the A487 and a couple of miles from the RSPB reserve at Ynys-hir (heard of that?). All the latest news about the Dyfi ospreys can be found via a link on http://www.montwt.co.uk/

Bardsey birds and their SatNavs

Baby manx shearwater

Bardsey is beautiful and so are the birds; I’ve never been so close to puffins.‘If I drive straight up, they fly off’, said Colin the boatman, as we reversed up to them. On land I was lucky enough to meet someone monitoring the manx shearwaters. Like a magician, he put his hand into what looked like a rabbit hole, and carefully pulled out a large grey ball of fluff. ‘The parents have just the one chick and soon it will fly 7,000 miles to Argentina’. 

We climbed to the top of the cliff overlooking Aberdaron and Uwchmynydd. Our main interest was the kittiwake colony below but I couldn’t help be distracted when a squadron of attention-seeking choughs screamed past at eye level. Across Britain kittiwakes have declined by 30% in the past 10 years but here in Wales they seem to be holding their own.

John Clark, marine policy officer for RSPB Cymru, explained the project to attach GPS devices to the kittiwakes. The gadget records data for 3 days and, when downloaded, is used to produce maps – the one I looked at showed the bird to be feeding several miles out, mainly to the southwest. 

On the razorbills they are also attaching TDR gadgets where D stands for depth. Through these they can monitor not only where, but how deep, the birds are diving.

The output of the research, which feeds into FAME (Future of the Atlantic Marine Environment), a much wider project spanning the Atlantic coast of Europe, will help inform us when we make decisions on developments at sea. Not guesswork nor assumption but science and painstaking monitoring over many years – we can’t afford to get this wrong.

Right now decisions are about to be made about Marine Conservation Zones around the Welsh coast. Colin’s hoping that Bardsey waters will not be one of them, as that would scupper his lobster business. He believes his activities are sustainable and can live side by side with conservation.

Apart from the wildlife you’d expect we also had a rare sighting of the BBC Countryfile team as they filmed the family that lives and farms on the island. 

For more information about Bardsey (Ynys Enlli), and details of how to get there, take a look at the website for the Bardsey Island Trust.

A swallow's tale

The sound of Sunday morning rain warranted a lie-in, but by 7:30 the day was beckoning. I dressed and knelt down to peer out of the bedroom window at the nest of baby swallows, but it was gone. It had fallen 12 feet or so and 1 of the chicks was dead on its back. The other 2  were face down in the nest but breathing.

Still raining, no sign of the parents, what to do? I scoured the shed and found a shoe-box size plastic shelving tray, strapped a board over the top, wedged the nest with a block of wood and an old sock. Finally a stick across the front to stop anything falling out then placed it on the nearest windowsill.

When the rain eased off the parents returned, one with its beak full of flies, and flew repeated sorties into the corner where the nest had been. Frustratingly they perched nearby but failed to look at my impromptu haven.

I got a laptop to the open window and played back the sound of baby swallows crying for food, but still they didn’t get the message. After 20 minutes of pressing the play button I gave up and, feeling quite sad, took the dog for a walk.

But on my return what joy, there were the parents flying in and out with food and removing the poo sack. From the overlooking window I can see only 1 chick so I suspect the other must have died. Will it stay in the nest or will the parents throw it out?

In the meantime the 8 day old surviving swallow is getting lots of rations and parental care.

First (baby) swallow

After 20 days of the mother sitting on the eggs our first baby swallows have hatched on 2nd July. I was beginning to think the recent cold weather might have damaged the chances of success. The nest is right above our front door so visitors please note to come round the back.