A few weeks ago I posted about the Attack of the Sparrows on the House Martins’ nest. A couple of weeks later the house martins all left and flew off to spend the winter in Africa. Each year they use our house as a building site for their nests. They are beautiful little birds and I love to see them flying high in the sky above our house and the chicks as they poke their heads out of the nest waiting to be fed.
It’s illegal to remove their nests whilst they are building or using them as they’re protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and you could get fined up to £5,000 and/or a 6 month prison sentence for every bird, egg or nest destroyed. And as they’re on the Amber list (because of recent decline in numbers) the RSPB is encouraging people to help them nest.
Well, they didn’t need any encouragement from us and built four nests in the eaves of our house. One was above the living room window, so you can imagine the mess their droppings made on the window and window sill. But now they’ve gone David has taken the nests down and cleaned up the mess they left behind, so he could sadolin the soffits and fascias. The nests came away mainly in one piece. My photos show how they’re constructed – mainly of mud and sticks formed into a cup shape.
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Isn’t it amazing how the tiny birds can construct something like that? Thanks for sharing this, Margaret.
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Fascinating to see their nests, we don’t get to see them nearly often enough.
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they certainly are industrious. Thanks for an up close view.
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Those look like strong nests. What a fun adventure. Here’s Mine
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What a nature-friendly law of the land. Actually, it’s the first time I’ve come across such. I’m not sure if we have the same in our city here in Alberta, Canada. I need to go see the Attack of the Sparrows. ;)
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I didn’t realize they were so endangered. They are clever nest builders.
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Great to see a close-up of the nests. We get Purple Martins in Missouri and people put up special houses for them. There’s a whole process you have to go through to keep the sparrows out so that the space is available for when the Martins arrive.
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Neat! Birds love to make their nests in our pole barn.
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How nice that you get your annual visitors.
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I love house martins, it must be a great sign of spring for you when they turn up and start rebuilding.
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Lovely to see the intricate details of the nest up close.
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Margaret – Terrific ‘photos! And I love the complexity of the way their nests are built. And yet, so delicate.
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We, too, get swallows that construct nests very much like these … over the lights on our woodshed, garage, and workshop … clever birds. The mess may be annoying, but the bug consumption is to be praised!
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