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Swifts
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Jannyfox
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Lovely to see. I've not seen any here yet but while the swallows and house martins nest in the village the swifts don't, so I only see them when they fly my way. I know they nest in my nearby small town - 2 miles as the swift flies
Stuart Philpott
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OK my cards on the table at this time, I'm concerned about hirundines (sp?) VERY concerned. I have a handful of swallows where thee should be tens of. My gut is saying what I percieve as a massive insect crash, their food simply is not now here. If that is so here then might that not be the same along their road back to us. Davey I grow food I don't even have white flutterbys raiding the brassicas.
On each and every level I hope I am very very wrong , I am a glass half full guy.but none of what I should be seeiing is evident this summer........We will see over the coming months how this pans out but right now I'm very concerned. Odd swift odd swallow a few more H martens but nuffin like what it should be
stu
On each and every level I hope I am very very wrong , I am a glass half full guy.but none of what I should be seeiing is evident this summer........We will see over the coming months how this pans out but right now I'm very concerned. Odd swift odd swallow a few more H martens but nuffin like what it should be
stu
Jannyfox
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Same here. Some birds but numbers are down. My particular interest is bats. I'm finding hardly any and of course they are the night shift to the hirundines' day shift. No sign of 'summer'OK my cards on the table at this time, I'm concerned about hirundines (sp?) VERY concerned. I have a handful of swallows where thee should be tens of. My gut is saying what I percieve as a massive insect crash, their food simply is not now here. If that is so here then might that not be the same along their road back to us. Davey I grow food I don't even have white flutterbys raiding the brassicas.
On each and every level I hope I am very very wrong , I am a glass half full guy.but none of what I should be seeiing is evident this summer........We will see over the coming months how this pans out but right now I'm very concerned. Odd swift odd swallow a few more H martens but nuffin like what it should be
stu
Simplythebeast
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Sadly I think you are right, very rarely now do I have to clean flies off the front of my car and that used to be almost a daily occurrence in past spring/summers.OK my cards on the table at this time, I'm concerned about hirundines (sp?) VERY concerned. I have a handful of swallows where thee should be tens of. My gut is saying what I percieve as a massive insect crash, their food simply is not now here. If that is so here then might that not be the same along their road back to us. Davey I grow food I don't even have white flutterbys raiding the brassicas.
On each and every level I hope I am very very wrong , I am a glass half full guy.but none of what I should be seeiing is evident this summer........We will see over the coming months how this pans out but right now I'm very concerned. Odd swift odd swallow a few more H martens but nuffin like what it should be
stu
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OK my cards on the table at this time, I'm concerned about hirundines (sp?) VERY concerned. I have a handful of swallows where thee should be tens of. My gut is saying what I percieve as a massive insect crash, their food simply is not now here. If that is so here then might that not be the same along their road back to us. Davey I grow food I don't even have white flutterbys raiding the brassicas.
On each and every level I hope I am very very wrong , I am a glass half full guy.but none of what I should be seeiing is evident this summer........We will see over the coming months how this pans out but right now I'm very concerned. Odd swift odd swallow a few more H martens but nuffin like what it should be
stu
I agree with the other comments and your observations Stu.
The last couple of days have been a bit chilly for June but even when we have had good weather I have seen very few swifts. We never got swallows around here but many years ago we would always see quite a lot of swifts(20 or so at a time was not unusual) every summer and also a few house martins. So far I have seen only three swifts at one time this year and we haven't seen a house martin for years.
I also recall that years ago every long car journey would result in lots of insects on plastered on the front bumper and also remember seeing birds picking dead insects from the front of cards at motorway services.
And unfortunately a fairly similar situation with bats.
Dave
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Here in rural Northern Ireland, there are also less insects on the windscreen after a drive, although thankfully my garden is full of bees attending the various flowers, and we have nesting House Martins at the gable end of the house, with swallows seen around too. I thought we had swifts but the garden expert helping me here is a bit of a wildlife and countryside sage, says there aren't swifts. However we do have quite a few other birds and the wild area of the garden he is helping me with is coming on well in terms of attracting them. We are surrounded bu arable farm fields so I'm hoping we can get owls eventually. But it is troubling that so many birds have been unable to feed normally so are fewer in number.
Stuart Philpott
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I delayed my reply to Dave's original post.for some time sorry Dave......... I wanted to see ,maybe be in a better place to evaluate late arrivals..an' me late post was in many ways one of hope, hope that folks would say we have loads here stu. Lindsey your post from rural Ireland has me worrying most. To my non educated leanings you should have the most.
Roger, @droj..yes of course, mate I graft in new build, it is so easy to build in homes for both bats and swift, in new build I've done that once breaks my heart saying once I do little to modern houses so work on swathes of 'em hundreds and hundreds in the years i've plied me trade but built in homes number less than ten , Of course there is a movement to address that with swift boxes, but they have to have food to make it back here, Mate in lockdown I could echo Plankton's post so numerous I had time to move into flightlines and as tis a toggin forum I'll share a snap shot of zillion's of tries and zillions of fails and the odd getcha
_S2I1776Swiftsmj3 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr
_S2I1666 Swift smj2 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr
My counter to your point is that little has changed in 3 years nesting site wise around here but this summer it seems sommit else is at play .maybe food ?
Plankton love the pic.
Dave, guys it's not the long time decline of insect life our windscreens tell us of, tis something other this year. Once again I hasten to add layman speaking !!!
I wonder if Asian hornet might be a player in the EU depriving them of food on the way back from Africa?
all this gloom and sadness has to be countered with a gnat's B of off topic birdom............as I wrote had to run off to see our first baby greenfinch of the year on bird table ahh man the little things yesterday it was baby GSW having a fight with dad......... funny as
Let's see as time goes on what the boffins make of hurundine numbers this year. Davey you are SO right it has been so cold, we had frost here in the mids just this last week, maybe all is late?
There is always hope
Roger, @droj..yes of course, mate I graft in new build, it is so easy to build in homes for both bats and swift, in new build I've done that once breaks my heart saying once I do little to modern houses so work on swathes of 'em hundreds and hundreds in the years i've plied me trade but built in homes number less than ten , Of course there is a movement to address that with swift boxes, but they have to have food to make it back here, Mate in lockdown I could echo Plankton's post so numerous I had time to move into flightlines and as tis a toggin forum I'll share a snap shot of zillion's of tries and zillions of fails and the odd getcha
_S2I1776Swiftsmj3 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr_S2I1666 Swift smj2 by Stuart Philpott, on FlickrMy counter to your point is that little has changed in 3 years nesting site wise around here but this summer it seems sommit else is at play .maybe food ?
Plankton love the pic.
Dave, guys it's not the long time decline of insect life our windscreens tell us of, tis something other this year. Once again I hasten to add layman speaking !!!
I wonder if Asian hornet might be a player in the EU depriving them of food on the way back from Africa?
all this gloom and sadness has to be countered with a gnat's B of off topic birdom............as I wrote had to run off to see our first baby greenfinch of the year on bird table ahh man the little things yesterday it was baby GSW having a fight with dad......... funny as
Let's see as time goes on what the boffins make of hurundine numbers this year. Davey you are SO right it has been so cold, we had frost here in the mids just this last week, maybe all is late?
There is always hope