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Things you need to know about HOUSE MARTINS
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- There are fewer more welcome signs that summer is on its way than the arrival of swallows, swifts and house martins. They can sometimes be confused with each other so here is a side by side comparison, including the sand martin which also visits the UK. House martins have a wingspan of 26 to 29cm and short forked tails. Their heads, backs and wings appear black from a distance, although they shimmer with blue in the right light. Their undersides are creamy white and they also have a white rump.
House martins are agile flyers and catch their food on the wing, which consists entirely of flying insects and aphids.
When they return to the UK, which can be from early April onwards, they quickly get to work with breeding. Although they are monagous in that the same male and female will usually raise chicks together for multiple years, they are not very faithful and one study found that more than 3 quarters of nests contained chicks from more than one male. Traditionally house martins would have nested on cliffs but as their name alludes, these days they mostly nest on man made structures, particularly under the eaves of houses. Their nests are constructed out of up to 1000 small balls of clay which the parents diligently place to make an almost completely closed cup. Sometimes they will use the same nest in successive years and they will also use man made nests if they are available. Once the nest is complete it is lined with a thin layer of vegetation and feathers before four or five eggs are laid. The eggs are completely white and measure just under 2cm long. Both sexes incubate them for around 14 days and once they hatch, both parents bring a ready supply of food to the nest. The chicks take around 3 weeks to fledge, although once they leave the nest they may return for several days whilst their parents carry on feeding them. Gradually they will become more independent and at around 5 weeks old they will be completely self sufficient. Typically house martins will nest 2 times in a summer with more established pairs sometimes raising a third brood.
After breeding is complete, they start to gather in larger flocks before setting off southwards for the winter. They begin to leave from August although some birds remain well into October if the weather isn’t too harsh. Many times when I speak about bird numbers declining I do so based on research and haven’t noticed the decline so much myself, but with house martins even in my 32 years of life I have noticed a significant drop in their numbers. Since 1995 they have declined by more than 37% with around 480,000 pairs remaining. Its likely that at least some of this decline has been caused by the drastic drop in flying insects, prompted by changes in the way the countryside is managed. House martins live an average of 2 years but the oldest known bird survived for 7 years 1 month and 12 days. Here is one of the house martins calls.
#birds #birdwatching #nature
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I miss seeing house Martin's nests on the side of houses there seemed to be many when I was younger but I see less today sadly
This made me feel a bit sad as I haven't seen a house martin for ages, but I used to love seeing them in the 1970s and 80s when I lived in Canterbury and they were always flying above the streets.
After reading Tony Soper's Bird Table Book in the late 70s, I followed his instructions for making a fake nest using polyfilla, a kid's football, and some brown poster paint. When it had dried out, I stretched out of the bedroom window and attached it to the wall under the eaves. The birds ignored it that year, but next spring it was occupied by a pair of house martins and in subsequent years they built their own nest next door too.
Unfortunately, like so many bird species they're much rarer these days.
I am 60 in my youth we had at least 10 pairs nesting in my parents cottage, and the sky was filled with them and Swifts, I now own my Parents cottage that is 300 years old, last year we had two nests, but there are so few swifts in particular it’s very sad, I remember when I passed my driving test in 1984 the car would be splattered with dead insects in summer, now it’s very rare, another massive decline is the lapwing, the fields use to have large flocks making the “Pee Wit” call, I can’t remember the last time I have even seem a Lapwing😢
We have a small house martin colony of 4 pairs under the eaves of ours & the next door house. They've been coming every year since we bought the house & we're always delighted to see them. This year they were very late, though with the cold wet spring that's really no surprise. Usually they raise 2 broods, and did you know that the first brood help to feed the second one ? By the end of summer there are usually around 20 of them flying around. 😊
[Edit] Make that 5 pairs - a nest that was broken and unused for about 3 years has been repaired and is in use. 😊
Thanks Liam. Imagine how house martins have declined in my 65 years! We have a few in my village but in nowhere near the numbers I can remember back in the 1960s and 70s.
Encouraging such species as housemartens is definitely a matter for industrial farming practices to facilitate, I think.
Hoping fatherhood going well. Nice one Liam. 🌟👍
Thanks Liam, for interesting commentary on house martins. Always amazed by their migrations. Nice one! 😊 👍
Lots of these little guys in kefallonia Greece. People love them 🤍
there was a bank near me, on the Itchen test estuary, that was a sand martin nesting spot, they built a housing estate next to it. quite honestly i last walked there in 2004 and haven't had the heart to go back, i would rather them darting about doing their thing in my memory, than face what has likely happened
Love that you posted this right as I came inside after watching some house martins.
Great timing!
Dear liam ❤❤❤❤❤ dear new father ❤❤❤❤ hi and welcome back and thanks ❤❤❤❤
Thank you Liam. I hope all is going well with your baby girl. What an interesting video again. It shows you that what’s going on in the countryside has a follow on affect. Take care. ❤
I've been in my present location in Eastbourne UK since January 2001. Every year I've had a good number of House martins arriving in the spring and nesting until this year. It's now the middle of June and I've not seen a single one. I fear something terrible has happened to them during their migration, either when they left last year or during their migration back this year.
Update. I saw two House martins on Tuesday 17th and many more on Wednesday 18th of June.
In 2018 and 2019 they arrived in April so it's a mystery why they are so late this year.
Always lovely to have wildlife content on TH-cam
I used to watch them flying as kid and I used to imagine them has mini jet fighter in a dog fight.
A beautiful video about a beautiful bird
Nice one Liam thank you 👍🏼🍻
Beautiful little birds and a great video. Many thanks ❤
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I had clusters of nests on my home in the 90s. They sadly vanished. A year later I took down the old nests and saw old dead chicks and eggs from the previous year. An expert told me they can carry an infestation of mites that can wipe them out. I think this might have happen my colonies. Sadly now in 2024 they never returned.
Thanks for another informational video Liam 🙏
Many thanks for the great Video and good luck for the exciting journey of fatherhood you have before you. 🌻🙏
Good evening from Spain, We have nine nests this year, up from seven last year and a few birds overwintered here.
I really enjoy watching your videos! Very much as that.
With that calm yet curious voice of yours,
you give me insight to this beautiful world of birds and british wildlife in such a kind way.
Like 10 years ago, I liked nature at all, but never really gave attention to birds.
Since a couple of years, I absolutely do, and love to do so.
This world we live in, is so immensely rich and beautiful.
Such a shame, that there are many people loosing sight of that.
I am not a very religious man, but my believe is,
that even if nature can be frightening at times,
one should joyfully use all of his or hers senses,
to admire the beauty of life and nature surrounding him.
And while some people, mostly elderly people complain,
that younger people just like to sit in front of their PCs or consoles,
without having an interest in nature, I think, for many, this is very untrue.
My favourite example is Red Dead Redemption 2, wich kind of is an overall critique on industrialisation, that was the death of so many rich enviroments and habitats,
it is also such a detailed recreation of some of americas flora and fauna,
with like I think up to 100 birds to be seen,
with animations and different flight-physics for each species as close to realism as possible and of course with real recorded sounds,
it was basically a database written into a game.
It really helped me to learn and to recocnize some of the bird calls!
And I bet they are many young people who after playing games like Skyrim loves a stroll through a forest even more than before...
Cool 😎 video Liam …. Last year I was over the moon as we had a nesting pair of house martins in our field shelter. Unfortunately I had to put a new roof on the shelter this year but I haven’t seen the birds return as yet. I anticipate and hope they will still though, and have put some nest support ledges in the roof voids to help encourage them. Anyway fingers crossed and thanks again for a really cool video . PS. Hope fatherhood is going well and that one day your tell “nearly everything we want to know” about it 😁👍🙏
On top of the insects diminishing, another cause for their decline in some regions might also be less access to clay for building nests, especially if rivers are built up with concrete as river banks may be where they can find the clay. So providing them with nesting opportunities can be very beneficial too.
In North Queensland Australia we used to have Dummy Martins. They were Grey with a White throat. There were thousands of them & sat on the Power lines. They seemed have disappeared. I haven't seen any for years now.
Fraid we don't see many of these around here (West London), but I'll look out for them.
I enjoy watching them each year ..For such small birds they are remarkable.Thanks a lot Liam 🙂 and liked
Our Purple Martins are colony bird house nesters. Very informative. Congratulations.
Ive bought a house martin nest, hopefully will see it being used
Thanks Liam, lovely little birds. Might have seen a couple of them by the river this lunchtime, not sure but definitely seen a few swallows fly over my house yesterday.
We have a similer bird called a Tree Swallow here in America.
Good video Liam. Esp on house martins. As I had the best of the house martins playing on cd .
See you on your next adventure
A slightly more frivolous fact about the housemartins is that their bassist was FatBoy Slim (a.k.a. Norman Cook), who can still be found in the wild. ;-)
I can't put my finger on it but there's always something there to remind me of his freedom.
Thanks, very informative 👍🏼
Thanks Liam. Sadly I don’t think I’ve seen a single Housemartin this year.
Thanks! 🐦
Thank you Liam !!!
Sadly it appears there are not enough insects in the UK for a nesting pair to sustain the raising of a brood. They nested in my gable end for 2 consecutive years; each time 2 young were ejected from the nest before they fledged - I conclude starvation of young, the birds didn't return for a third year.
The good news is that several years since their final visit the nest has been taken over by tiny wrens. I was surprised because I thought these seemingly low flying birds have low nests, but obviously not so & they surprised me by how rapidly they fly up and down to the nest. Not sure whether it is a breeding nest or just a secure home, but I fancy I saw one fly up with a mouthful of food. They are shy creatures so don't see much of them
Thanks for posting
Very interesting thank you.
They are welcome to the Scottish midges. Dont see many in Glasgow but see them in the Ayrshire coast.
Another great video
I was showing my grandkids a beautiful mayfly a couple of days ago, we let it crawl over our hands, and the kids were over the moon, 😊,, I said "let's let it fly away"
It flew up a few metres, before a Martin appeared from nowhere, and took it out of the air,, 😱😱,, the kids were horrified, and I had to spend several minutes trying to explain how everything needs to eat,, 😨😭
(even cute "baby" birds,,),
Its terrible to witness the House Martin decline at my south Birmingham location. 28 years ago, there were 30 plus nests, (not all used), above a terrace of shops. In 2024, there are only approx 6 birds returning. Most of the old nests have dropped off. Only one new nest has been constructed during recent years.
Nice one Liam. Informative as always. Maybe mention your merch at the start of the video. I love my grey tshirt one.
Thought this would be about the band 😜
Definitely not seen those in my garden😢
👍👍👍👍👍
Because of their appearance, I always liken hourse martins as little flying orkas.
😀👍
A bit magpie like 😂❤
Magpies wiping out all the garden birds here in Liverpool.
❤
Not seen a House Martin for many years now😢
👏👍🥰✌️
Hi Liam Hope all is going well. I live near Inverness Scotland. I regularly had House Martins nesting in the eves. but they failed to return 2 summers ago. They have failed to arrive this year Could it be they are under stress in their wintering grounds as much if not more than here? Perhaps they are encountering stress on the passage from here to sub Saharan Africa. I might add for such a small bird they can produce a prodigious amount of droppings and on wooden structures can cause damage . it is a shame not to see them return though.
Ours haven’t appeared yet either. Worrying!
There are literally none where I live and there are houses alround me.
There are a few swifts though.
👍🙂
All you need to know ?? I need to know where they are for the other 6 months of the year ?? What reduction in insects -- thats just a load of bull. There are less of them because less return from their winter feeding grounds
Lol, I said "Almost everything you need to know"... nobody knows where they go in the winter except that it is Africa. The flying insect decline I mention is extremely well documented, 78% less insects on number plates compared to 20 years ago for example.
I love it when people call something false without giving any evidence.
@@AShotOfWildlife I farm in Rural Scotland and there has been no reduction in insect numbers where i live during my lifetime. Things may be different in Urban England (better trash disposal). There has been a huge decrease in pesticide use in recent years due to increased legislation and reduced cropping. Surprised this has lead to a reduction in insect numbers? Number plate counts are misleading. Insects don't stick to modern acrylic number plates like the old ones and car numbers have doubled in last 30 years. I have traveled extensively in Africa (I married an African) House Martins winter in Chad/Mali/Mauritania etc. Insect numbers in these areas are probably are declining due to climate change. My experience --- I have over 50 house martin nests on my farm. 10 years ago I had none. (Swallows not happy !!!)
No house Martins this year or last ,just one pair of Swifts..disappointed
Not enough insects. Nothing for them to eat.
Them the swallows and swifts are on a massive decline
?????Nothing came up about swallows.
Oh, are you watching on a TV or computer? It is definitely set to come up as I can see someone else has clicked it since its been uploaded so im not sure why it hasnt came up for you Paul.
@@AShotOfWildlife Swallows video link worked OK for me (using a laptop). Although when I was watching it, TH-cam started suggesting more videos from various American channels showing people how to STOP swallows from building nests!🙃
@@AShotOfWildlife
It's now showing OK.
Maybe it's because I was watching within the first minute of you posting.
Hope the family are doing well and you are all sleeping well❤