ON THE WING
They’re back. The welcome swallows (above) have returned to the Waterworks Reserve, in Dynnyrne. Most years I can set my calendar by them, always turning up in the first few says of September, although last year they were about a week late, for reasons I could not determine.
An entry always goes in my diary, “swallows make an appearance,” and it is a joy to see the swallows hawking insects over the twin reservoirs of the reserve, and grassy dam walls.
It’s a busy time for the swallows, with no time to rest, even if they have made the trip from as far north as Queensland.
First they scout nest sites, usually the one they have used in the previous breeding season. And then the conical nest must be built, either on the foundations of an existing one or a construction started from scratch.
Last year, the swallows’ nest I monitor in one of the barbecue shelters at the reserve was cleared away during maintenance on the hut during the winter and the swallows had to build a new one, attaching it to the same beam they had used in the past.
I paid closer attention to the construction process last year than I usually do, and discovered the swallows were visiting a specific puddle in which to find their mud.
Why they used this particular puddle when there were others closer to their nest site puzzled, me until I realised that it contained mudstone, instead of other soil types in the reserve with dolorite or sandstone as their main constituents. It appears, for swallows, mudstone makes ideal building material.
I’ve been preoccupied with swallows this spring after reading an interesting story about swallows in Britain. It appears Tasmanians are not alone in their love of swallows, because a large supermarket chain in southern Britain found itself at odds with its customers after it erected netting over a trolley shelter to stop swallows nesting in its eves.
When customers threatened a boycott of the store, the chain hastily took down the netting and put out trays of mud to help the swallows gather nesting material.
Our welcome swallows look remarkably similar with steel-blue backs and russet on the breasts, and are closely related.
This year marks the 20th year I have monitored swallows at the Waterworks. The swallow story had an added twist last year when the rebuilt swallow nest was eventually destroyed by vandals.
The swallows, who had presumably used the same nest over the years, abandoned the site and a new pair took over, managing to rear young late in the season.
As I watch the swallows on their return, I wonder which pair have claimed the nest.