Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Time to welcome back swallows
If you haven’t already seen your first swallow of 2021, then it shouldn’t be long, as these sky-riding spring-bringers are winging their way north. Charlie Elder reports
It is time to keep your eyes on the skies – because our warm weather migrant birds are due back right now. Swallows should be winging their way overhead any day – a sure sign that spring is here and summer lies ahead.
And they are accompanied this month and next by a range of species returning from their southerly wintering quarters, swelling our bird population by millions and adding song, movement and colour.
They range from such showstoppers as cuckoos and nightingales to a chorus line of warblers and a cacophony of seabirds, all at their brightest, boldest and most vocal as they compete for territories and the attention of mates.
It is hard to imagine that they have enough energy to think about breeding after the vast distances some of these spring-bringers have travelled.
But that is why they have come, taking advantage of our long days and plentiful insect life.
This month and next they sweep into Britain, a vast tide of swallows and martins, swifts and pipits and flycatchers, whinchats, whitethroats, wheatears and wagtails…
Their reassuring return heralds warmer days to come and slaps a full-stop on the end of winter – one we will be glad to see the back of given lockdown restrictions.
And of all of them, the swallow is the best known harbinger of spring and summer which really captures our imagination. One swallow does not make a summer, but it’s certainly a start!
Swallows spend the winter in South Africa and return north to raise young. It is a marvel of migration that a bird weighing slightly less than a household AA battery can power its way such a distance – but it is obviously worth the effort.
Where I live on west Dartmoor I tend to see my first swallow between April 3-10. It can depend on the prevailing conditions as migrating flocks obviously like to have the breeze at their back rather than battling into a head wind. This year my first sighting was on Thursday, April 1, in perfect conditions.
Impatient males, keen to secure a nesting site, tend to be the first arrivals. Initially sighted in small numbers, before long swallows will be present across Britain – a mass invasion hundreds of thousands strong, accompanied by other sky-riding species including house martins and swifts.
Swallows are slender, streamlined birds with a dark back that has a deep blue sheen, an off-white front and rusty red feathering around the face and throat. They are graceful in flight, swooping low after aerial insects, and can be seen perched on telephone wires, flying over meadows and playing fields or snatching a drink from the surface of lakes. They also have a cheery, chirpy song.
One of the easiest ways to identify them from other similar birds is by their noticeably forked tail.
This is most marked in males, whose outer tail feathers have developed into long thin streamers.
Studies have shown that male swallows with the longest, most symmetrical outer tail feathers are the most attractive to females.
It was once thought that swallows hibernated in winter, but it eventually became apparent that they flew south – only it was not clear where until a British ringed bird was caught in South Africa in 1912.
The house martin is similar in appearance to the swallow, being dark on the back and light on the front and agile in the air. But it has some differences that enable one to separate the two species with confidence.
For a start the plumage of this spring and summer visitor is much cleaner and clear-cut – glossy blue-black across the back and pure white on the front including the throat. It also has shorter wings and a much smaller and less obvious fork in the tail, which lacks the long outer feather streamers of the swallow. But the clinching characteristic to look out for is a white rump – a square of crisp white wedged between the lower back and the upper side of the tail. If you spot this badge of white as it twists and turns in the air you know you are looking at a house martin.
House martins build cup-shaped mud nests under the eaves of buildings. It can take a pair a fortnight to build a nest from scratch, using over 1,000 pellets of wet mud.
For a bird that lives alongside us, this species is surprisingly good at keeping secrets. Despite extensive research we have yet to pinpoint exactly where house martins spend the winter after heading south in the autumn.
There is a close relative, and an early migrant arrival, that could be confused with the house martin – the sand martin. They nest in holes dug into suitable sandy banks, including the sides of old gravel pits, and look like a brownish version of a house martin. However, they lack the white rump, and also have a tell-tale brown collar across the chest.
Swifts arrive slightly later, in May, and have much longer wings than the swallow and house martin, shaped like scythe blades. They are so long that a grounded swift finds it almost impossible to get airborne. It also has a torpedo-shaped body, a small head and a forked tail. Above all, a swift looks black all over when viewed in the sky – no white belly or white rump. Closer inspection reveals it is more sooty-brown, with a pale throat.
Swifts generally nest in colonies under the roofs of tall buildings, such as churches and towers, and can be seen on warm days combing the airspace in a constant search for flying aphids, ants, flies and drifting spiders, or careering around uttering screaming calls.
Given they only land to breed, swifts have tiny claws used to grip the nest entrance. These are not designed to be able to perch – so you will never see swifts sat on a telephone wire or rooftop.
So, keep your eyes peeled for these special species. You may have seen your first swallow already, but if not, never fear they should be here any minute…