Here’s hoping for a swallow-filled summer

I WORK from a converted loft in my house and have a good view of the sky and the bird life whenever I stand up to stretch my legs and survey the surrounding countryside. We’re halfway up a hill, so the field of view is quite wide and normally, around this time of year, the sky is full of swallows and house martins. Not this year.

Reports suggest that numbers in parts of the country are down thanks to a cool start to spring, although in some other areas their arrival, though late, has been confirmed and numbers are building.

When we lived in a converted barn house martins nested every year right above the front door. We had to dodge the mess every time we went in and out of the house, but it was worth it for the presence of the birds.

When we moved into the village there were a number of houses with just the right configuration of roof and wall that lent itself to nest-building. Birds would swoop and dive up and down the main street, hawking for insects to feed themselves and, later, their chicks.

This year, however, I have looked in vain for any signs of nest-building.

The RSPB says swallow numbers do fluctuate because of poor weather. Swallows need rain to make the mud wet enough for them to construct a nest that sticks together on a building. They also need reasonably warm spells to build insect numbers.

And on their 6,000-odd mile journey back from Africa to the UK each spring they need decent weather and the wind generally blowing in the right direction to aid their passage. Some of those factors may have been missing this year.

The charity reports that there have been widespread declines in swallow numbers across Europe since 1970 and that climatic changes in their African winter quarters and on migration routes may be having a serious impact.

The RSPB goes on: “Cold springs with late frosts can cause problems for swallows, as do exceptionally hot and dry summers. In the latter case, pools dry out, reducing the numbers of emerging insects, and nestlings die from heat exhaustion and dehydration. The expansion of the Sahara desert may be making this formidable barrier increasingly difficult for swallows to cross.”

Given all of those challenges it is perhaps no wonder we are seeing fewer of these lovely harbingers of summer at the moment.

I’m still scanning the skies above my office desk in the hope of a glimpse of that unmistakable swallow shape with its forked tail and long streamers and striking red throat.

It’s definitely not summer until they have arrived. Here’s hoping.