First swallows!

[Odsox]

I keep getting waves of them. Yesterday there were about 50 sitting on the wires, today there are 2 or 3 swooping around.
As they get as far north as Norway I assume I am seeing Scottish ones stocking up with rations before taking advantage of the high pressure system and the southerly winds.
Still sad to see them go.

[Millymollymandy]

You really had me worried yesterday morning for a while as I couldn't see any out the kitchen window which I normally do! Luckily when I went outside I saw some over the field, but none have been on any wires - not that I can see many wires from my house. The only time I see them perched on the phone line to the house is when they are young and they are waiting mum and dad to bring them some food. I have no way of knowing which are the ones that 'live' around here and which are coming from oop north.

Was talking about this with my mum yesterday who said her ones (in Somerset) had been perching and also we were talking about how the robins had just started to sing in the mornings which she said was a sign of the end of summer - winter coming (shudder!).

[Odsox]

We keep getting waves of them, some days only one or two swooping around and then the next day perhaps 40 or 50.
I must say I hadn't noticed that other years, just their absence when the last ones left.

[Millymollymandy]

They are still around here, but it's not the same low swooping, or drinking from my pond on the wing, with all the chattering. It's more loads of them high up in the sky swooping around. Still good to see them though and I keep looking out for them ... one day it will all go quiet here!

I did notice a week or so back that in the absence of telegraph wires they were using a huge ash tree to perch on and kept flying out and back to it.

[spider8]

We still have some swallows. My hubby rings them at a local loch with nets set in the reed beds and gets around 20 at a time..........will be sad when they've all flown.
No, make that 80 swallows this evening!!

[Odsox]

I haven't seen any swallows for about 5 days now.
I saw a flock of them last Thursday swooping about and sitting on the wires, but none since. I guess that's the last of them gone and it will seem like an eternity before they are seen here again.

Ah well, on the other hand it won't be long before I have curlew, snipe, lapwings, redwings and fieldfare all over my lawn.

[spider8]

We've had Fieldfare and Redwings in the garden and a Robin has turned up .

[becks77]

We still have a swallow or two over the field, but these I think are the second batch from the parents ,
I was really worried they wouldn't fledge and then wouldn't make a decent flight weight but fingers crossed they seem to be good to go. Roll on spring time!!

[spider8]

Dave and I were quite surprised to see some swallows zooming over our garden today........hope they set off soon.

[Millymollymandy]

Saw 3 on 6th October then we drove 700kms south and I saw a few more. Saw lots of migrating birds down there (French/Spanish border) plus on our journey back up north we 'followed' some northward bound flocks of lapwings.

Sadly we also witnessed the mass shooting of migratory birds over the lower Pyrenees passes - these places are also monitored by various French bird organisations to do bird counts so whilst we were bird watching and talking to these caring folk we also had to witness the senseless shooting of a lone blackbird over the car park because there didn't happen to be any flocks of birds going overhead at that time. Apparently they just shoot for fun - they are supposed to be pigeon shooting but they are getting various thrushes and larks and blackbirds and ring ouzels as well - killing anything and we were told for every 100 they kill they maybe take home (to eat) one or two. At the weekend we could hear the endless gun shot noise over the valleys continually so I was glad we witnessed it close up on a weekday. According to my bird watching books it's the 'well heeled urban bourgeousie' (sp) who partake in this ritual slaughter. By the way I never saw a wood pigeon at all whilst down there!

Kind of made me appreciate the real hunters who do actually eat what they hunt/shoot. Well, only kind of, cos there appears to be nothing left around where I live. Except wood pigeons!!!