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Hi,
They're back the first swallows have returned at last, I was so pleased to see them, summer is now on its way really. We also were out walking yesterday and thought wewere heard our first cuckoo of the year too.
Anybody else heard or seen our feathered friends of summer?

Hi becks

We have been listening to our spring cuckoos for about a fortnight, and now have the hoopies as well.

Swallows moved back a while ago, and we have a new mating pair in the barn as well as the 3 couples from previous years.

Definitely spring

Our first swallow came about a fortnight ago but the main lot have been with us for about 4 days. We have quite wide eaves around our house which makes ideal nesting places for them. I love watching and listening to their constant chatter, they make great alarm clocks in the morning. Haven't heard the cuckoo yet.

Remember seeing a hoopie at my sisters place in France but never seen them here.

Sue

I think that they(hoopies) only really hit the south of the UK on their migrations, but I love seeing them here - so exotic looking and the noise they make is a great morning alarm clock.

We had one see off the dog in the garden one morning, poor Arthur looked completely confused by this bird that just would not give in and fly away - it was desperate to retrieve some pieces of fleece and would not be deterred by a border collie.

This should be in the Springwatch thread - anyway it just reminded me that I heard my first cuckoo in Spain, then a few mins later saw a bird that I'd never seen before and it took us both about 15 mins of watching these two birds to identify them (with the aid of our books - 1st year Great Spotted Cuckoos! It wasn't them making the noise though, that was regular cuckoos.

And the first thing I heard when I got home was a cuckoo.

Only saw one Hoopoe in all my 2 weeks of birdwatching in Spain and SW France. But saw about 15 new species so I'm quite happy and lots of other things I've only seen before in more exotic (i.e. warmer ) locations!

Oh I've just remembered, the hoopoe was in a dusty car park leading to a nature reserve where we went off bird watching. It was a track around reed beds and sand dunes near a beach. Suddenly I was looking through my binocs then I saw a quite a sight - said to my hubby "there's a naked man standing there". "shhhhhh" he said, "I'm trying to identify this little brown bird"..... "noooooo" said I, "it really is a naked man, this is a nudist beach!!!"

Right next to a bird reserve with people like me with binoculars. I promise I didn't look, honestly - they were all very large and not good looking men! Birds much more interesting!

lol MMM

All our swallows are dead.

This cold snap and the snow we have had for the past week has effectively killed all the swallows. No insects for them to eat, freezing temperatures for their eggs. All the nest are empty now and there are dead birds everywhere.

I could cry......

Noooooooo, oh that's terrible news

I'm soooo sad to hear that, I'd be heartbroken

I've always envied people that had swallows nesting and when we moved at the end of last year we noticed some old nests in the barn. A couple of weeks ago 2 pair's took up residence and I'm over the moon.

It's also been magical watching the lapwings that are nesting on the fields at the back of us, (another first for us) trouble is with so much watching there's not much work getting done.

How dreadfully sad, to think they fly all that way for this to happen to them.
Sue

That's just awful, yet the wierd thing is that they arrive where you live really early, when it is still very cold, so what do they eat then in March? It must be quite normal for you to have snow in March or April at your altitude in the Massif Central.

Becks I have moved this thread into the wildlife section as we already have a current thread called Springwatch about swallows and cuckoos etc. If you are OK I'd like to merge the two threads so we have our records for the years to come altogether, just like previous years. Lemme know.

Normally we get very cold nights all the way through March and April, with the worst of the snows over with by March, temperatures at night dropping to -16 or -17 celcius, but the days are generally dry and sunny. So plenty of insects, flies and mossies.

This year we have had a fantastic hot spell, everything grew really fast, everything arrived early and set up nests, and there have been lots of births and egg laying, but this cold snap has come at an awful time, with young in the nests or eggs, and a week of very very very heavy rain, temperatures not getting above 2 celcius during the day, and then the snowfall.

All the insects etc shut up shop and either died themselves or hibernated - so no food for the swallows.

We have been feeding the wild birds with breadcrumbs and fat balls but that is no use to something that relies on catching its food out of the air.