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A swallow that missed It's flight?

2K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  Paul_B 
#1 ·
Had three pairs of swallows return and take up residence, two pairs in last years nests and one single swallow inside a pend with a door either end, not ideal but I left the door open for it, I never saw a mate at first but one finally appeared, they/it left the nest for very long periods and someone closed the door, but a pair returned at this point and visited the nest occasionally, the eggs never hatched, but the one single swallow still came back, and back, the other two nests fledged all in one morning, zipped about like mad things for a few hours then gone, and the lone one(possibly pair) were nowhere to be seen, by the afternoon they were all gone.

A couple of days later the lone one returned, visited the nest then sat up on the roof twittering all day, and the next day, and every day for a week alone, it was definitely gone the day before the mass fledge, possibly locked in a barn in a local farm overnight, this happens a lot here, they go in to get flies around cattle then get locked in, then let out in the morning.

Is it possible it missed the take off to migrate? delayed by the instinct to wait for eggs to hatch? or locked in somewhere on take off day?
 
#3 ·
I saw a load of swallows flying around in Cheshire on Friday catching insects and we've still got the odd one in nth hants
I was wondering when the last were due to leave Must be soon.
Mine fledged all in one morning, and pretty much immediately were zipping about at 90mph like they had trained for a battle of Britain dog fight, by the evening they were off, from the nest - flying acrobat course - ok lets go to Africa inside a day, these things are nails.
 
#4 ·
Our swallows are still hawking the fields.Not headed off yet probably about 30-50 birds . and sand martins are still about.house martins are ofski..Ospreys still talking our trout .but the young have moved off.

Jim
 
#5 ·
I miss the swallows when they go, never thought about why till now, when I moved in to this house is was part of a derelict farm that had been forgotten and reverted to wild, I had to keep the kitchen window closed to stop wrens coming in and nicking bread, walked out the door one day and fell over a young hare, in the evenings the place came alive, I had barn owls fly feet from me trying to work out what I was and more bats than batman, hares clunked about under stuff in the barns and stashed leverets all over the place.
Roll on 7 years and it's been developed into 5 houses, the gardens are meticulous and where the bats lived is now restored building with no holes, the first people to move brought a cat and it ate the barn owl, the wrens were the first to go, then the hares, then the owl obviously after a 6 month site stoppage and a successful re nesting, it came down on a nice mowed lawn for a mouse and the cat grabbed it.
The bats were rehomed to tree boxes but the next neighbour that moved in cut the tree down, what was once a habitat turned into nice fresh kerbed road meeting nice sterile garden, pests not encouraged, weedkiller, lawnmowers, noise, insects, weeds and bushes eradicated, and now the only thing left is the returning next generation of swallows back to the nest they came from, I had to stop a neighbour jet washing their nest down(on my wall) because he reckons they leave a mess.

Watching this process I can't help think it was better without the humans, we leave nothing then talk shyte about planting flowers for bees.
 
#11 ·
The others left more than a fortnight ago, most fledged that morning, this one arrived back after the others left and has been hanging around ever since always alone, it's like something instinctive is not kicking in, others have come and gone presumably stopping off en route but it doesn't join them,

Found out yesterday if I do a quick swallow like tutting sound through my teeth it answers, never seen that before.
 
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