Eaves Dropping

With it's distinctive white undercarriage  let alone the noisy tweets it was easy to spot the House Martins nesting under the eaves of Cheltenham Collage Boathouse. 

There are conflicting reports as to the numbers around. For instance a colony under the arches of Clifton Hampden bridge reached up to 513 nests but today is deserted because of the huge vibration from traffic. This constant fluctuation in numbers is common. They require rain as they build mud nests as you can see here, plus warm weather is a must to get the insects to feed. Bad weather impacts heavily on their numbers. Here there are quite a few nests in a colony.

They were originally cliff and cave nesters and still are colonies in places like Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Anglesey. They feed on the wing; wonderful to watch this morning as they swooped and spun to catch insects. 

The martins arrive in April from Africa with nesting beginning 3-4 weeks after arrival and surprisingly they can cram about 13 into 1 nest which is made of mud and grass lined with feathers and vegetable fibre. A great place to brood on the bank of the  River Severn as they were  coming in with all manner of insects - at speed. I could have stay a lot longer but we were off out.

A beautiful sunny day,  picnic on the lawns with my family followed by a fabulous evening all at Kilworth House Theatre watching what has to be said was a stunning performance of Joseph. What a perfect day.