Swallows in the barn at Woodhill Cottage
We have nesting swallows in the barn at Woodhill Cottage. Visitors to this site may have read a post in April announcing the arrival of the first of the summer swallows. In fact it turned out that numbers of arriving swallows were way down on average due to the prevailing north winds we experienced during most of April and the first half of May. These unusual north winds, which are hard or impossible for a swallow to fly against, were also responsible for sending us the Icelandic volcanic ash clouds that grounded aircraft across Europe.
The skies across the Surrey Hills are now alive with swallows who finally arrived in late May.
The last time we had swallows nesting in the barn was in 2006. A breeding pair had a very successful brood but then never returned. Earlier this year I put up two swallow nesters in the barn to try to encourage them back. Typically the swallows that have now taken up residence have shunned my vacant lots, opting instead to build their own nest right next door.
Swallow nester in the barn at Woodhill Cottage
I haven’t taken any photos yet as I didn’t want to disturb them but I will endeavour to capture their progress and will post results here so keep checking the site for updates.
