It must be well over a week since the Swallow chicks left their nests and they are still returning. The first fledglings from the first nest perch on the wire every night, and sometimes in the day if it is raining. The fledgling from the roof nest are going back to the nest of a night and when raining. It could be that the nearest perching place is at least six foot below the nest. Now and then they perch there. They all seem to be managing well in this bad weather. I have not managed to find any other nests to watch, but again it is still not to early.
I cant remember if I told you when I had converted the holiday cottages. We had a booking for a holiday in the four bedroom cottage. In the kitchen area a Swallow decided to nest in the ceiling space. We hadn’t noticed it until we went to put the plaster board up. We couldn’t remove the nest as the eggs had hatched, There wasn’t long before the booking. Every morning we would check to see if the chicks were ready to fledge. Of course when you want them gone they seem to stay longer. We finished the cottage as best we could. We were fortunate that we had stable entrance doors fitted, so the was little chance that any creature could have got into the cottage, as we were able to close the bottom part, allowing the adults to get to the chicks with the top part of the door opened. We also had to make sure that no other birds tried to nest in the cottage.
There was no way that the cottage could have been used with the Swallows nest still in the ceiling space. You don’t realise how much mess they make until you experience it. To us it looked even worse. The day before the holiday guest were due we found the fledglings sitting on the kitchen worktops. They weren’t given the opportunity to go back to the nest. That came down real quick, the plaster board up and painted over, having to plaster it at a later date. We left the door open until the day the quest were due to arrive, and on the first opportunity when all the Birds were outside we closed the door. An Orthodox Jewish family with eleven young children had booked the cottage for the fortnight. No television was allowed, but the children enjoyed the Swallow fledglings flying in and out of the cottage. Mum weren’t best pleased though.