have the swallows arrived where you live this year

Spotted a couple of Amazons in Sainsbury's

expecting a knock on the door shortly then  ,mrs has a big pot of soup on ,they come every year to dip thar spears innit

They are here already delta, was watching them yesterday, though flying very high. In Greece a couple of weeks ago the House Martins were very busy nesting where they were allowed. Flying into our room at times through one set of doors and out of the other. Quite fearless of humans.

Saw them in Wexford a week back on an electricity wire in a farmyard.

Seems far less than usual - and much later too.

Have seen them as early as March 28th!!! Mid April usually.

They've been by Perth for at least a couple of weeks now - along with the Martins, who are building a nest directly above my front door.  Is it salivated bugs they build with?  They'll go swooping around a minute or so at a time and land on the wall chittering so much it would put chit-chat to shame!

No swallows or Martins here , cant here the whistling  of Swifts either but they are last to arrive ,they are all late ,but  the
Insects have really just burst into life this past week  but been a very dry winter and spring ,no doubt they will arrive shortly ,not seen a Wasp or Butterfly either ,few Moths ,Bugs starting to show and seen some Mayfly earlier in week .

good to see some seem to have arrived - but nowt here yet 

I've a pair of Mistle Thrushes, he's a beast and has been terrorisng a family of Magpies all afternoon. A Stuka of a bird.

Lots of swallows and martins down here in Zummerzet, but haven't seen the swifts yet. Have never been able to hear birdsong, so they could be around, but I haven't seen any swooping for insects over the river, as they usually do.

Really miss my old house, where swallows nested everywhere - not just the usual places, like the stables, but even in the entrance porches. Always felt sorry for the house martins - every year they'd build a beautiful line of mud domes under the roof soffits, and every year they'd return and find squatters, in the form of sparrows, had already moved in and trashed them.

out and about in the country today ,seen a few  Swallows,not many ,no Martins , heard one Swift ,spoke to soon about the midges ,that recent rain activated them and they is out with a vengeance and hungry.

i am very sad to say that  i have seen very few birds in the garden ,about  one robin is all .

Have you bird feeders in your garden, learner?  There was only a solitary robin when I moved here five years ago, now there's blue tits, wagtails, chaffs, even a greater spotted woodpecker having her brekkie this morning.  I hung feeders at the top of my kitchen widow - brilliant seeing the visitors so close-up!

window

More and more house martens about in Dublin and Kildare.

Garden birds
You have to feed the little b*****.
I have a few feeders, and shamefully admit throwing some sunflower hearts on the ground for the pigeons.
My mother lives in a nursing home and I bring sacks of sunflower hearts for their feeders.
They get  birds at the feeders all day, sparrows, finches, tits, doves.

I bought 12.75 kg sunflower hearts the other day, not as popular as suet pellets yet but getting there. It's all there but some of em -thrushes included- will take wet bread or nowt.

still havent seen a swallow - others years plenty!

Have to say hardly seen any and were now late summer ,nights getting shorter ,colder , the big moths are out ,true bugs about to emerge and the sunsets are turning red ,still plenty decent days left but doubt the telephone wires will be sagging under the weight of swallows before the outward migration .