Caught this photo of our 4 punky swallow chicks the other day, growing fast and craning their necks to be first in the queue for bugs from mum and dad. Note the nest, expertly built and strategically balanced on a nail!
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| #SwallowChicks |
Showing posts with label barn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label barn. Show all posts
Punky Swallow Chicks
Caught this photo of our 4 punky swallow chicks the other day, growing fast and craning their necks to be first in the queue for bugs from mum and dad. Note the nest, expertly built and strategically balanced on a nail!
Swallow Chicks
It’s a fabulous time of the year for watching all the wildlife.
I was in the barn the other day and looked down to see the tiniest broken eggshell
from the swallows’ nest above. They’ve built it on top of a nail – in fact
where the birdcam used to hang, so no live pictures this year then! I’ll have
to get out there with my camera as they grow…
Learnings:
*Get the birdcam in place before the swallows
start nest building!
And they're off...
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| Our swallows have flown - wonder which are ours? |
Mixed feelings today. It’s
been fantastic to see the swallows develop and find their wings, watching them
have flying lessons and getting braver and higher every day. Now they’ve joined
a larger flock we’ve lost them to nature and they’re no longer “ours”. On the
other hand we’ve had the privilege of helping to raise them by providing a
place for them to nest and plenty of mud from the pig pen to help them build it.
Learnings:
“Build it and
they will come”: a ledge in the right place will encourage swallow nesting.
Watch their
behaviour to see which sites they favour, then give them space to raise their
family.
Learning to Fly
Yesterday saw our 3.5 week
old swallow chicks take their first tentative flight – about 2 metres to a beam
in the barn… but hey we’ve all got to start somewhere! Still being fed by mum
and dad. They went back to the nest for the night - everything’s a bit new and
scary out there. Maybe tomorrow they'll go a bit further.
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| First day out of the nest for the swallow chicks |
Four Swallows Make a Summer
Our Swallows are growing fast and becoming ever more demanding of their parents. It’s a real treat to watch the comings and goings and to see the chicks develop day by day. Getting a bit tight for space in the nest now, especially when they stretch out their wings for size. Surely it can't be long now before they take their first flight?
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| Feeding time at the Swallow Nest |
Swallows in the Barn
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| Mrs Swallow sitting on her eggs |
Meet Mrs Swallow. Sitting on eggs in her perfect nest on a ledge in the barn. We watched them building their nest, very precisely, with bits of grass and feathers, held together with mud from the pig pen. She's been sitting for about a week.
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| Nest Building at the end of May |
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