Martins make a welcome return after their African winter
The clocks have gone forwards, days are lengthening and our gardens are coming back to life, which means a host of jobs to do. But if April feels like a busy month for us, it’s positively frantic for our birds!
Breeding season is upon them and the focus is very much on finding a mate and the best nesting spot.
It’s also the month we welcome back most of our spring migrants such as house martins. Like many other birds, they’ve completed flights of thousands of miles and now need to get into the best condition to begin breeding.
House martins will often spend their first few days back in the UK in wetlands and other sites rich in insects, busily feeding before heading to their favoured nesting sites in urban and rural areas.
They build amazing cup-shaped nests on the outer walls of buildings, tucked under the eaves. These intricate structures look like they’d take some time to make when you have hands – but imagine only having a beak!
It’s estimated it takes around 1,000 beakfuls of mud to create them, an incredible amount of endeavour for these small birds.
They do reuse old nest cups where possible, and will make running repairs if necessary so if you have existing nests in your garden, please do leave them intact.
House martins are colony nesters, often living alongside four or five other pairs, and can have up to three broods in a season, making this an incredibly intense time for them.
It is amazing for anyone lucky enough to have them nesting nearby to see them in such good numbers.
How to help martin colonies
However, house martins were added to the red list of most endangered birds in 2022 due to a decline in their numbers. Fortunately there are some things you can do to help them.
- Create a muddy puddle if the next few weeks are dry when these birds are due to be arriving back. They need the mud to patch existing nests or create new ones.
- Put up a ready-made nest cup, which are widely available to buy and easy to put up.
- Ensure you have plenty of insect-attracting plants in your garden.
- Add a pond – however small. This will also help provide a ready source of food and water for the birds.
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Frequently asked questions
Q. What’s the best time to get up and listen to the dawn chorus?
A. The dawn chorus builds over the next few weeks as birds sing in the early morning to find a mate. Sunrise is the best time to listen, generally 30 minutes before and after the sun appears.
Q. I really want to help swifts, but is it too late to put up a swift nest box on my house?
A. Swifts typically arrive back from late April onwards, so you still have time.
Swift populations have suffered terribly in recent years, in part due to lack of suitable nesting sites, so the more we can do to help them, the better. You can also help by downloading our Swiftmapper app and plotting the location of any swift nesting sites you’re aware of.
For more information on helping house martins, or any wildlife in your garden, go to www.rspb.org.uk
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