How many swallows make a summer?

The swallows that nest under the roof of the croquet pavilion have successfully raised a second brood, the hard working parents have now raised seven chicks this year.

Members of Sidmouth Croquet Club are used to having birds swooping just over their heads as a pair of adult swallows fly back and forth to their nest which is tucked in a corner of the roof of their pavilion. Swallows, possibly the same pair, have built their cup shaped nest of mud here for several years now.

There are nearly 100 species of swallow but the one that migrates between southern Africa and the UK is one of the most widespread bird species across the world, partly because of the north south migration, but also because they have tagged on to human habitations. It is thought that their ancestors built their nests on cliffs and in caves originally, but they found human buildings, especially animal barns, had a plentiful supply of flying insects.

These remarkable birds are incredibly agile. They twist and turn in flight catching flying insects in their wide gaping mouths. They will swoop across ponds and lakes to scoop up a drink or an insect on the water’s surface. It is not unusual to be playing croquet and have them plunge down to pick up a small beetle scuttling across the lawn a few feet away.

The croquet pair arrived in May and spent two weeks building their nest, a cup made up of mouthfuls of mud and lined with moss and feathers. Four eggs were laid and these were incubated for just over two weeks, mainly by the female while the male would be chasing flies and feeding her.

Both parents spent a busy three weeks feeding the chicks which begin life as not much more than a huge red lined mouth. It has been shown that many birds will feed anything that looks like a chick’s gape, that is how cuckoos are successful. Naked at first, the chicks quickly grow bristly feathers, a sight that only a mother could love.

By the time the chicks were ready to take flight in early July, it looked as if the parents had underestimated the size of nest needed and it was almost bursting with the four chicks. Unlike mammals, birds do not have an extended adolescent growth period. Chicks are the same size as an adult even before they fledge and leave the nest.

The new fledglings were now as elegant as their parents but with just two tufts of baby feathers sticking up above the eyes. Then they were off, not to Africa yet, but exploring the area and learning to cope for themselves. They would return to the nest site occasionally hoping to be fed but, after two weeks, the parents were busy repairing the nest preparing for their second brood and they would chase any returning youngsters off aggressively.

Another swallow, probably a male who had failed to attract a mate earlier, tried building a nest at the other end of the building. He gave up after a few days, not because the established pair chased him off because swallows are quite gregarious. The problem might have been that he just couldn’t find enough mud because of the extended dry weather.

The first brood juveniles have joined up with others and now roost on the Fortfield Café. By late October they will be joined by their parents, younger siblings and others from further north and then disappear. Not, as once thought, to dive into ponds and hibernate at the bottom, but to embark on their epic journey to areas of southern Africa.

Ed Dolphin