This year, with the late arrival of Spring, followed by an extended period of sunny and dry days, appears to have been a good year for the High Blean High Flyers: Swallow squadron. While there are also Swifts in the area we have not seen House Martins, but there are at least four breeding pairs of Swallow around High Blean Bed & Breakfast.
We have already had two sets of Swallows fledge their young, and we have one nest ready to fledge any day now, and a newly completed nest with eggs waiting to hatch.
Waiting for Mum
While in previous years the Swallows have nested in the chicken shed porch and garage, we have restricted their access to the garage, but this does not stop them getting in, whenever the door is left open.
It is a real pleasure to sit back in a deck chair and watch these amazing aerial acrobats swoop and soar through the air, but a bit disconcerting when going out of a door and being brushed by a high speed Swallow.
Bijou accommodation
The chicken shed second wave are now getting ready to leave and their nest is getting rather overcrowded!
Up Date 6th August. The High Flyers took to the air this morning though I am not sure they were keen!
As I walked into the chicken shed I noticed that the swallow nest was empty and all the fledgling swallows were on the spars of the hut. They did not hang about and all flew out of the chicken shed with great haste. However, this evening when I went to feed the chickens, all the swallow chick were back in the nest, though this looked a lot more crowded than before. I suspect it will not be long before they are off.
