Sparrows destroying swallow nest?

[dragana85]

Hello everyone, sorry if my english isnt that good. So my problam is that the swallows are back in the nest for like 10 days but since yesterday i noticed that sparrows are going uround and inside the swallows nest and are trying to destroy it i guess couse part of the mud is crashed. Could you give me an idea how to prevent sparrows from destroying my swallows nest ?? It is urgent!

[rossy]

hello dragna, its possible the sparrows are after the feathers which swallows use to line the nest, have the swallows laid any eggs as yet ? and where have they built the nest ? rossy.

[dragana85]

Hi dear rossy, thank you for the fast answer. Maybe that is the reason because a lot of feathers are down on my balcony i guess from the inside of the nest. For the swallows i am sure that they are not having eggs so soon because they are back for only 10 days and they are not in the nest all the time. I would like to add that the lower part of the nest is from polystyrene because last year the swallows had an accident and their nest was ruined so we rebuilded fake nest and they just rebuilded the upper part. Now i notised a little hole in the polystyrene part of the nest so i must do something to fix it. I guess the sparrows did the hole while digging in the nest... :/ What should i do?

[animartco]

Hello Dragana, I'm impressed at how well you look after your swallows! Unfortunately sparrows are a bit of a nuisance. They may even try to take over the nest. Are you sure the swallows are using this nest again? They haven't tried to start one somewhere else? If they have been back for ten days they should be fully into the swing of things, and should be defending their nest. There is unfortunately nothing much you can do to help them if they won't or can't help themselves. It is going to be a bad summer for swallows this year.

[Ladywell]

Our swallows have been back since 7th April and, although they are flying in and out of the barn and other buildings and perching near their nests they haven't started to repair them yet. I guess one reason might be that everywhere is so dry and therefore there is a lack of mud?

[dragana85]

Here, i took some pictures of the nest and you can see the destroyed left upper part and a little hole in the lower part



And here it is from a distance so you can see that the nest is not easily reachable at all.



The swallows were flying going inside and outside of the nest so i think that it is not abandoned and i think that they sleep in the nest. Now i am a bit worried.

[dragana85]

The sparrows are still destroying the nest. I noticed that they are crushing slowly the polystyrene. How to prevent that.? Any ideas? I also noticed that yesterday and today the swallows are not coming to the nest... I can not solve what the problem is

[dragana85]

Could some of you at least give me an idea with what to cover the styrofoam so the sparrows wont crush it??? Please help!

[animartco]

Dragana, if th nest is damaged the swallows should start to build a new one. They do not have to use the same nest two years running. But if course they would not build it close to the sparrows, so may leave your property. This is a shame but there isn't much you could do... except perhaps supply a bowl of nice gooey clay.

[dragana85]

Actually, i was planning to put poor foam around the nest to protect it. I think it is a good idea, what do you think?