200+ House Martins

[SuzieandFlo]

Today , when I went to see my pony , I was amazed by the number of House Martins I saw. They were everywhere !
There have been Swallows at the farm all summer, nesting in the barn , and I have enjoyed watching hundreds of them rearing their young. The Swallows are still around in great numbers , but the telephone wires and the roofs of the barns were covered with House Martins today .
I've taken a few pictures to give you an idea of the numbers. In one picture alone , I have counted 130 but there were many, many more than that.


















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[aeshna5]

Looks like they're getting ready for migration, though others will probably still have late broods.

[Dorts]

I have one pair that regularly nest in our barn and their second brood hatched just three days ago.
Dorts.

[aeshna5]

I saw at least 30 by their breeding colony today at Ruislip Lido with a few brownish juveniles flying with the adults. It's not unusual for young to still be in the nest in September.

[SuzieandFlo]

I have recorded this flock sighting on the BTO's BirdTrack. There are definitely more than 200, and in one picture taken yesterday I counted 260 birds. That was JUST the ones on the telephone wires , with at least another hundred or so on the roofs of the barns.
I have to say , walking under so many birds perched together to get to my pony's field is amazing. Even more amazing when they all fly off and return to their perches. What a feeling it is having over 200 birds flying low above your head .
Yesterday , some of them were sunbathing on the barn roof.
Here is one of them.

Does anyone know what route these little birds take when they migrate ? Do they stay near the coast or do some flocks stay more inland.
I'm just curious as the farm is very close to the coast in south east Scotland.
Musselburgh is only a couple of miles away , and a little further away are Aberlady, North Berwick , Dunbar etc.
If anyone else sees large flocks of House Martins gathering, feel free to add them to this thread. I will post here if the numbers increase and also when the birds leave the farm .

[Jackaroo]

I came across this small group of martins on the East cost of Scotland just south of Montrose. It seems they'll nest anywhere with a sheltered, vertical habitat so it's not surprising, I suppose, to find them in coastal areas with cliffs. These particular birds were using a couple of man-made depressions in a relatively remote situation not far from an old lime kiln. I'm assuming the depressions were left after excavation of the sandstone used for the construction of the kilns. There were approximately 20 nests in this fairly confined site and no sign of fledged juveniles as far as I could see. So it's early days for this colony.

[rossy]

i saw a mixture of house martins and swallows , of approx 60 on telegraph wires yesterday , and they to were above horses and stables in littleborough, getting ready for the off. they then head to the coast, but ive seen birds head up north and some head south, as for crossing over france would be logical as its not to far from britain, so down south would be favourite , ie folkstone, dover around the kent area rossy.

[SheffieldLass]

A flock of over a hundred mixed house martins and swallows on my roof today, and possibly one or two sand martins. Most seemed to be juveniles. I hope the house martins eyed up our eaves for next year whilst htey were there. We had a pair taking a lot of interest for a few days earlier on this year, but somewhat after the breeding season had started for them though. Nothing came of it. Swallows nest in our garages and sheds.