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Press Releases - May/June 2008
Item 6
No. 2008/06/19
June 2008
Please give House Martins a chance
BTO scientists are pleading with Britain’s
homeowners to be tolerant of the mess made by House Martins, especially
this year, as numbers seem to be down on normal levels. They are
also asking for people to take part in a new House Martin Survey
launched at 11.00 today (Tuesday) on World on the Move,
the Radio 4 series that focuses on migratory species.
Welcome or unwelcome?
House Martins breed under the eaves of houses and other buildings.
Many people really treasure these summer visitors, waiting anxiously
for their arrival in April or May, and marvelling as they dive into
their nests, made of mud and lined with feathers. For these people,
finding discarded eggshell and piles of droppings under a nest is
a sign of a successful breeding season, even before the first begging
youngster pops its head out of the entrance hole.
For other people, House Martins are a nuisance. In an attempt to
avoid having to cope with a bit of mess, some people knock down
House Martin nests – even in the breeding season, when there
are youngsters inside. This is illegal. For some hints on how to
live at peace with your House Martins, please see note 2 below.
Having travelled thousands of miles from equatorial Africa and
apparently having faced some really horrible spring weather in southern
Europe, it seems just a little unfair that a pair of House Martins
will find that last year’s nest has been knocked down by house-proud
homeowners. If birds can re-use a nest from a previous year then
they save themselves up to ten days of work. More information on
nest building is given in note 1 below.
New BTO survey
As part of the new national Bird Atlas project, BTO scientists
are keen to know where House Martins are breeding this year. They
would also like to know whether there are fewer nests this year
than last year.
Launching the survey with Philippa Forrester on World on the
Move on Radio 4 this morning (Tuesday), the BTO’s Graham
Appleton said:
“We are pleased to be working with the BBC Radio 4 World
on the Move series, to look at what is happening to House Martins
this year. With the help of volunteers, we shall be able to produce
a House Martin map for the new national Bird Atlas project and hopefully
get a first indication of just how serious losses have been since
last year.”
Graham went on to say:
“House Martins are believed to spend our winters hunting
for insects over the forests of equatorial Africa. They fly north
in the spring, crossing North Africa, Spain and France and arriving
here in April and May. Birdwatchers contributing to BirdTrack, the
joint BTO, RSPB and BirdWatch Ireland project to collect bird records,
are worried that far fewer House Martins made it back this summer.
They may have been adversely affected by poor spring weather in
southern Europe.”
Mark Grantham, who runs BirdTrack writes:
“All summer we’ve been receiving emails and phone
calls from recorders, wondering where their House Martins are and
concerned at the lack of birds at traditional breeding sites. It
appears that a few House Martins arrived quite early, in mid-March,
but the main influx of birds was a good week later than in recent
years. All our birds have arrived now and most will be hatching
chicks, so it does look like we're missing a lot of our breeding
birds.”
Notes about House Martins
| 1. |
Most House Martins breed under the eaves of houses
and other buildings. They often breed in groups and nests are
sometimes joined together in terraces. Mud is collected from
the edges of puddles and streams. Birds rarely travel more than
150 metres to collect mud. If they can re-use a nest from a
previous year then they save themselves up to ten days of work.
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| 2. |
Living at peace with your House Martins: |
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- Place a large seed tray on your patio, under the nest,
to catch most of the droppings. Then clean it out periodically.
- Grow a climbing plant, such as wisteria, over a patio
door and under the nest, so the plant catches the droppings.
- If the House Martins choose a really problematic nest
site, put up something to deter them during the winter,
in the hope that they will move somewhere more convenient
in the spring. It is illegal to tamper with a bird’s
nest during the breeding season.
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| 3. |
To get involved in the House Martin Survey, visit www.bto.org
and click on the House Martin link or phone 01842 750050 and
ask for a survey form. Volunteers will be asked to count the
nests on their houses and to look for evidence that chicks have
been produced; discarded eggshells and piles of fresh droppings.
Additional nest counts from 2007 will be exceptionally valuable. |
| 4. |
If you want to tell the BTO about House Martins in your neighbourhood
(ie birds that are not nesting on your house) you can ask for
an Atlas Roving Record form. Phone 01842 750050 and we will
send one out to you. These forms can be used to tell us about
other birds too: any sighting, from a Goldcrest to a Golden
Eagle, can contribute to the national Bird Atlas. |
| 5. |
Bird Atlas 2007-11 is a partnership between the British Trust
for Ornithology (BTO), Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC)
and BirdWatch Ireland. Bird Atlas 2007-11 will map the distribution
and relative abundance of birds in Britain and Ireland during
the breeding season and winter. Results will form the basis
of conservation priorities for coming decades. Maps from previous
atlases are available from
for use in publications. |
| 6. |
Facts and Figures:
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- A pair takes a couple of days to repair a nest from last
year but up to 18 days to build a new one.
- The female usually lays four or five eggs – and
will have two broods during the summer.
- Average incubation is 16 days and chicks stay in nest
for about 22 days.
- House Martins feed mainly on flies and aphids
- See http://www.bto.org/birdfacts/index.htm
for more facts and figures
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| 7. |
Images are available from
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| 8. |
The BTO has an ISDN line available for radio interviews. |
For further information please contact:
Graham Appleton or Paul Stancliffe
Tel: 01842 750050 or 07845 900559 (evening).
E-mail:
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