Hello Trish, We live in Washington State, USA. I was looking online for anyone who may understand the decrease in Swallows over the last few years.
Every years we have less and less return, at this rate, next year we may not have any return, this concerns me.
Looking online I found your web site, I know I’m not in the UK, but we have the same problems.
Hope I can share with you, what happens on our side of the world. Over here, our Swallows fly south to South America. They will start to leave our area around the 15th of August. Thank-you for your web site.
Donna
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Donna Thank you Donna for sharing this. Through Bird Table News I realise it is a wider problem than I first thought.
We have the same problem here on the farm in Yorkshire, England.
The swallows seem to decrease each year. So fewer swallows set off on the migratory journey – which means fewer will return next year.
I think I will get in touch with Garth who emailed me last year. He does a lot orf bird ringing.
I thought this was interesting. It is from an article I did a while ago
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About the 12th Century in Germany a Prior in a Monastery fixed a parchment to a swallow’s leg asking –
‘Swallow where do you live in winter’
The following spring the Prior received the reply attached to the swallow’s leg
‘In Asia, the home of Petrus’.
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Amazing. What a simple idea. How did the Prior catch the swallow? Did he expect a reply?
From that piece of parchment it was discovered that swallows flew from Germany to Asia.
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About 1740 a man called Johann Leonard Frisch tied some wool to swallows’ legs.
He wanted to find out if the same swallow returned to the same nest year after year.
The following Spring he found out that they do!
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How on earth they caught the swallows I will never know
Thank you for contacting me. It is very unbelievable that one day we may not have any swallows returning in the Spring.
I will read up about this and see if there are ways to find out more.
Any ideas welcome. Surely with the World Wide Web we should be able to.
The comings and goings of the swifts and swallows near our house has always fascinated me and it seems it has fascinated other bird watchers over the years.
About the 12th Century in Germany a Prior in a Monastery fixed a parchment to a swallow’s leg asking –
‘Swallow where do you live in winter’
The following spring the Prior received the reply attached to the swallow’s leg
‘In Asia, the home of Petrus’.
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Amazing. What a simple idea. How did the Prior catch the swallow? Did he expect a reply?
From that piece of parchment it was discovered that swallows flew from Germany to Asia.
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About 1740 a man called Johann Leonard Frisch tied some wool to swallows’ legs.
He wanted to find out if the same swallow returned to the same nest year after year.
The following Spring he found out that they do!
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I anticipate the return of the swifts and swallows every Spring and know they return to us from warmer climates.
SOME HARD WORK IS DONE TO DISCOVER MORE ABOUT SWALLOWS
http://birdtablenews.com/2010/09/swallow-recording-and-ringing-in-worcestershire/