[Robina]

A few weeks ago we erected a garden shed, which we bought from a friend. The only problem was a broken window. Only a week later a couple of swallows took a liking to it. Flying in and out of the window, when the door was shut. They love our rotary washing line.
My partner though I was mad making some mud pies out the back, and today watching in the distance they swoopped down and started collecting the mud.
Amazing birds. Flying all the way to Africa and back. It will be sad though when they are gone, until next year.
Also had blackbirds nesting in my partners tractor. No way would he use it while the birds are in there.

Spring is a wonderful time.

[KCFoggin]

So I'm assuming the broken window will remain broken until the fall huh?

It really must be neat to watch the swallows avail themselves to your mud pies. I would love to have swallows close by.

[steve_nova]

And how thoughtful to make them their own mud pie supply, nice one!

[Robina]

Yes, I will leave the broken window till the swallows have flown. I love hearing their little chatterings. They are one of my favourite birds.

We were going to do some carpentry jobs in the shed, but I don't want to frighten them. The jobs will have to wait.

The mud pies have come in very handy. It has been so dry for the past few weeks, hardly any rain. Me being a softy, thought I would help them out a bit.

[mikial]

Not far from you Robina , just a bit more east in Suffolk. We also have a pair of swallows nesting in a long barn I`m trying to rebuild. They have started to build a nest on the side of a roof rafter. Watching them perform their aerobatics from close range is about as good as it gets.
How`s the progress ? "mine " is a visible arc of substance I suppose they build on to make a circular nest, is that correct ??

[christineredgate]

Lovely story ,Robina,we have lots of nesting Swallows in our area,perhaps because most of these houses are quite old,and there is lots of food for them,catching insects from the river bed.I am waiting for the youngsters to appear,as they perch on the overhead phone wires waiting to be fed.

[rogerk]

Be aware that Swallows can quadruple brood, some don't finish until September.
Also, swallows are one of the few birds which use the nest after the young have fledged. We used to ring Swallows at a farm in Hertfordshire and regularly saw the newly fledged Swallows returning to the nest for some days afterwards.

[Robina]

Interesting to hear all your stories of swallows. Yes I have heard there are multiple broods. I'll have to be patient I suppose. I looked in yesterday and my muds pies are starting to form the bottom part of the nest on one of the wooden ledges.
I noticed they tried in a couple of other parts of the shed, on flat parts and gave up. Would a nest take on a flat piece of wood?