House Martins behaviour ? (1 Viewer)

I have lived in the Surrey Hills for 25 years. House Martins have frequently nested on my house. There is one sound nest and one half built nest under the eaves but they have not been used for two years.

However this year two very strange things have happened. On occasion the whole village flock zoom upto the nest in sequence almost as if they were just checking it out. They have done this in the past but I assumed they were "saying hello to the new fledglings" but there are no birds in the nest this year, this process can last 2 - 3 minutes and it is quite spectacular.

Secondly it would appear that birds are sleeping in the nests. Is it possible that fledglings are using it before they fly south.

Has anyone got any thoughts on this.

Thanks

h Martins

I have hms nesting at my house. They certainly revisit the nest a lot after fle dging. Wonder if yours have some inherent instinct in that they are fledglings from earlier years otherwise cant see any reason for them to visit. Or they are thinking of a VERY late brood

House martins can lay right up until September - and I've noticed birds prospecting nest sites late in the season - perhaps checking out potential nests for next year.

Seen the same thing myself, late in the season, always assumed they were encouraging youngsters to leave the nest.