House Martins (1 Viewer)

[Yanky64]

Hi all
we suddenly have about 6 or more house martins interested in a couple of old nests on the house but they have done this before. They seem to come late then half build then desert. We did have them nesting for 2 years about 4 years ago. My questions are
is it not a bit late for nesting?
Is the lack of mud causing problems
they all seem to be landing on the wall resting & taking off. Mind you it is 28° here in Scotland today.
it looks like they are trying to build 2 nests -one front & one back. I’ve wet earthy bits of garden to make it muddy but they haven’t been attracted to it! Is there any chance these nests will come to fruition?
thanks for any info.

 

[Mono]

If this has happened before it might be worth putting up some artificial nests for future years.

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Interestingly, I saw some similar behaviour from House Martins in Aberdeen today. I've not seen any completed nests around my way yet, so I'm wondering if the dry weather is making it hard to fund mud. It may just be that they're late getting started though.

 

[Yanky64]

If this has happened before it might be worth putting up some artificial nests for future years.

Yes we’ve already decided to put up some swift nests so I think they would help!

 

[01101001]

Here, in central Poland, I've seen complete nests as well as other House Martins still carrying nesting material, elsewhere. They seem to be attracted to (very) shallow puddles.

 

[Ornitomania]