Disappearing House Martins (1 Viewer)

[Altus]

Hello, this is my first post. I live on a farm in South Northants and I wonder if anyone can help me explain why our house martin have disappeared?

We have had house martins nesting under our eaves for around 15 years, having owned the farm for the last 20 years. The first pair arrived in late July around 15 years ago and successfully fledged a single brood and since then numbers have built to around 15 nests on two side of the house. The birds typically arrive around 15 April each year. This year we noticed that numbers were well down and I think only three nests were occupied, but successful clutches were raised. Normally our birds would go on to raise one or two further clutches and the air would be full of them by now. Unfortunately I have not seen a single bird since the middle of July. We have a pond less than 200 yards from the house and it is used by sheep to drink - therefore there is always a good supply of mud for nests.

In separate buildings around the yard we have had a good year with our swallows - probably the best for some time after a very poor year last year. I noticed that the swallows this year are much more active around the house, whereas in previous years the house martins have generally held sway. I had not thought of either bird as particularly territorial to each other but there has definitely been a "division of the air space" in previous years - the martins around the house and the swallows around the barns about 100 yards away.

Can anyone offer an explanation why the house martins appear to have left so early in the year?

 

[Cicada]

Welcome Altus.
A similar question was posted a few months back http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=324733
As you'll see there, a local farm's loss was my and my neighbours' gain. So maybe your colony has moved to somewhere else nearby?
Anecdotally our local colony has less nests this year. I hope you get yours back as your farm likes a place where they are warmly welcomed.

House Martins in the UK are a declining species. There's more information on the population and a current House Martin Survey on the BTO website https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/house-martin-survey

 

[Altus]

Thanks for the reference. I hope we have not lost them after all this time. It has been my ambition to have the holy trinity present on the farm (swallows, swifts and martins) but all our attempts to encourage the swifts to nest have failed despite seeing small numbers around the farm each year. It will be very sad if we are now down to just the swallows. We are nearly always are treated to the hobbies chasing the martins and swallows but none so far this year - there's just not enough young in the air.

 

[King Edward]

Thanks for the reference. I hope we have not lost them after all this time. It has been my ambition to have the holy trinity present on the farm (swallows, swifts and martins) but all our attempts to encourage the swifts to nest have failed despite seeing small numbers around the farm each year. It will be very sad if we are now down to just the swallows. We are nearly always are treated to the hobbies chasing the martins and swallows but none so far this year - there's just not enough young in the air.

Have you been playing the calls to encourage swifts to nest? This method is generally very successful if you have nest boxes up in a suitable location.

 

[Cicada]

It has been my ambition to have the holy trinity present on the farm (swallows, swifts and martins)...We are nearly always are treated to the hobbies chasing the martins and swallows but none so far this year - there's just not enough young in the air.

Good luck with getting all three that would be a big success story.

A daily visit from a hobby or two is a highlight around our colony too - though not for the martins. We've had a great spotted woodpecker attacking a nest in the past as well. At least moderate attention from predators doesn't seem to be enough to cause the birds to desert the colony though.