Hundreds of House Martins (I think?) this morning flying around my house and perched on the wall.



by OmaC_76

26 comments
  1. Look like Martin’s, they’ll be feeding on any flying insects that are toasting themselves on your house wall before they start thier migration 

  2. This might sound weird the same thing has been happening to me. Birds randomly invading my house roof and extension roof. It’s never happened before

  3. We had similar early evening yesterday. I wonder if the early signs of autumn will make them leave earlier than normal.

  4. Think for a minute. It’s either happy hour or they’re creating a caravan of love…

  5. is there a nest nearby? has something had a go at it? if one house martin gets distressed all the others in the local area turn up and you end up with a scene like Hitchcock’s The Birds, they’re very protective of each other

  6. i’ve saved this post so there’s always something there to remind me

  7. Absolutely love house martins! They’re such hansome, energetic pocket-sized little dudes

  8. You have a lovely view of the fields and trees from your window!

  9. Looks like they might have / be building a nest under the overhang of your roof. 

    If they are – lucky you! They don’t cause any damage to the fabric of the building or go inside, they’ll return year after year (they migrate to Africa for the winter) and loss of nesting sites has been a major problem for them. They’re also a protected species, so if they’ve chosen you then you don’t get any choice in the matter! 

    I had a house marten nest directly outside my childhood bedroom and I used to love watching them swoop up and go into the nest to feed their young. I have a real soft spot for them now. 

  10. Lovely!

    Btw, I was looking them up, and I found that there is also an animal called the house marten (with an “e”), which is a small bitey thing related to the pine marten.

  11. Are you by any chance down in the beautiful south?….

    I’ll take my hat and leave.

  12. Well looking at them, I can see Jennifer, Alison, Philippa, Sue, Deborah oh, and Annabelle too.

    Sorry, all the ‘Happy Hour’ and ‘Caravan Of Love’ jokes have been done.

    Damn, just typed that and realised that that was TBS and not Housemartins.

    Oh dear.

  13. There must be a site locally where they nest, often a single site will have many nests along the eaves.

  14. That them ganging up together this years youngster with the adults preparing the flocks to head south . Their usual final feed up is warm days when the combines disturb and throw masses of insects into the air that rise on thermals , they gorge on them and flying ants or hatches of fly from rivers or lochs/lakes which again rise on thermals. Then in the blink on eye feeling fat they start their return journey . Nice to see good number with you.

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