There are recent reports of damage to House Martin nests on, or close to, some of the the Catwalk routes at Malham Cove. It is not clear if this is accidental or deliberate damage due to climbing or to some other natural cause but it is worth noting that all nesting birds have protection under the wildlife and countryside act and House Martins are now categorized as on the amber list of birds of concern because of recent population declines nationally. Please remember that there are a lot of bird watchers with binoculars and telescopes around Malham Cove principally for the Peregrines but our behavior around any nesting birds is likely to be subject to scrutiny and could jeopardize our continued access.
As a point of interest it takes a pair of House Martins around 10 days and over 1000 beak-fulls of mud to build a new nest so please give them a bit of respect.
For reference, there are now nests at the roof of Raindogs, the belay jugs of Thriller / Victor Hugo, and on Overnite Sensation, next to the tufa below the final roof.
I think there is also a nest slightly above Yosemite Wall, just up and left of the final traverse on top of a loose flake. You step down away from it so no need to disturb them. How close is too close?
Zoolook - in the roof presumably. If it is where they have nested previously, that nesting site is a right bugger. Even when the birds vacate, the best rest hold on the route is full of mud - I wore out a Lapis brush last year to allow maximum sloth-like climbing stylee!
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