UKC

Swifts/swallows in video

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 paul mitchell 16 Feb 2018

In this site's To Bolt Or Not To BE video I noticed what looks like 3 swallows' nests tucked under a little  overlap.Chalk going very close to those.

 

    I wonder how much longer those birds will return to nest. To bolt or swallows will be?

 

  

1
In reply to paul mitchell:

These are American Cliff Swallow nests. 

Cliff swallows are migrants, so during cold months of the year they will be in Brazil or Argentina. 

Similarly to our own House Martins (originally a crag/cave nesting species) they are gradually changing nest site preference from cliffs like this site to man made sites ( in the case of Cliff Swallows often high rise buildings and especially highway bridges).

Given that they choose areas to breed with heavy human presence, and that the climbing is better when temperatures are near zero rather than during the summer breeding season it seems likely that climbers will not be a major deterrent to these birds. 

This is backed up by the fact that the route was bolted in 1986, and yet the nests are still there!

What a great video though!

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2017/12/nina_caprez_-_to_bolt_or_not_to_be

Nests at around 07:25

Post edited at 21:41

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