Swallows, House Martins and the Metal Hide

27th May 2022

Well, another fantastic day at Walton-on-the-Naze and now time to head home. As I was leaving the car park I noticed a muddy puddle just inside the entrance to the overflow car park which was attracting Swallows and House Martins gathering mud for their nests. So slam on the brakes, reverse up and enter the overflow car park crashing through the muddy puddle as I went.

Now it was just a matter of positioning the car, or metal hide, about 10 yards from the puddle with the sun behind me and the driver's window facing the puddle, and waiting about 10 minutes before the birds got used to the new structure and once again were coming down to collect mud.

Not too surprisingly the first birds to pluck up courage to come down were the bigger birds such as this Jackdaw and Wood Pigeon, although were coming for a drink rather than mud.

It wasn't long before the House Martins started to return, seemingly totally unaware of me just 10 yards away in the metal hide. It couldn't be easier.

Then came the Swallows, stuffing their beaks full of mud and flying off to their nest.

It was full-on action as more and more birds arrived.

I really must use the metal hide more often!!!!