Barn Swallow, 3 juvenile migrants and their parents.

Hungry Swallow fledglings, Hirundo rustica

Getting bored between meals.


Waiting for mum or dad with a juicy insect.






The other day, on my return home from the village, and passing the area where the Swallows nest each year, a group of three kept calling the parents for food. I was delighted! They reared 6 chicks earlier this summer, and these three had still enough time to fatten up and get enough flight experience, before heading all the way to South Africa.









It was too windy to get out along my local patch, and I ended up between the nettles and bramble in my backgarden, as usual, with my macro-lens, to check upon the local crawlies. A lot of chittering made me look up from the foliage, and it was soon clear that the Swallow family had chosen our roofs as vantage point.

























Our neighbour, Kevin, died suddenly, 2 weeks ago, and it is perhaps fitting that these young Swallows would bring these 3 young lives to the roof of his, and our, house. The roof, which sheltered him from 2000 till now. he was always surprised whenever I'd find (and photograph, things like Redshank, Persicaria maculosa or Scarlet Pimpernel, Anagallis arvensis, among the bricks of our path.



Hiding?

The parents kept flying to and fro with nice Insects, Flies or Moths, for the demanding youngsters, and in doing so, they would fly incredibly low over my garden and where I was sitting. Dipping to say 1.50metre or even lower,(I have no idea how "low I've sunk from my 1.70 metre as standing height" to my current "sitting height in my wheels.") they would just skim over my hair. It is lovely feling that over your head. And at a certain moment I left the camera for what she is, and just sat still and enjoyed the spectacle. All too soon, they would leave our shores again.
(To be honest, that time is not long off- the weather has really turned autumnal!

Fledgling Barn Swallows, again.

Barn Swallow fledgling, Hirundo rustica.
Notice the big Bluebottle Fly it has in its beak.
These were still waiting for their own meal from the Swallow parents


Sometimes it takes awhile before it is your turn again...


But there is always something to see in this wide and wild sky, so you need to be alert too.



Look at the short tail of the fledgling, and then at the parent's tail streamers:


I am trying to get a film clip of the Swallow parent feeding the youngsters, but for that I need the road to be very quiet. So early morning might be best, I guess.

Fledgling Swallows.

Barn Swallows, Hirundo rustica
I love the stern expression of this fledgling.
I took these photos next to the house where the nest was, and I counted 4 of them. All equally hungry for Flies, Moths, or anything else like this.
Here you can still see some of its down feathers on the back.






The parents kept flying to and fro, with any of the Insects they can find here.



Also waiting for a meal at this location near us, was this juvenile Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba.
one of the parents forages down at the village shop, usually; and the other parent, up here at the council estate and the school playground, where we live. The youngster had itself positioned right in the centre of this t

The nest is nearby, at the back of a house I pass as I go down to the village shop for the Irish Times, and a few other bits and bobs.

Each spring, Barn Swallows, Hirundo rustica, arrive here and keep flying around the house, en route to a favourite feeding spot, the little field at the school next door. Also, one or two will attack the window of the spare room, probably because it can see the reflection of itself in the window, and needs to attack this competitor. who keeps mimicking the other.
Last month, a pair sat courting on the telephone wire going into the house at the kitchendoor .
I was trying to get things together, as I was going away for a few days, the next day, while these two kept chirruping above my head.
Unfortunately the light was behind them.

Summer is for me the chirruping of Swallows about the house.










Another pair of telephone wire-birds, was making even more noise from the back of the house; the familiar kra-kra of the Hooded Crows.