Hi everyone, I have a nest of eggs right at my door this is the first time they have decided to nest here, but one of the parents has disappeared. I think it's the female who has come to some demise as the left adult leaves the nest for much of the day.
I took my screen door off a couple of weeks ago when I saw they were definitely nesting to make sure they dont get caught between the screen and my door so the babies dont end up inside the house and panic. I have replaced it with those plastic ribbon things but we have had a fair bit of wind and although I put it there as a better option than the screen door I fear the flapping of the ribbons has scared off my remaining swallow.
He seemed ok with it and was there last night but I have not seen him at all today and there are 5 eggs! I have tied the ribons together at the bottom and that has stopped the constant fluttering (I'm not the most practical person and only figured this out about half an hour ago!)
I think it would be a very hard task for a male to raise the brood on his own and I would do all I can by provoding bugs etc but I just hope I haven't frightened him off or maybe he just decided to leave anyway. Any thoughts from swallow experts great appreciated.
I fear it's to late no sign of any swallow all day and it's starting to get cold outside. Has anyone raised one from an egg I could always try?
Maybe WIRES could help you torywoo.
Hmmm. I'd be inclined to leave things as they are for a few day & see what happens, torywoo. More often than not human intervention doesn't end well. Who knows, if the eggs don't produce young you might find swallows building another nest soon. Eyes peeled!
the lone parent came back so I am still hopeful thankyou for your responses. I will keep you posted and hopefully I can show pictures of tiny swallows before too long.