Morning all
Absolutely beautiful day here in sunny La Manche
Got the double doors and all the windows open.
The only problem is the swallows are using the house as a racecourse.
They are coming in through the window, doing a figure of 8 round the dining room and lounge, then zooming out through the front door.
Beautiful, but the dogs are going wappy.
Have a fantastic day
Andy
I have the same here, but actually like it. I wedge the kitchen doors and windows open so they can enter and leave freely. Their speedy aerobatics in a confined space are simply incredible.
It’s absolutely awesome Brian. Totally agree
Even better when there are no dogs or cats to freak out!
Here’s one that got fed up with flying around and perching on beams so decided to take a seat on my Livebox box …
Barn Swallow in the kitchen
Not through our house, but outside on our terrace… these little speedsters almost take our heads off and, one time, nearly snatched the food off my fork…
It is absolutely glorious.
How they don’t collide with one another, us, the bits and bobs on our terrace etc etc … I have no idea.
Ours are dipping in the pool, even when we are in there! It’s great fun to watch. Even better than the red arrows!
They are everywhere just now, formation flying at its best 
We’ve a pair of Hoopoes year. They mated on our balcony railing. Shameless 
Hoopoes are the ultimate avian show-offs.
We have aerobatic rock martins, but sadly this year their numbers seem much lower than in our previous nine summers. Anyone noticed something similar?
We have them here too.
Also Golden Orioles.
They drink from our swimming pool in the evenings.
We usually have loads of swifts. At this time of year I would expect to see several dozen nesting in the eaves of the old houses and feeding at dusk. Just a fraction of that so far this year. It’s really spectacular when they leave in the autumn to migrate. They swarm around the houses nearby just like starlings then descend onto the electricity cables en masse. This repeats every few minutes for a few hours until they suddenly all disappear.
Read all these posts becoming increasingly jealous. Not a swallow sift or house Martin to be seen. We have a pair of nesting magpies in the garden and on previous years have had kestrels and some sort of owl. Could all these hunters have chased them away? The house opposite used to get house martins but I haven’t noticed them this year.
Might be humans fault. New family opposite who are a lot more active than the old lady who used to live there and we did quite a big project last year. New fosse septic and getting the front area flat as opposed to a potential pond every time it rained.
On the plus side I LOVE how quiet my house is compared to last year. That and my supply of coffee lasts about ten times longer.
We have a pair of golden eagles nearby … only found out what they were this year via the mairie. Doesn’t seem to affect the swifts at all. As for the quiet, for me there’s nothing like birdsong at 6am with a coffee in the garden. Could possibly do without the Nightingale though, who seems to sing for hours without taking a breath at 120 dB.
What a wonderful sounding environment. Golden eagles SO much more classy than magpies !! I agree coffee in the garden before it gets too hot is the best!
We have magpies that deliberately fly at the tourterelles and blackbirds. We clap to deter them as soon as we see them but of course they are always lurking somewhere nearby.
Well… we have a Jackdaw that runs out of the bushes, across the drive… investigates the lawn and darts back to the nest. We call her Jill.
(PS Andy… I would pay good money to see your swallows doing figure-of-eight racing turns round your dining room… just sayin’).
I’ve seen them massing in the autumn evening just before they migrate.
It is most impressive.
The crows have aerial battles with the buzzards and drive them away.