Donal Hickey: Easy to see why it's called a 'swoop of swallows'
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By now, the first swallows should be here — having made the arduous 10,000km journey from their wintering grounds in South Africa.
Remarkably, studies show most of these fork-tailed visitors return to the same colony each year, with 44% of pairs occupying the same nest, according to Rob Robinson of the British Trust for Ornithology.
Given the time, and work, that goes into crafting their mud nest, it seems sensible to repeatedly use the same one, usually stuck into high corners or between rafters, where possible.
Swallows nest in sheds, garages, and farm buildings which livestock can occupy at the same time. Owners can, of course, alter such buildings by doing work, or even levelling them.
That means swallows have to find another building in which to rear their young and use as a summer residence. It also means the 2024 Traditional Farm Buildings Grant Scheme by the Heritage Council and Department of Agriculture is most welcome.
Many of these buildings are very old and no longer used. But they are often inhabited by a wide range of wildlife for which they are important breeding locations.
The main aim of the grants scheme is to ensure such buildings, and other related structures that contribute to the character of the landscape, and are of significant heritage value, are conserved for active agricultural use.
They are home to wildlife, bats for example, and are highly valuable in that regard. Swifts and martins also rely on man-made structures.
Modern farm buildings don’t support wildlife to the same extent as they are often very well sealed, and don’t have cracks and ledges like the older structures.
But, even if there’s only a small way into a building, swallows are able to gain entry. You’ll know very quickly if they’re around from the noise they make and their swooping flight.
Barn owls, now undergoing a resurgence in County Cork and other areas, can also settle happily in such buildings. You’ll hear them, too, and their haunting screech — a wail likened to that of a banshee in other days — carries a long distance.
As they prey on rodents, the owls are useful visitors, sometimes described as the ‘farmer’s friend’.
Finally, a recent column on group names for flocks of birds elicited feedback from several readers, including Tom Lynch, of Clare Birdwatch. He sent us a list of new names, which he got from the late Frank King, of Tralee, County Kerry, a legendary birdwatcher who always generously shared his knowledge.
Tom lists a murder of crows, a bellowing of bullfinches, a mutation of thrushes, and a gift of robins, to name a few.