Just for the record….. several broods of house sparrow have successfully fledged from under the eaves of our new machine shed at Torrisholme Cricket Club. In addition, the first clutch of barn swallows flew today, 3 youngsters flitting around the eaves with a lot of noise then emerging onto the telegraph wires where they were being fed by the parents. Seems no time at all since hatching, although we were blessed with a plague of very very late St Mark’s Flies for a fortnight, presumably due to the cold dry weather in April. This is the third year at least one successful nest has produced more swallows. They use the top of the steel UB for the gantry crane to place the nest and seem to move every year along it. It means I can’t use the crane until October but with forethought that’s not an issue.
