Here's the recording of a presentation about House martins and what you can do to help them:
Watch the recording on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLw15e_1-5o
Points of interest:
- Where to spot House Martins? Your best chance will be spotting them by watercourses, at the apexes of houses, and on light-coloured surfaces such as white walls.
- How far will they fly to collect mud for their nests? They will generally travel approximately 300m from the nest to collect mud.
- House sparrows and house martins have been warring since the 1600s! House sparrows like to take over house martins' nests, and now house martin numbers are falling it is important to make sure they have dedicated nest space that can't be taken over by house sparrows. This is why the artificial nest cups are good as they are specially designed to shut sparrows out.
It is important to note that house sparrow numbers are also in decline, so as Barbara said in her presentation, please put nests out for them too!
A final important point - always hand over birds to certified rehabilitators. They are trained to teach birds how to hunt properly, so that they can be returned back to the wild.
Contact information from final slide:
Website; https://housemartinconservation.com/
Email; housemartinconservation@gmail.com
Facebook; House Martin Conservation UK & Ireland
X; @ukhousemartins
Here's a helpful guide on how to build Sparrow curtains, from a lady who has had a remarkable success in installing Sparrow curtains. Her House Martin numbers increased from just 3 House Martin nests to couple dozens – her name is Helen Santilly.
Below is an image of how Helen’s set up looks at her own home – shared with permission;
To make your own you will need:
2mm thick parachute cord for strength - biodegradable cord breaks easily and needs to be replaced often
Corks
A wooden batten
Hooks
Specs:
Cords need to be 24cm in length, 6.5cm apart, 15cm away from the nests
Using a wall stapler, attach the corked cords to a wooden batten and hang this off the gutters with hooks