The house martin is, like its near namesake the house sparrow, inextricably linked with our own lives. The British Trust for Ornithology once declared that its primary habitat as “village”.
Yet across much of Britain, including my own home parish in Somerset, the familiar chirpy sound of house martins on a summer’s day is heard less and less frequently.
One of the biggest problems facing breeding house martins is mud – or to be specific, the lack of it. Each year, having returned from their winter residence in Africa, house martins collect soft mud to build their cup-shaped nests beneath the eaves of our homes.
Long, dry spells with little or no rain, such as the one we’ve experienced this spring, mean that the pools and puddles where the house martins usually collect this mud have dried up; without mud, the birds will not be able to raise a family.
The climate crisis doesn’t just mean warmer weather – it can also lead to long spells of drought, or conversely heavy rains, which make it hard for these little birds to find the flying insects they need to feed their chicks. Yet another example, if one were needed, of how unpredictable and extreme weather conditions are threatening one of our most familiar and best-loved birds.
