Your wild summer The best of the season’s wildlife and where to enjoy it.
SUMMER SPECTACLE
Aerial acrobats Swallows are one of our most beloved summer species; their swooping flight and distinct cheerful appearance are a real symbol of summer. Swallows eat insects, so they are commonly seen around water or farmland, catching their prey on the wing, and only coming to land to feed themselves or their chicks. These muddy and wet habitats also provide swallows with another essential for their lifecycle - mud. They construct intricate cup nests from mud and vegetation under the eaves of buildings, which earns them their full name, the barn swallow. Their closest relatives on our shores are sand and house martins. The deep fork in a swallow’s tail and its red bib differentiates them from the martins, and the tail shape helps them manoeuvre after insects as they fly. Swallow populations are relatively stable in the UK for now, but drier summers mean less muddy material available for their nests and rapidly declining insect populations are leading to a shortage of food sources.
MARK HAMBLIN
Swallows can be seen across much of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, especially in late summer, when they rear a second brood of chicks or feed up ready for the flight back to Africa.
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SEE THEM THIS SUMMER: St Cross meadows often has swallows nesting in the barns. Admire them as they fly around the farm and river, catching insects to feed their chicks. Hockley meadows are home to swallows and martins; look out for then along the Itchen Navigation path.
Wild Life | Summer 2021
4-5, 6-7 Your Wild Summer.indd 4
23/06/2021 11:01
