Swallow
Hirundo rustica
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Glossy blue-black and forked-tailed, skimming low over fields and farmyards — the clearest sign that summer has properly arrived.
The swallow is one of the clearest signs that summer has arrived, appearing over Dumfries and Galloway's fields and farmyards from April onwards after a remarkable journey from southern Africa. Glossy blue-black above with a deep red throat, pale underparts and long tail streamers, it spends almost all its waking hours on the wing, hunting flies and other flying insects low over grass, water and livestock. Swallows nest almost exclusively around buildings, building a cup of mud and straw pellets on a beam or ledge inside barns, sheds and stables, often returning to the very same nest site year after year. Through summer, pairs raise one or sometimes two broods, feeding young almost constantly during daylight hours. By September the birds start gathering on wires in growing numbers, a signal that the long return flight south is close, and by October most have gone.
Behaviour
Swallows feed entirely in flight, snatching insects out of the air with sudden twists and turns, often just above the ground or water. They're highly social outside the breeding season, roosting together in huge numbers in reedbeds before migration, and the pre-departure gatherings on overhead wires are one of the most visible signs of the seasons turning. A single swallow can cover tens of thousands of miles in its lifetime.
Migration
Swallows winter in southern Africa, some reaching South Africa — a round trip of around 20,000 km. They make the journey to exploit the northern summer's glut of flying insects and its long daylight, giving them time to raise two or three broods before heading south again in autumn.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Swallows and martins (Hirundinidae)
- Size
- 17–19 cm including tail streamers · about sparrow length, slimmer
- UK status
- Green-listed
Photo by Tisha Mukherjee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons