Category Archives: House Martins

MID-SUMMER

Posted on June 26, 2018 by fordhollow74

Now we are in mid-summer of hot and still long days, but just minutes shorter day by day. Many birds have fledged from their nests setting out on their task of building up their strength and weight to get through the winter months, … Continue reading →

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THE SAGA OF THE HOUSE MARTINS…

Posted on June 5, 2018 by fordhollow74

… continues. After many blank days – and reports around the country of the lack of swifts, swallows and martins this summer – a pair of martins were here on Friday fluttering up to eaves, checking last years nests, both the … Continue reading →

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KNOCKING ON…

Posted on August 31, 2017 by fordhollow74

… September’s door here in West Somerset, the meteorological start of Autumn, there’s talk of overnight grass frosts and periods of rain. The trees, Rowans, Oaks, Ash and Maples are already showing a colouring in their leaves. This morning the … Continue reading →

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HOUSE MARTINS, AGAIN.

Posted on May 31, 2017 by fordhollow74

I can’t let May 2017 pass by without mentioning, again, the House Martins that have flown back to Fordhollow. How many of these are from last year’s brood (or broods, we think there were two hatched from the one nest)? … Continue reading →

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SPRINGTIME

Posted on May 11, 2017 by fordhollow74

Canna, my dog named after the Hebridean island, is good at scenting. The other day she stopped pointing into the fresh grown long grass. Close examination showed the chequered plumage of a hen pheasant, unmoving, flat to the ground. Sadly, … Continue reading →

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MAY 5th

Posted on May 5, 2017 by fordhollow74

The fifth of May is in my memory from schooldays when the first swifts arrive back from their African migration, usually picked up first from their whistling calls, then seen in their wheeling flight arcing round the Abbey and ham … Continue reading →

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AUTUMN EQUINOX

Posted on September 22, 2016 by fordhollow74

Meteorological autumn, but not much colour yet in the leaves. Not surprising as it has been an exceptional growing summer, everywhere lush and grass begging to be mown. Our nesting swallows departed in the third week of August, but the … Continue reading →

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ARRIVALS AND DEPARTURES

Posted on August 31, 2016 by fordhollow74

Late August sunshine days spent digging out a drain. It is a winter emergency drain for the time when the heavy rains come and water flows down Sticky Lane, across the bottom yard where a lawn has grown over the … Continue reading →

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MAY ENDING

Posted on June 3, 2016 by fordhollow74

The month of May ended on a good note here at Fordhollow, fine weather, a good County cricket result (Somerset winning having contrived to concede a 300 defecit to overcome in the fourth innings)  and contrary to my earlier anxieties over … Continue reading →

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HOUSE MARTINS

Posted on May 29, 2016 by fordhollow74

May is ending and the House Martins are not nesting under our eaves, again, this year. Their presence, and numbers, was a strong attraction of this old farmhouse when we moved in over twenty years ago. The line of mud … Continue reading →

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