Monday 14 June 2010

The New Generation


For the past twenty years or more that my parents have owned their cottage, swallows have nested there.  Some years there have been as many as five or six pairs nesting and other times one pair may have built a nest but not successfully reared young.

The last few years have been a bit lean on the chick production front, perhaps the weather or predators such as magpies and sparrow hawks.  This year is no different with just one pair building a nest.



You can imagine my delight this morning when I discovered that the pair have hatched at least five chicks!  

Incidentally, our wrens love the old swallow nests and the cock wren converts several to be inspected by his erstwhile mate.



My Mother calls these small white flowers "Pig Nuts" I am certain that she told me the roots are edible.  

5 comments:

  1. The flowers look as though they're from the same family as cow parsley. What a lovely shot of those swallow chicks!

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  2. Lovely to see the swallow chicks. We have swifts here, but the nests are too well hidden under the eaves to see the chicks.

    As Jan says, the flowers look a bit like cow parsley. I don't know if the roots are edible, but if they are you should be able to find them in 'Food for Free' or similar.

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  3. Cute photo. You exposed it very well.

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  4. These are just so beautiful. What an amazing part of the world you live in. Love the birdies.

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