Bird nest fail

In addition to the highly unsuccessful pair of plovers at our place, this year the beautiful welcome swallows have so far failed to produce a single chick. They decided to build their fancy mud nest in the rafters of our garage. Not that we mind. Even with the mess they leave on the floor and occasionally the car windows. In the morning when we press the button on the remote, two high speed small aircraft shoot out of the hangar as the door opens.

The problem is that if we go out before it is dark and close the garage, the birds are trapped outside and can't get in to their nest. So this morning unfortunately we found the remains of two very young baby birds on the garage floor. Our guess is that they were left alone in there overnight and dead in the nest by the time the parents got back in the next morning. Today we also found a tiny spotted swallow egg wedged in behind a light fitting at the back of the house. While trapped outside, the birds liked to perch on the lights at night and laid it there instead of in the nest. So sad. Last year they managed to raise two lots of babies successfully, including one clutch with five chicks.