The Visitors

They're back.

Our house guests, the Martin Family have wintered as usual in Africa and have returned to take up residence in their now 10 year old mud nest miraculously affixed to the coarse render and timber soffits high up in the overhanging eaves. Navigating from sub-Saharan regions to East Yorkshire is a marvel on its very own.

For them the eaves are an ideal location. The sun moves across, lengthening the shadows, from about 11am and for a brief moment the khaki coloured cluster of clay, speckled and reinforced by straw and dried grasses is flooded with light before spending the rest of the day in the cooling shade.

There is a long view up the garden and plenty of potential for the parents to harvest, on the wing, the sporadic rise and swarm of insects ,throughout the neighbourhood, which forms their staple diet.

The flight into the nest is a technical ascent. The distinctive forked tailed, bluey black and stark contrasted white under-bellied birds swoop around paralell to the rear of the house. Their reflections in the double glazed windows are brief and like short bursts of lightening as they rotate from dark to a flash of brightness. The frequent passage in this manner gives good reference points for the approach at speed and also checks for the presence of their arch nemesis, the common house sparrow who is not averse to raid to pillage and attack the adult Martins, eggs and young. At the last minute of the fly-past there is a precise trimming of the wings and tail to thrust, in the gathered momentum, directly vertical, pulling a few 'G's and gracefully gliding into the miniscule aperture of their home. The exit is a near parachute jump of an operation as the tight ball of feathers descends until there is enough air to plump up and expand the wings for an instant take off and rocket departure into the wide skies above.

For us it is far from an ideal location. The nest is directly above the window of the rear bedroom and the double doors to the sitting room. The arrival in the late Spring is confirmed by the first few grainy droppings on the timber decking which have to be pressure washed away before the organic materials permeate and deep stain and tarnish the timber. It becomes a regular bi-weekly and certainly a weekend chore to remove the deposits before they accumulate into a sizeable, rocky obstruction to the actual opening of the door or resemble a stockpile in a guano production facility. As testament to the precarious position of a home made of dried mud we have found, on occasion, small fragments of the outer walls at ground level, the odd impacted and shattered egg and sadly, the bedraggled remains of an undeveloped baby bird. We act as enthusiastic observers and also respectful undertakers for our visitors.

The casement of the rear bedroom cannot be fully opened from April to September as in the full easy-clean position the outer upper edge is within touching distance of the nest. The external ledge of the frame also collects droppings and has to be scoured clean.

Sitting on the bed and squinting into the late afternoon and early evening sun does give a reverse birds eye view of the manoevre to enter the nest and can provide some idle minutes of thought,  interest, education and amazement.

It is our pleasure to host our summer guests and any thought of knocking away the lifeless nugget of a nest during the bleak winter of their absence in Africa is easily dismissed with a brief and distant recollection of those balmy , wing swept evenings in the warm English season.