Maybe I haven’t been walking in the right locations this summer, but it seems to me that I haven’t seen as many House martins this year. When I was in Weymouth, I was surprised to spot the birds shown below only just starting to build their nests on one of the old mansions along the seafront – that was on 10 June, which seemed rather late.

Last week, once I was back home again, I made a point of walking the streets where I’ve seen nests in the past. Here in the town, I saw only one nest in a street where the ledges on the houses had previously been clustered with little mud cups. Fortunately, the situation was a little better on the houses around the local marina, and I was grinning as I watched the little sweetie shown below.

This House martin had, in fact, already fledged but, rather than hunting for its own food, it was taking short flights from the nest, only to return when its parents returned with food. Sneaky!