Country diary: Helping our summer migrants in a hostile environment

Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: Swallows and house martins are arriving from sub-Saharan Africa - the least we can do is welcome them with mud baths, not nettingThis patch of mud is out of place in the immaculate farmyard, but it's deliberate. After a desiccatingly dry spring, the swallows need soft mud to build their nests. Slippery-sleek glossy darts, they flash down and fill their beaks.This year, Dad is experimenting with "double roofing" to help the swallow chicks. When a new roof was needed for a stable block, the replacement was fitted directly on top of the old one like a second skin. The sparrows already love it, flitting in the gap between the two. Continue reading...