Extreme weather could mean the end of beloved house martins in Britain

Long, dry spells with little rain are drying up mud that breeding birds require to build their nestsThe house martin is, like its near namesake the house sparrow, inextricably linked with our own lives. The British Trust for Ornithology once declared that its primary habitat as "village".Yet across much of Britain, including my own home parish in Somerset, the familiar chirpy sound of house martins on a summer's day is heard less and less frequently. Continue reading...