Welcome swallow brooding

Welcome swallow brooding, 29th August 2015

We have been watching our swallows hanging around the carport, zipping around the back yard and roosting in or alongside their old nest for quite a while now.  At the start of this month we thought that surely they would start to breed any moment.  I guess the watched kettle never boils, but at long last it seems the female may be brooding.  When I headed off to work yesterday morning they seemed particularly vocal, and we have noticed one of the swallows has been sitting in the nest all day. 

We are walking on air at the moment, for a number of reasons, and this is just the icing on the cake.  Casa da Ayre is a very happy place indeed.         

Our Welcome swallows are nesting again - ALREADY !

I mentioned in my last post that we thought Spring was coming early this year.  I am almost certain of it now.  Our Welcome swallows have been bolstering the lining of their nest with nylon "fleece" from the dog bed last week.  We were delighted to watch them constantly zipping in-and-out of our carport this weekend, and spending longer each time in their nest as the day passed. 

I am expecting to see a swallow sitting in the nest all day again soon - I feel that nesting is imminent.  According to www.arkive.org (See - http://www.arkive.org/welcome-swallow/hirundo-neoxena)  " ... the breeding season of the Welcome swallow runs from July to April, with a peak in breeding activity between September and October. Breeding tends to occur earlier inland than on the coast ...".  So we are definitely right at the beginning of their known breeding period, and I am watching events unfold with interest.