Swallows in my porch

 

Each Spring I look forward to the arrival of the swallows to my garden. They usually nest in the front porch of my house.

 

This year they arrived on cue and started to build, but for some reason lost interest in nest building and decided to go elsewhere.

But fortunes changed in the first week of August when 2 pairs of swallows took up residence. One pair in the front porch and another in a passageway around the back of the house.

The chicks are half grown now, but I'm still having to keep my distance from the nests. I'm hoping to get photographs of them in the next two weeks just before they fledge.

 

The young chicks usually hang about on the gutters of the roof close to the nest or on fence lines. Here, they continue to be fed by the parents.

I have already seen swallows starting to gather together along telegraph wires. So fingers crossed the weather will hold out long enough for these two late broods to make it back to Africa.