No.302 · Birds · Common
Swallow
Hirundo rustica
A blue-black bird with a red throat and long tail streamers, skimming low over fields and water for insects. It flies here from South Africa each spring and nests in barns.
When to see a swallow
April to September, mostly at dawn, by day and at dusk.
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Time of day
- Dawn
- Day
- Dusk
- Night
Where to see a swallow in the UK
- The Norfolk Broads. Skims the marsh dykes among the cattle.
Swallow facts at a glance
- Best time
- April to September, all day: over ponds, fields and around old farm buildings.
- Where in the game
- Millbrook (farmland, grassland, pond, canal and park) and the Norfolk Broads (grazing marsh, broad and reedbed)
- Weight
- About 20 g (BTO)
- Lifespan
- Typically 2 years; the oldest ringed bird lived 11 (BTO)
- Population
- About 705,000 territories in the UK (BTO, 2016)
- Status
- Green (Birds of Conservation Concern)
Diet
Flying insects caught in the air, including aphids, bees and hoverflies.
Habitat
Farmland and open country near water, nesting in barns, sheds and outbuildings.
Breeding
An open cup of mud and grass on a sheltered beam or ledge, often reused year after year; usually 4–5 eggs, and the chicks fledge after 20–22 days.
Field signs
- A mud cup on a beam inside a barn or shed
- Long thin tail streamers, and no white rump (that's a house martin)
- Twittering lines of birds on the wires in September, getting ready to go
Did you know?
- British swallows winter in South Africa. The trip takes about six weeks, and they can cover more than 200 miles a day (RSPB).
- They feed on the wing: aphids, bees, hoverflies, even moth caterpillars hanging from trees (RSPB).
- The red throat and long streamers tell it from a martin at a glance.
Moments worth waiting for
- Hawking for flies
It comes in fast and low, jinks over the water after a fly, and is gone over the hedge.
Photo tip
They're too quick to follow for long, so pre-focus on a favourite wire or the barn door and wait for one to land. Low over a pond they fly a repeating line you can learn.
Be a good naturalist
Leave nests in barns and porches alone while they're in use, and keep doors and gaps open in summer so the birds can get in.
The law
Protected, like all wild birds, by the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981: it is an offence to damage or destroy a nest in use.
