A close relative of the barn swallow and a distant relative of the swift, the house martin is a summer migrant from Africa, and uses mud to make its cup-shaped nest under the eaves of houses, to raise its young. It’s a small bird with blue- black upper parts and all-white under parts. It has a short forked tail, which is shorter than both the male and female swallow’s tail. It feeds on insects, and spends most of its time in flight, collecting prey – often alongside swallows and swifts. You may have spotted them gathering mud from puddles in spring.
Arriving in May, house martins use mud to repair or build new nests, and then mate. The female lays up to five eggs, which take three weeks to hatch, and then both parents feed their young. They typically have two broods but may sometimes have a third, which means some pairs will still be in the UK now, in October. Of our three similar looking species, house martins are the last to leave, with swifts leaving in early August, swallows a few weeks later, and house martins waiting it out until the last brood has fledged.
How to help house martins
In a dry spring, make them a mud bath so they can make and repair their nests. Simply get a bin or compost bin lid and fill two-thirds with soil and then add water so the mud is tacky and wet but not sloppy. Add more water as and when you need to. If you have a bigger space, use rainwater to make a muddy patch in your garden, that they can help themselves to.
Otherwise, the best thing to do for house martins is to grow plenty of plants that support insects. These include native plants for caterpillars and other ‘leaf munchers’ but also flowering plants that provide nectar and pollen for pollinators, including flies. Planting a mixed native hedge will not only support insects but also provide shelter in which insects can gather, while a pond will provide a home for aquatic insects and aquatic larvae, which all adds up to make for full bellies of house martin chicks.
