Martins - old nests or new?

felixcanis · Martins - old nests or new?

We have a series of old Martin nests on the ends of our house. For the last couple of years the Martins have added another 'blob', so that there are now 3 on one end & 4 on the other.

However, this year one end (3 blobs) is not being used by the Martins. One of the nests was destroyed by the Winter weather & I think one nests has been taken over by a couple of House Sparrows & they won't share.

At the other end there is much less activity, despite there being 4 blobs available. Some of the Martins have built new nests in the Hay Barn and the Cattle Shed & one pair have built a new nest under the eaves outside our bedroom window. I'm a bit worried about these ones - we are a single storey & when they leave their nest they swoop down very low to the ground. It's got to dawn on the cat soon that she could just wait in the right place & get an easy meal.

Do Martins give up on old nests after a few years & if so, should we get rid of the old ones on the ends of the house in the Winter. I wouldn't dream of distrubing the birds at the moment, but if they actually won't use these anymore, perhaps we should give them a fresh start for next year.

Any thoughts?

Kind regards

FelixC

pete_inthehills

we had house martins that lived in the same nest at the peak of the gable end of my parents house for years and years and years.

They will return to them and refeather them, but there must be something they detect about structural stability 'cos the year they didn't use it, it fell off the following winter.

We also noticed that occasionally sparrows took over, but they were soon ousted once the martins returned.

pete
inthehills