Swallow. Image by David Martin.
Swallows brave the rain and head back to Hauxley.
The old saying that ‘one swallow does not a summer make’ may be true, but amongst all the ongoing torrential wet weather, swallows returning to Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Hauxley nature reserve have certainly lifted everybody’s spirits.
Over the course of the weekend, staff, and visitors on the Druridge Bay reserve were thrilled by the spectacle of hundreds of swallows swooping and swirling in the sky as they headed back following their winter in Africa.
Swallows are small birds with dark, glossy-blue backs, red throats, and long tail streamers. Every summer they delight visitors to Hauxley with their aerial acrobatics as they fly over the lake outside the Lookout Café hunting over its grassland - their chattering call helping to distinguish them from screaming swifts when in flying.
Alex Lister, Northumberland Wildlife Trust Druridge Bay Landscapes Manager says:
“It was such a welcome sight seeing the flocks of swallows returning to the reserve for the summer. It really is great in the summer when the sun is shining, and they are flying around chattering in the sunshine… which will hopefully make an appearance soon.”
Hauxley nature reserve welcomes over 140 species of birds each year from tree sparrow, reed bunting and bull finch to coot, moorhen, and curlew. For more information visit www.nwt.org.uk/nature-reserves/hauxley