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After 4 weeks migrating from Africa, some as far south as the Cape, swallows arrive in the UK during April, we;ve already seen our first two at the reserve!

Keep an eye out this April for the bird that wears the uniform with glossy blue-black upperparts, white underparts, a blue band across the breast and the unmistakeable long streamers of their tails. Look a little closer and you will see that their throat and forehead are a rich, deep red.

Frequently seen flying over Aird Meadow in front of the centre, or around the river Calder - swallows are feeding on a range of insects including bluebottles, houseflies, bees, hoverflies, mayflies, aphids and flying ants (yum)!

Often returning to rest in the same nest made of mud and lined with feathers and grass, swallows incubate 3-6 eggs for two weeks, then feed young for around 3 weeks and then continue feeding young for a further week once they leave the nest (lazy birds!). Young are often seen perched waiting for their parents to feed them.

Swallows can raise two or three broods in a year, with some staying into November in the southern parts of the UK before leaving for the 4 week migration back to Africa.

Swallow facts:

• 570,000 pairs breed in the UK
• Females have shorter tail streamers than males
• The oldest known swallow is 15 years and 11 months
• A brood of swallows need 6000 flies a day to survive.

Arriving at an area of water near you this March / April is the small bird that looks like a miniature swallow - the sand martin.

This delicate looking bird is one of the first birds to arrive back in the UK after it's long journey from the southern Sahara, the Sahel, where it spends the winter.

This slim bird has brown upperparts, white underparts, pointed wings and a slightly forked tail. They have started appearing in small numbers on areas of water around Lochwinnoch - collect a bonus sticker as part of the wildlife challend during March / April - so come on over and have a look. 

Sand martins love eating midges which they catch in the air as they gather over areas of water (even better for us then!) 

Soon after arriving, they seek out sandbanks in rivers or sand and gravel pits to nest. They dig a hole into the vertical sand banks and create a chamber at the end which contains grass and feathers. In this chamber they incubate 4-6 eggs for two weeks. They feed the young with the midges for a further 3 weeks until the young leave the nesting chamber.

Sand Martin Factfile:

• Up to 270,000 pairs nest in the UK.
• Sand martins can rear 2 broods of young in a good year with pairs often changing their mates for the second brood.
• They excavate holes up to 2 metres long.
• Sand martins can move stones up to 4 times as heavy as themselves.

Every year, thousands of whooper swans make their annual journey from the Icelandic tundra to spend the winter in the UK. When March arrives and the temperatures increase, they make their long trip back home to Iceland. Along the way, many of these birds stop off in Scotland, to feed, roost and rest and this is the story of one such bird.
 
Whooper swans are one of the RSPB Lochwinnoch reserve’s best loved winter visitors and many people choose the reserve as the place to come and see them each year. Numbers have reached up to 60 in recent years.
 
This year the Wetland and Wildfowl Trust (WWT) have radio tagged 40 whooper swans as part of their monitoring programme of these beautiful birds, to track their route and find out exactly how they manage on their journey, and one of these tagged birds landed in Lochwinnoch.

According to a spokesperson for the WWT:
“Lars, (The birds name) set off on migration from WWT Martin Mere on 11/03/2009, flying from Martin Mere to the Solway Firth. He spent a day or so around the Solway before leaving on 13/03/2009. At 0300 he was flying over Paisley and at 0400 was on Castle Semple Loch, the last fix from CS Loch being 0900 on the 13th. After leaving this area, he then flew up to the Isle of Lewis and on the 17/03/2009 he set off, over the Atlantic for Iceland. At 0900 on the 18th he finally made landfall into Iceland”
 
Lars was ringed and tagged at WWT Martin Mere reserve on 31st January 2007. He weighed 10.4kg and was named by primary school students. They typically live for 9 years, but have been recorded as old as 26!

Whooper swans differ from our commonly seen mute swans in several ways, including their beak colour, size and most importantly, their whooping calls. They arrive here in Oct/Nov and spend the winter on the reserve and in other parts of the UK, feeding on nearby farmland during the day and roosting on the Castle Semple, Aird Meadow and Barr Loch’s during the night. The birds head back to Iceland in March each year.
 
Whooper swans are amazing birds and seeing them at the reserve every year is wonderful. They are much more vocal than mute swans and always seem to be seen in large groups. Although the birds have left us this year, they will be back in October and we will be listening out for their whooping calls, announcing their arrival to the reserve. It is fantastic that using modern technology, we can find out exactly where the swans are going and what they are doing along the way.
 
For more information about the WWT’s Super Whooper tracking programme visit http://whooper.wwt.org.uk/whooper
 
For more information about seeing whooper swans at RSPB Lochwinnoch nature reserve, visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/l/lochwinnoch/ or phone us on 01505842663.

Paula