2012 – A terrible year for breeding birds.

It’s been a terrible year for breeding birds in Tipperary and certain groups of birds have been particularly badly hit. I have already written about the plight of our Kingfishers and it likely that most pairs of Kingfishers produced no young at all this year. The other large group which has suffered are the insect-eaters. The summer has been so wet and miserable that very few insects emerged. Species which catch insects in the air such as Swallows, House Martins, Sand Martins and Swifts will have had a hard time finding enough food for themselves, never mind feeding hungry chicks.

Swallow's nest with 5 eggs in 2008

Our Swallows arrived at the usual time. I saw my first Swallows near Moyglass on 27^th March. They flew around our house all through April and May but they were very slow to build a nest. This was clearly a sign that the females could not get enough food to get into breeding condition. They finally got going in June and laid their first egg on 24^th June. This was three to four weeks late. In 2010 their first egg was laid on 12^th May and the average over the past 6 years has been the 23^rd May.

This year they laid 4 eggs and only 3 chicks successfully fledged. The average number of chicks they usually have is 4.4 and, very importantly, they usually have two broods. The second clutch is usually started in mid-July. I usually have two pairs nesting at the house, but this year only one pair nested. In an average year the Swallows at our house in Lisronagh would produce 16 or 17 chicks whereas this year they only produced 3. So their productivity this year only one sixth of what it should be.

Of course, Swallows have been migrating to this misty island for thousands of years and are able to deal with one bad summer. They usually bounce back the next year and produce more chicks and in the long run, everything balances out. But what if the next summer is unusually wet and the following one is unusually wet? What if the pattern of our weather has changed due to climate change? We seem to get good weather in April and September and monsoon type weather during May to August. The Swallows have evolved to migrate and breed here during what should be the ‘summer’ months. They can’t just change their flight plans.