I participated in the Hertfordshire Bird Club 1994 (pilot) and 1995 House Martin Delichon urbica survey (Davies & Smith 1996) covering tetrad TL21E which includes my home village of Codicote. After three years overseas, I returned to Codicote in the spring of 1999 and decided to repeat the survey. Codicote occupies the south-eastern quadrant of tetrad TL21E The remainder of the tetrad has only a few relatively isolated houses and farms. House Martin nesting activity was noted throughout the summer but as with the 1995 survey all farms and buildings within the tetrad were checked for House Martin nests over one weekend, 17 - 18 July 1999.
In 1999 I first saw House Martins in the Codicote area on 10 May when one was seen over High Heath Farm to the north-west of the village and were first seen over the village the next day. Numbers increased throughout May with a flock of 22 recorded over Valley Road on 22 May. Despite the build up in numbers I did not see birds visiting nest sites until the end of the month. After heavy rain in early June, House Martins were seen collecting mud from puddle edges and from then on were regularly seen visiting nests sites. I first heard young birds in the nest towards the end of June and first saw them being fed at the nest entrance on 5 July. I was not able to determine if pairs raised second broods, but gained the impression that only one brood was raised per nest. On 14 July a nest from which the young had recently fledged was found broken on the ground. Adults and young were recorded roosting in the still broken nest on 29 July. By 16 August the nest had been rebuilt. Although adults visited the nest up until 4 September I recorded no evidence of a second brood. Most of the nesting activity in the village appeared to have been completed by the end of August. (In contrast House Martins in Bottesford, near Scunthorpe, South Humberside, were feeding young in the nest on 28 August). On 10 September, 38 House Martins were seen over Valley Road, the largest flock recorded over the village this summer. The last House Martin over the village was seen on 27 September 1999.
Nineteen intact House Martin nests were found in the village of Codicote. As in 1994 and 1995 the majority of these were concentrated in the Valley Road area of the village with only four nests found away from this area. House Martins were recorded visiting each intact nest and evidence of young was recorded from most, but not all intact nests. Seventeen of this year’s nest sites had been utilised in 1995. One of the remaining two had definitely not existed in 1995 while the other could easily have been overlooked.
Evidence of a further 32 nests (either ruins from previous year(s) or abandoned attempts from this year) were noted. As with the intact nests most of these were in the Valley Road area. All had been intact or broken nests in 1994 and 1995. All nests, both intact and broken, were built against a white fascia board i.e. the ‘roof’ of the nest was white. None were built against black or dark fascia boards even where the building was otherwise identical to a site in use.
One group of houses had many splotches of mud under the eaves along the entire front of the building, as though the birds had begun building many times. It had been like this in 1995 and it was difficult to tell if the splotches were new or old. Only one house had an artificial nest which was not used and had only been successfully used once in the past 20 years. House Sparrows were recorded nesting in one broken House Martin nest.
In 1999 I first saw House Martins in the Codicote area on 10 May when one was seen over High Heath Farm to the north-west of the village and were first seen over the village the next day. Numbers increased throughout May with a flock of 22 recorded over Valley Road on 22 May. Despite the build up in numbers I did not see birds visiting nest sites until the end of the month. After heavy rain in early June, House Martins were seen collecting mud from puddle edges and from then on were regularly seen visiting nests sites. I first heard young birds in the nest towards the end of June and first saw them being fed at the nest entrance on 5 July. I was not able to determine if pairs raised second broods, but gained the impression that only one brood was raised per nest. On 14 July a nest from which the young had recently fledged was found broken on the ground. Adults and young were recorded roosting in the still broken nest on 29 July. By 16 August the nest had been rebuilt. Although adults visited the nest up until 4 September I recorded no evidence of a second brood. Most of the nesting activity in the village appeared to have been completed by the end of August. (In contrast House Martins in Bottesford, near Scunthorpe, South Humberside, were feeding young in the nest on 28 August). On 10 September, 38 House Martins were seen over Valley Road, the largest flock recorded over the village this summer. The last House Martin over the village was seen on 27 September 1999.
Nineteen intact House Martin nests were found in the village of Codicote. As in 1994 and 1995 the majority of these were concentrated in the Valley Road area of the village with only four nests found away from this area. House Martins were recorded visiting each intact nest and evidence of young was recorded from most, but not all intact nests. Seventeen of this year’s nest sites had been utilised in 1995. One of the remaining two had definitely not existed in 1995 while the other could easily have been overlooked.
Evidence of a further 32 nests (either ruins from previous year(s) or abandoned attempts from this year) were noted. As with the intact nests most of these were in the Valley Road area. All had been intact or broken nests in 1994 and 1995. All nests, both intact and broken, were built against a white fascia board i.e. the ‘roof’ of the nest was white. None were built against black or dark fascia boards even where the building was otherwise identical to a site in use.
One group of houses had many splotches of mud under the eaves along the entire front of the building, as though the birds had begun building many times. It had been like this in 1995 and it was difficult to tell if the splotches were new or old. Only one house had an artificial nest which was not used and had only been successfully used once in the past 20 years. House Sparrows were recorded nesting in one broken House Martin nest.
The number of intact nests recorded in 1999 was markedly down on the numbers recorded in 1994 and 1995. With such a short series and lack of interim results it is not possible to determine if this represents a step in a downward trend, as recorded elsewhere in Hertfordshire (Davies & Smith 1996), or a one off poor year
