A Rye News reader has written in to tell us of a recently registered new charity based in Hastings. Called House Martin Conservation UK and Ireland, it seeks to encourage home owners to provide nesting opportunities for house martins.
Every year they return from Africa to build their nests and rear their young. They collect their damp mud or clay nesting material from the nearby river or ponds and choose a building site preferably under overhanging eaves to give protection from the weather. They eat only insects, getting rid of thousands of flies and mosquitos for us everywhere that they nest.
We have a family who come every year in the last week of April to the same spot and we have provided several artificial nests also which they use in addition to building their own. Their arrival is always eagerly awaited and a cause for celebration.
Other favoured sites in Rye are the wall of the Methodist church and the Rye Club in Market Road, but they lost their home at the George Hotel as a result of the fire. Because they are such beautiful birds, we would encourage others to give a welcome home and no better place to start than the new charity’s website.
