Bird school

• Brambling
• Blue tit
• Bullfinch
• Blackbird
• Barn swallow
• Bohemian waxwing
• Black woodpecker
• Black redstart
• Blackcap
• Chaffinch
• Chiffchaff
• Crow
• Coal tit
• Crested tit
• Common swift
• Common treecreeper
• Dunnock
• Fieldfare
• Greenfinch
• Goldfinch
• Greater woodpecker
• Garden warbler
• Great tit
• Green woodpecker
• House martin
• House sparrow
• Hawfinch
• Jackdaw
• Linnet
• Long-tailed tit
• Lesser whitethroat
• Lesser spotted woodpecker
• Marsh tit
• Magpie
• Mistle thrush
• Nightingale
• Nuthatch
• Pheasant
• Pied flycatcher
• Redpoll
• Rook
• Redstart
• Robin
• Spotted flycatcher
• Siskin
• Starling
• Song thrush
• Yellowhammer
• Winter wren
• Willow
• Tree sparrow
• Wood pigeon
• White wagtail
• Willow tit
• Whitethroat

The house martin

Did you know?

The male

The house martin will breed in large colonies. It will not stay the night in reeds, which is something the barn swallow often does, but rather in buildings close to the nest. Sometimes the entire family crowds together and sleeps in the nest.

Appearance
The house martin is blue-black across its head, back, wings and tail and white underneath. The short legs and toes also have a white, downy plumage while the beak is black. The house martin’s distinguishing mark is that it is the only bird in the UK with a white rump.

Similar bird
The white throat separates it from the barn swallow, but also the absence of long tail feathers.

Sounds and song
The flight call is light and ringing, and the song is eager and consists of series of the call.

The nest and hollows
House martins are sometimes very unafraid and will not avoid humans and their settlement. On the contrary, they tend to build their nests on the exteriors of houses and under the eaves of the roof. The nests are hard, arched or egg-shaped and are made from mud that is mixed with the birds’ saliva.