Specie's Page                                               Sand Martin - Garden and Hedgerow

Sand Martin:

UK Status: Summer visitor, breeds in the UK.

Habitat: This bird avoids built up areas, woods and mountains, nesting in more open countryside, usually near to water. They hunt on the wing, collecting flying insects, mainly gnats and flies.

Breeding: Birds nest in longish horizontal tunnels that they mine themselves into the vertical sides of cliffs, and river banks. Man made sand banks will also be used for nesting, these are provided at many UK nature reserves. They will spend a couple of weeks feeding up, before even visiting their nesting sites. The nesting tunnels end in a widened out chamber, and are lined with breast feathers. Four, or five small white eggs are laid in late April to mid May, and there is often a second brood later in the year.

Comment: This species flies all the way to the British Isles from Africa. Twice in Africa when there were severe droughts, the population of these birds has crashed, on both occasions they have recovered. They arrive in the UK around mid March, and leave again in late August to mid September.