This was always such a common bird and the plague in many ways of many a suburban housing estate as the create nests on the wall.
I miss the noisy little things terribly, summer does not have the same vibe without them.
After the gulf war (after??)there was a blatant lack of swallows in this country, this situation has remedied somewhat, but now I fear it is the the humble House Martins that have declined as a result of a war in their Winter abodes.
Small beans, I know in the grand scheme of things at the loss of human lives, but is it not horrible what an arrogant species we are as to wipe out other living beings with our ways as well?
All the time we hear about animals being humanely killed for food and yet we care not for the ones that are apparently not of use.

There are two House Martin nests in my roof, and the parent birds have been flying around catching insects. They also dump a lot of their much on my window ledges, but it's only once a year and I love the little creatures so I put up with it.

A lot of house owners block the eaves to prevent the birds from building nests. I think that'a a bit sad and unhelpful to nature. A bit of noise and dirt for a couple of weeks a year isn't too much to tolerate.

On a brighter note, I really enjoy the owls waking me up at about 4 am.
There are a pair of Tawnys out the back and the noise begins with the female shouting the owlish equivalent of of "Twit ! where the fek are you? You feathery old git!"
To which the male replies "Twit to you too!"
They are far too noble to be a mere bird, despite their apparent foul(sic) language.

I think most of the housemartins migrated to the beautiful south several years ago.

Indeed Godiver, but I still prefer their twitterings to that dang "Different Sizes" song.

I prefer Tits. Beautiful creatures to watch. Sound like there is a small family in the bird box.

We are lucky enough to get an abundance of the little pink and black long tailed ones here, very pretty.