Birds at Bickley Hall Farm star on YouTube

Jul 1 2010 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

STAFF at Cheshire Wildlife Trust are breathing a sigh of relief as a family of swallows on their online cameras have made it through the tough early days after hatching.

Now growing bigger by the day, the four feathered stars and their dedicated parents have played the role of the perfect family – with all the domestic duties you’d expect of any happy home.

The footage, available via YouTube, shows the parents undertaking a spot of interior design, and also sharing ‘nappy changing’ duties as the adult swallows take away the young chicks’ shrink-wrapped droppings – an astonishing adaptation to life in a crowded nest which has also been seen on BBC Two’s Springwatch programme.

Communications officer Tom Marshall said: “We were naturally on tenterhooks for the first few days after the chicks hatched, but now they’re doing really well and all four are jostling for position in the nest as the adult swallows make their lightning-quick feeding visits every few minutes.

“We’re capturing some great footage, and I hope that it will get even better as they start to practice wing-flapping in the next few days.”

To further follow the progress of the young birds, experts will attach leg rings or ‘bands’ to the chicks, each holding a unique identification number.

The same method has been used in bird monitoring and conservation for almost 100 years, and the concept is how scientists originally discovered the epic annual African migration of swallows and dozens of other species.

Although the swallows at the Trust’s Bickley Hall Farm will face a treacherous first journey south in the autumn, overcoming challenges from natural predators and even man, it is hoped that the leg rings will allow staff to confirm if any of this year’s small-screen starts return in the future.

The camera project has been kindly supported by Urenco UK of Chester and you can see the latest footage at YouTube on the ‘CheshireWT’ channel or through the trust’s website at www.cheshirewildlifetrust.co.uk.

People who would like to submit names for the four young swallows on the trust’s Swallow-Cam, should e-mail their suggestions to info@ cheshirewildlifetrust.co.uk.