News from behind the sand martin wall - 29th April 2026

I had the pleasure of joining Doug behind the sand martin wall for a full survey of the nesting holes.  While I did some of the ringing last year, and have helped out a little on a few occasions, I did not have a chance to join in with a full survey last year.

The process is very efficient and gives great data for nest record submissions, as well as to know when we need to be on hand to ring the pulli.  The holes are generally surveyed twice in a week, with a full survey once a week and a survey of the known active holes on a second day.  An endoscope is used to check each nest through a small port in the back of each nest hole so we do not need to visit the front of the wall, and so there is minimal disturbance.

We found 101 nest holes with well formed nests, which compares with 89 holes which were used in 2025.  There were 59 nests with eggs and 41 holes containing substantial amounts of nesting material but no eggs as yet.  There are a further 23 nests cavities with some blades of grass which may be the beginnings of a new nest.  The final nest (for those of you adding up as we go along!) has the first chick hatched of the year!  

This bird obviously hatched on the day and we will see on the next survey how many of the other eggs have hatched.