The Wet Woodland Bird Survey

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Barn Swallow       Hirundo rustica

Appearance Fast, highly acrobatic flight in search of food, with long, angled wings and deeply forked tail streamers in the adult. The streamers are longer in the male than the female. The spread tail shows rows of white spots. The upperparts are a dark metallic blue, the face and throat red, bordered below by narrow, dark breast band. The remaining underparts vary from pale cream to rich pink. 
Size: 16-22cm tall
Voice High-pitched vit-vit-vit, song is a twittering trill.
Habitat Gardens, freshwater marshes, moors and fields.
Food Flying insects.
Breeding Habits 4-5 eggs in a mud, cup-like nest inside an outbuilding.  Incubation takes 14-16 days and fledging takes 17-24 days. 
2-3 broods per year; May-June.
Location in Wet Woodland Seen above the wet woodland occasionally, feeding with house martin flock.

 

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