House martins returned in good numbers over the weekend.

An essential update after my last rather worrying post. House martins returned in good numbers over the weekend! Friday saw a sudden increase with birds quickly claiming new artificial nests then and over the weekend. It now looks like we have five pairs in residence, up from just one this time last week- how quickly things can change. It is a joy to hear their chattering calls close to our upstairs windows again. They are now very much part of Gilling East’s dawn chorus.

Swift arrivals have stalled for a few days in Gilling East. We have one formed pair in box 2 (probably not last year’s mate), but that’s it. This pair has been doing lots of nest building, mainly bringing back feathers and leaf bud cases gathered in the air. There is possibly another pair back in village hall about 150 metres away. The skies have been quiet after an initial flurry of returnees. Historically there is a bit of a gap in really big counts at watchpoints in Southern Europe, particularly between 11th and 15th May. I wonder why? These counts might not tell the whole story but it’s interesting to look. The weather from all I have seen has been suitable for north bound migration these last few days, but for whatever reason they are in no rush.

A visit to Helmsley yesterday morning saw lots of swifts drifting above the large colony areas at 11.30am. I have speculated that smaller colonies may see earlier birds going to large colony areas for a while before more from their own colony return. With the loss of breeding pairs in our village last year I can’t help wondering if smaller isolated colonies are more vulnerable because they don’t have a large pool of swifts as potential mates. We saw this here last year as our numbers dropped when their previous year’s mates didn’t arrive. No doubt in another week’s time I will be writing about more returning swifts here, but for now the delay is somewhat perplexing but certainly not yet worrying. Last year’s breeding swifts often take until the late 20s of May to fully assemble at a colony.

However it is a joy to see house martins populating the village again and to see them nesting on other people’s houses. Hopefully our own colony has acted as a hub for efficient breeding with fledglings returning to populate areas away from the natal colony. At the moment numbers look promising compared to the terrible years of 2020-22 and after mid month I expect to see the second wave of first time breeding birds who start building nests from now on.

Their ‘raspberry’ calls fill the warm air again. Insects are abundant with lots of Mayflies hatching and dozens of large red damselflies launching off for their maiden flights from our pond. Spring is really approaching its height.

All words and text copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024

House martin inspecting an artificial nest.

Swift pair mutual preening.

First swifts arrive in Gilling East!

Swift diary

Wow! What a start to the 2024 swift breeding season! Yesterday, the final day of my exhibition, I saw three swifts arrive above the village. I watched a couple of low fast passes past our nest boxes and in the evening a bird from box 2 returned to roost. Another flew up at the boxes repeatedly but opted to roost in the sky or at another nest site? This bird posed questions- if it was one of last year’s breeders why didn’t it go straight in? Are some swifts ‘pulled’ back to the sky when they arrive, having spent nine months roosting aloft? Could it have been a swift from another colony taking a look at ours?

Today (7th) dawned cloudy but reasonably warm. From the outset I saw three swifts in the air, by mid morning I saw the count climb from three to eight. As new birds arrived, seemingly out of thin air, there were spectacular aerial interactions with chases and V wing displays and screaming at times. The weather gradually improved and soon I was watching swifts arcing across a late spring sky of cerulean blue broken only by innocuous white cumulus clouds. I saw a few fast, low level passes too, which always get my heart racing. By mid afternoon our first swift was coming in to the nest box with nest material. Every time I went outside I was able to find swifts flying above me.

If you haven’t yet seen swifts over your local colonies don’t worry. In most years numbers build up over about three weeks in May until the colony is assembled, so there is plenty of time. Also at this stage they can be quiet, just coming in to roost in the evening and leaving quickly in the morning to feed up after their long migration. The best time for any flypasts tends to be between 7-9am here. They often assemble for a while above the colony area at this time before they range more widely to feed.

At 9.08am I saw a hobby spiralling up in a thermal. Swifts were higher still above it keeping a watchful and respectful distance. Hobbys are spectacular summer visiting falcons that feed largely on dragonflies, but also specialise in catching swallows, martins and swifts. Swifts know this and if they have time they fly well above the hobby until it has left their airspace. The flight of hobbys is breath-taking to watch and they possess the ability to hunt in near darkness when they can catch moths and beetles.

The newly arrived swifts were feeding constantly at high altitude.- Sometimes I only found them with binoculars as they were too high to see with the naked eye. But today for me is the day they are back, when they are always there trawling the sky for insects and their calls cause me to drop everything and run outside! I have time to get out my sketchbook and draw those crescent wings again- my life models are back! Soak up every swift moment and bank those memories for the dark, wet days of winter.

House Martins
A very unusual year thus far. We have no house martins back at our colony, or indeed in the wider village. If there were ten nests in the village that’s a potential twenty of last year’s breeders to return. I suspect there is one pair in the main street but that’s it. Normally by now I would expect to see a few pairs formed and some single birds ahead of the first main influx at the second week of May. But so far nothing, not even birds passing the eaves or prospecting. It’s very unusual but not too late yet. The weather has been fine and warm in the main this last week which makes it even more puzzling.

They are probably held up by cool weather in France and Spain a few days ago but even so I’d expect to be seeing arrivals now. House martins don’t show up at migration watchpoints in anything like the numbers swifts do so perhaps their strategy is very different- higher or spread more thinly on a broader front. After all house martins are supposedly far more numerous as a breeding species in the UK than swifts. All very puzzling, but for now I’m holding my nerve and anticipating a big arrival soon- watch this space.

All text and images copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024

Some of the sketches used in this blog are available to purchase in my shop. Please see link here  https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/

Some swift behaviour-7th May

Swift coming in to roost at high speed, tilting as it swerves around the blossom festooned apple tree. 6th May- 8.17pm. Our first swift visit of 2024.

First spotted flycatcher of 2024 and swift and house martin blog

While walking around the lawn gazing skyward in the hope of seeing swifts or martins this morning, I heard a single quiet ‘seep’ call. Immediately I said to myself “spotted flycatcher”, yet this would be early? But there it was atop a beech tree. It called again and gave lovely views as it sang and surveyed its new surroundings. Could this be the male that bred 150m away from our garden last summer? Well I’ll have to wait and see whether this is a passage bird or a local, but for now what a wonderful start to May!

Spotted flycatchers were one of the first birds I studied and drew in depth. They used open-fronted nest boxes in our Hungerford garden and loyally caught insects above our lawn summer after summer. Sadly this is a species that has disappeared in plain sight and one which I feel extremely fortunate to still be able to see. But each summer I wait with bated breath, half expecting that the flycatchers won’t return. All that was forgotten in the moment and I enjoyed the understated elegance of this beautiful and increasingly scarce summer migrant.

Swifts and house martin blog

A single house martin arrived and settled in Tolly’s bedroom window nest early on the morning of 26th April- he was first to spot it! It was so cold on 27th April that it spent the whole day in the nest and left on 28th April. It hasn’t been seen since. There have been no more visits to any nest so only one of twelve breeders last year has put in an appearance. I am used to seeing the first real influx of house martins in May but many other colonies are reporting good numbers of returnees already. For now I must hold my nerve and hope for an arrival soon.

Nothing more to report on the swift front. A single bird circled the village low on the evening of 26th April but this bird certainly hasn’t roosted in any of our nest boxes. Interestingly France, Spain and North Africa have seen low temperatures and unsettled weather in very recent days, which might be holding some birds back? Even today as the UK basks in warmth, much of western Europe has rain and temperatures well below average. Current weather models show a lot of unsettled weather to come over what we assume to be swift migration routes but not the persistent strong northerlies that caused such havoc last May. I would think if the longer term weather models prove anywhere near correct this May looks much closer to average so hopefully colonies will build up far quicker than they did in spring 2023.

It is nearly 20C as I write, yet not a single visit from a house martin today, thus I have to conclude that last year’s breeders (from our colony) have not yet arrived. The first swifts are scattered around the UK, but they are still very much the tip of the ‘iceberg’. However it is worth checking your nest box cameras each night now- returning swifts are often very quiet if they arrive alone and easily slip into a nest site unnoticed. A good time to look for them in the air is between 6-7.30pm when they often circle prior to roosting as the air cools. 

It is currently peak blackbird song time. I have always associated the lovely rich fluty notes of blackbird song with my first swift sighting. So make the most of blackbird song too and enjoy the anticipation that the beginning of the swift season brings.

All text and images copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024

My annual exhibition is at Gilling East village Hall over the Spring Bank Holiday Weekend- 4th-6th May 10am- 5pm daily. For more details please see this link https://jonathanpomroy.wordpress.com/exhibitions-2023/ 

Spotted flycatcher- Gilling East, 1st May

House martin first visiting artificial nest cup- 26th April.

Dark-eyed junco in Hartlepool today

A rare chance to see and sketch a dark-eyed junco in a residential area of Hartlepool today. This is a North American species off course in this cold April. Who knows when it arrived and what route it took? Fascinating to ponder and a lovely bird to watch. It was very fluffed up at times in this unseasonably cold weather.

This was time away from preparation for my Spring Bank Holiday annual exhibition at Gilling East village hall. See poster below and Exhibition page in menu above.

Our first house martin arrived this morning. In 2022/23/24 the first house martin has touched down on 26th April. Wonderful to have house martins under the eaves again the start of their entertaining antics from now until September! More on the house martins soon. But for now I try to imagine the sights this bird has seen since it left in the middle of September 2023.

22nd April- first swift! With Arctic terns and a little gull at Castle Howard Lake.

I had an unforgettable three hours birding at Castle Howard Lake yesterday afternoon. I found an adult little gull in full breeding plumage as I arrived at the western end of the lake, with 13 Arctic terns to the east of the lake. Over the next couple of hours there was a very high flock of 40+ very vocal Arctic terns some of which descended to join the feeding birds. However most circled and moved on north. The maximum number of Arctic terns seen at one time, some low, some high was at least 70. I suspect more moved through but at times I didn’t know where to look!

I felt very privileged to find this gull. I’ve not seen many but this was an immaculate bird in full breeding plumage, a gull on passage set to move east back to the continent. I was juggling viewing time between the gull and the terns. I saw one common tern with the Arctics. The little gull fed throughout, not landing while the Arctics occasionally sat on the water and bathed. Both species were feeding on insects which they effortlessly plucked from or near the surface of the water.

A swift appeared, a swift (!!!), my first of 2024- it moved east to west about 70 feet above the lake amongst the hundreds of sand martins and smaller numbers of house martins and swallows. The temperature was 7C and my hands were almost too cold to draw in the bitter breeze and light drizzle. The swift as always came as a visual shock to my eyes, that shape again, subject of thousands of my sketches, its blade like wings paddling the cold air. Its streamlined body looked quite fat as its feathers were puffed out to insulate it against the cold, just like a Christmas card robin! But there it was my first swift of 2024.

I was not surprised, an impressive first wave of swifts has been powering up through France in recent days. These early birds are very much the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and in some ways they gamble when determined to be first back. North Yorkshire can and has thrown some very cruel weather at aerial insect eaters and once ‘home’ the swifts will be tested in their survival skills after enduring a long, fast, energy sapping migration. I may have to wait days before I see another now, but my 2024 swift season began with a swift flying over a little gull and a flock of Arctic terns. This inland, would be a juxtaposition of species hard to repeat.

After the swift, I spent some time taking in the Arctic terns again. I downed my sketchpad, put away the camera and just appreciated the elegance of these birds. In many ways they out graced a swift (particularly a cold one!) with their pointed wings and long tail streamers. Their flight was buoyant, bouncy almost and their control as they dipped for insects breath-taking to watch. As an artist I found the context of the terns interesting because I was seeing them against the fresh green of trees in spring, rather than their more typical coastal backdrop. The higher flocks above, some of which just passed north without descending to feed, were equally graceful, seen in silhouette; all the while their calls brought back memories of family holidays in Anglesey, Northumberland and Scotland where I have seen then breeding. With the little gull still on view this was one of those birding sessions where you really don’t know what to look at, so I made sure I spent good chunks of time observing each species.

At about 6pm, the swift lost to view, a band of quite heavy drizzle moved in quickly coating my optics and myself. The little gull purposefully flew to the east end of the lake and spiralled quickly upwards moving off east as it did so, quickly lost to view. At the same time all the Arctic terns vanished up into the cloud to continue their journey north. They have journeyed from the sea off South Africa or even Antarctica and are heading perhaps for the Farne Islands, Scottish Islands or the coast of Scandinavia or Iceland, thought to be the longest migration of any bird. Here they were as they crossed land downed by this cold weather but giving me one of the most memorable afternoons of birding of my life. Migration in full flow- utterly inspiring. I am still buzzing with it all and it makes this the first Swift Blog of 2024!

All text and images copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024

My exhibition in Gilling East village Hall is on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend.

When: 4th-6th May 10am- 5pm daily

Where: Gilling East Village Hall

Admission: free

Dozens of original watercolours, many unframed. Prints. Cards for sale. Sketchbooks available to view. Display and information about attracting swifts and house martins.

For more information see 2024 EXHIBITIONS

Arctic terns, little gull and swift in flight.

First swift of 2024. Castle Howard Lake.

Swift below Arctic tern flock

House martins arriving in the UK

Many people across the UK are reporting their first house martins back at nests. I’m still waiting as usually they don’t arrive here until the last third of April with most arriving in May, but I thought it would be timely to post a link to my house martin WordPress page.

I share my experience of attracting these beautiful and threatened summer migrants. It contains a month by month account of what to look for in a typical UK house martin season, a gallery of house martin sketches and a guide to some tried and tested artificial nest designs.

I hope you find it useful. As house martins become more scarce, fewer people are familiar with them and some knowledge of their identification, nesting habitats and how we can help them can go a long way. I hope this page helps others to spread the love for this lovely bird.

Right now here it us just 7C and windy with heavy rain. Frankly, I’m glad mine haven’t yet returned! But I cannot wait to see the first house martin back under our eaves. What will this season bring for our house martins and swifts I wonder? I’ve been maintaining the nest boxes and setting the nest cameras ready this week in anticipation of their arrival. I gaze constantly at the sky with mounting expectation.

I will be blogging on here about my house martin and swift colony from the moment they arrive…

Link to my House Martin 2024 page below.

HOUSE MARTINS 2024

A small online exhibition- some recent watercolours.

I’ve been spending some recent wet days working in the studio- I work to the sound of frogs croaking, a year to the day since they spawned in 2023. The chorus outside the studio grows daily, led by the throng of numerous chirping tree sparrows.

The dawn chorus is growing rapidly. This morning a robin started singing at 5.30am followed a couple of minutes later by a blackbird at 5.34am. Song thrush joined soon after at about 5.45am as tawny owls made their last hoots of the night. Wren next at 5.47am then dunnock at 5.54am. It was a joy to lie in bed and listen. Later in the day the great-spotted woodpeckers start drumming, nuthatches pipe loudly and greenfinches perform their song flights.

For me there now begins a couple of months of the most intensive sketching of the year. So much to see and record as migrants flood in and spring progresses. A month from now I’ll hopefully be watching the first swallows, pied flycatchers and redstarts and eagerly looking for the first house martin back at our colony.

Online Exhibition

The pictures shown below in this small exhibition were painted from sketches made on field sketching trips, some of them recently. They are fresh off the drawing board. Some observations happened so quickly that I drew quick sketches and backed up with some reference from my cheap bridge camera. I never like to work entirely from photos, even my own photos. For me making sketches is essential for all studio work.

The lapwing composition below is a good example. It captures a split second when a freshly alighted bird joined three others that were resting, all facing into the strong wind. The landing bird has approached into wind, unsettling the nearest resting bird. The disturbed water meant there was very little reflection. So with this picture I have tried to capture a moment in time. Shortly after all birds would have settled facing into wind again. I’ve deliberately painted this loosely to try and retain the sense of movement.

If you are interested in purchasing any of these pictures please follow the link to my Big Cartel shop here https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/

All images and text copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024

Lapwing flock at Cley, Norfolk. Image size 43×28.5 cm. Watercolour. £400

Curlew on the shoreline- Menai Straights, Anglesey. Image size 53x28cm. Watercolour. SOLD

Lapwing in winter. Image size 54x31cm. Watercolour. £400

Barn owl near Castle Howard- a bird sketched at 11am in bright March sunshine. Image size 30x28cm. Watercolour. £350

Dipper. Image size 34x24cm. Watercolour. £295.

Curlew in song flight near Wheeldale, North York Moors. Image size 53x33cm. Watercolour. £390

Red Kite near Oldstead, North Yorkshire. Image size 46x35cm. Watercolour. £350

Early swift flypast, May 24th. Image size 45x20cm. Watercolour. £295

Swifts forming a low, fast pass- July 24th. Image size 43x28cm. Watercolour. £275

All these pictures and more are for sale in my Big Cartel shop which you can view here https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/

Red-necked grebe at Burton Riggs nature reserve, Scarborough

I don’t travel great distances to see birds and at best could be described as a selective “twitcher”. I’ll will go and see any species of swift within reasonable distance and some other scarce birds on the Yorkshire coast, but occasionally a bird turns up that I have to see and sketch. I have gazed in wonder at pictures of red-necked grebes in breeding plumage since my childhood. Inspired by the beautiful shape of this species coupled with gorgeous sumptuous colour and bold markings.

Yesterday after a successful morning in the studio I checked the local bird reports- you’ve guessed it, red-necked grebe, but better still in breeding plumage. I didn’t even stop to think. I always have sketching kit in the car at the ready and like a Typhoon pilot on scramble was on the move within a couple of minutes.

I always take the view that if the reported bird isn’t there, as an artist there will be plenty of other birds to draw, so that way I can’t lose! On arrival the bird was showing well. Interestingly when not feeding it chose to tuck itself away quietly in amongst branches that emerged from the water. But within a couple of minutes it was on the move, unobscured, There within about 40 metres was a red-necked grebe in breeding plumage, brightly lit by an all too rare burst of late afternoon sunshine.

I spent a couple of hours sketching and just watching this bird normally found in Eastern Europe and Scandinavia and perhaps blown here by easterly winds? Wow, I couldn’t take my eyes of it even when it was hiding there were small details to see which helped me record the overall structure of the bird. It was a very memorable early spring afternoon- though it felt every bit like midwinter. I also saw my first chiffchaffs of the year. For a while one fed a few feet above the grebe in a very memorable combination of species. After a couple of hours I was cold enough, time for a strong coffee and some warmth, but glowing with the memory of a new and absolutely stunning species for my bird sketch list.

Details for Burton Riggs Yorkshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve here https://www.ywt.org.uk/nature-reserves/burton-riggs-nature-reserve

All text and images copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024

Red- necked grebe watercolour sketches.

Red- necked grebe pencil sketches.

Red- necked grebecomposition study. Watercolour.

Burton Riggs north lake. Red-necked grebe resting in those submerged branches on the island.

Recent lapwing studies

I am often asked, “what is your favourite bird”? I see all wild birds as equal so picking favourites is not something I do really- I don’t value one species over another. However there is no doubt that there are some species I go back to again and again when sketching. The lapwing is one such species.

I especially love sketching them in winter, when there is such a multitude of plumages in a flock. The variation is incredible if you look closely. Some have the most spectacular long crests and I have to check my drawing to make sure I haven’t exaggerated! But all have the most wonderful shape with a very interesting head and bill structure and a big eye suited to feeding in low light.

Watching and sketching lapwings in winter is something I look forward to as much as watching swifts and house martins in summer. Their crests can show the current weather conditions, sometimes just lifted or turned by the slightest breeze, or in a gale bent forwards over their heads or turned 90°. An avian weather vane.

They dazzle in flight in bright winter sunshine and then there is the slightly mournful quality of their collective calls. Lapwings are certainly in my top five of numbers of sketches made of a single species. Now those flocks are breaking up as birds return to fields and moors to breed, with many heading back over the North Sea having wintered here. Their plumage is becoming sharper, the males gaining black from the breast band right up to their beaks. Males begin perfoming spectacular display flights over potential breeding areas.

But for me they are one of the birds that keeps me going through the darkest days of winter with their infinite and beautiful plumage variation. As the time comes for swifts to depart I remember that a winter of lapwings is all to come.

All images and text copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024.

Some of the images in this blog are available in my online shop. Please see link below https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/

Lapwing feeding on a breezy February afternoon. Cley, Norfolk. Watercolour. Available in my online shop.

Lapwing and dunlin. Cley, Norfolk.

Lapwing study.

Sketching on the verge- waxwings by the A6055/ A1(M)

I made the most of waxwings today. I sketched on a rubbish strewn verge, by the busy A6055 which runs parallel to the A1(M) near Melmerby. Hardly glamorous but the sight of waxwings perched together in a small birch was stunning, their soft peachy colours contrasting with a Payne’s grey wash sky. Despite the roar of traffic their evocative trilling calls were clearly audible.

I immersed myself in watching and listening to these waxwings, unsure if I’ll have another opportunity before they return to their remote Scandinavian habitats to breed- anticipating their forthcoming migration flight above the North Sea. It could be years before the next waxwing winter.

A dense, roadside hedge has sustained these birds throughout the winter showing the value of leaving hawthorn and other species to fruit in profusion. Only now is the berry supply running low.

But the waxwings were also feeding on buds- I saw some taking sycamore buds and when the weather is mild enough they catch aerial insects in graceful flying sorties.

It has given me immense pleasure to spend time with these beautiful Scandi wanderers this winter.

All text and images copyright Jonathan Pomroy 2024

Some useful reference perhaps? But really just enjoying fast sketching and trying to capture the character and colour of these incredible birds.

Waxwing studies- available in my online shop.

Please see link to shop here

https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/