Swallows

Now that most of the sparrows living in our verandah roof have fledged (although we're still finding the odd corpse) our attention has now been grabbed by the swallows. We'd been seeing them flying around and occasionally swooping down to drink from the swimming pool. Then one evening they started showing an uncommon interest in the underside of the verandah roof. We thought they might be after insects but it transpired that they were looking for a nest site.

Last weekend they started building just outside the kitchen window and fascinating viewing it was. The pair worked together, one bringing mud (although in this dry climate it must have been been pretty dry) and the other bringing straw. Given the amount of building materials that were dropped we were surprised how quickly the nest took shape and by Sunday evening they were both sleeping there.

• Video of nest building for Facebook friends

The female is now sitting - with luck in a fortnight or so there should be babies. Watch this space ...