My summer is built from screams, cries, chatters and warbles. Walking around the Sussex countryside I’m always soaking up the sounds of migrant birds returning back home from their winter south of the Sahara. Each voice offers a familiar reassurance to me. Only when everything is back in its place can my summer begin.

One of the top tunes in my summer soundtrack is the sweet, bubbling twitter of the house martin. Shakespeare loved that sound too. To him they were ‘the guest of summer’. From Macbeth’s castle to cathedrals, country cottages and urban terraces these birds have historically been linked to our homes. They’re as much of a feature of English architecture as the clay, bricks and uPVC they build their nests against.

House martins are surveyors, architects, bricklayers, decorators and homeowners rolled into one 19 gram two-tone ball of feathers. Give them a building site of a vertical surface under an overhang and they’ll get to work. Each lumpy half-dome home, tucked snug under the eaves, is made of 1000 tiny mouthfuls of muddy bricks carried from the edge of a nearby puddle or stream. The birds construct each nest over 10 days, finally lining it with feathers to make it snug. They don’t always build a brand new nest; if they find a fixer-upper they’ll renovate.

House martins are stereotypical builders.
They constantly communicate with chirpy chatter, call down from the roof-tops and while they’re bent over building they reveal their pale rump. This white builder’s bum is a way of identifying the bird from that other summer eaves-dweller, the swallow.

They’ve shared our homes throughout history but their numbers have suffered a massive decline in England with a worrying 18% nosedive over the past decade. Aerial insect food and changing weather patterns here, in Africa and on migration routes in between have had an effect.

This loss should strike deep in the heart of every Sussex resident because our county’s flag is made of six proud martlets.  Martlet means ‘little martin’ but this heraldic bird may also represent the swift; that screaming summer visitor whose numbers are also in decline.

Either way you should consider yourself blessed if you are one of the lucky people who share your house with these incredible birds. Let’s hope our county’s martlets and our county flag are flying proudly under blue Sussex skies this July.

By Michael Blencowe: Learning & Engagement Officer, Sussex Wildlife Trust.
Photograph Credit: House martin at nest©Roger Wilmshurst.


Sussex Wildlife Trust is an independent registered charity caring for wildlife and habitats throughout Sussex. Founded in 1961, we rely on the support of our members to help protect our rich natural heritage. Please consider supporting our work. As a member you will be invited to join Michael Blencowe on our regular wildlife walks and also enjoy free events, discounts on wildlife courses, Wildlife magazine and our guide book, Discovering Wildlife in Sussex. It’s easy to join online at: www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/join or T: 01273 497532.