Spring drought, bolstered by unusually low April rainfall, has had unfortunateconsequences for some feathered residents of England.According to The Telegraph, the lack of wet earth has made the building of mudnests a difficult undertaking for swallows and house martins.
The Telegraph say that the animal welfare group, the RSPB, has been "inundated"with calls relating observations of bird behavior. Birds are apparentlyreturning to old nests but are not finding mud to repair them for the newnesting season.
The RSPB are suggesting that the public make available to the birds a source ofwet earth, such as a trash bin lid filled with mud, according to the news site.
These birds build nests with mud in sheltered locations, such as that under theeaves of houses.
Google Maps image.Provisional results from the UK Met Office show that April 2011 was the warmeston record for the UK as a whole. What is more, it had only 20 percent of normalrainfall in England.
Warmth, through higher rates of evaporation, would likely compound the effectof low rainfall with respect to availability of wet earth for birds.
Although rainfall so far this month has been above normal in many areas, it hasremained below normal over the east and the southeast of England. These areasmay remain unusually dry through at least the end of the week.
Story by Jim Andrews, AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist
