Paphos Life

Saw lots of swallows in Paphos today and also in Peyia.

Think all the Swallows are round our house,they have been nesting for a few weeks now,must be the quiet village life,no bee eaters yet though

We have a pair nesting in their usual spot, getting eyed up by four kittens...

If anything I thought they arrived earlier than usual - at the end of February due to the milder weather and there are many families visiting our communal pool.

Two swallows visit us and sit on our ceiling fans under our patio singing to us on a daily basis.We have been advised they are surveying a nesting site.But we are not giving them planning permission because of the obvious mess they will make.

Come and look under our car port Lloyd, several nesting there, you can tell because of the noise and the mess these little darlings make.

Plenty of Hoopoes around in pairs

Happy in Cyprus wrote: ↑Sun Apr 18, 2021 5:12 pm Weirdly, I haven't seen or heard a single swallow this year. Wonder why? Normally we first become aware of them in March.

But yesterday I heard my first bee-eater.

They seem all to be under my carport, shitting on my car and bike.

JimX wrote: ↑Mon Apr 19, 2021 6:47 am Come and look under our car port Lloyd, several nesting there, you can tell because of the noise and the mess these little darlings make.

They do like to poop.

I’ve also got lots in Polemi, yesterday though one hit our outside fan and landed in the pool, thought it was a gonner but came too and flew off
We had a pair who nested under our pergola a few yrs ago, they do come to look but don’t build anything

Plenty of swallows this year, a couple of distant hoopoes, not a single bee eater; over here, at least!

Whilst on my my walk spoilt ie golf I noticed lots of birds eggs cracked open on the ground no doubt the Magpies and Crows had been doing their worst

Swallows and hoopoes seen in our side of Polemi. Not seen or heard a bee eater yet. My favourite is the bee eater, stunning looking birds.

Ian

Lots about at the moment, had 2 fly in the house already - one knocked themselves out on the glass sliding door in the lounge, after a minute or so they were back up and fit to fly

Happy in Cyprus wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:20 am The mess issue is easily catered for, just lay some cardboard on the ground underneath the nest and it will catch most of the crap.

I wish you were right. I did exactly that but you can´t cover all the area under their several flightpaths. The only way I´d see to get rid of the problem is to destroy their nests. Which I also don´t want to do though.

We have a couple of spare tiles under our nest. We had to remove one of the nests because it was too close to the elements. Every year the swallows would use it, and every year it would get raided by magpies. We then kept destroying it until they eventually got the message and started nesting in a rafter more shielded from predators.

Happy in Cyprus wrote: ↑Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:39 am When I had that problem once before, when the babies had flown the nest I set to with a metal scraper, dustpan and brush, then garden hose and scrubbing brush.

Wouldn´t that damage my car finish?