Let's build nests for our swallows!

Fanny Agostini is back on Europe 1 for her traditional Rendez-vous at the farm: she is looking at a possible occupation on Monday while being confined: taking advantage of the long days at home to develop a nest for swallows.

We may not have noticed much because of the confinement, but spring has arrived and with it the return of the swallows' migration. Back, Fanny Agostini gives us his advice on Monday to build a nest that will attract these tired birds after a long trip.

For our swallows, windows which have already partially arrived, but the bulk of the troops generally break in late March-early April. rarity of the insects they feed on but also the destruction of their nests from one year to the next, so to help them nest I suggest you bring a 30 cm by 15 cm board and a salad bowl that you will have on it. Below the bowl you make 5 marks with a pen, marks which will serve as a benchmark for screwing 5 wood screws to support your bowl.

A bowl that will serve as a mold to make the nest, right?

Perfectly, you will also coat the bowl with oil to avoid adhesion and put it in place on the support screws before brushing the bottom part, that is to say half of the bowl with mixture of plaster with water, as well as a little white clay if you have it and ideally, you also add twigs or straw as do the swallows themselves, this will better seal the 'together. This is the funniest part, do not hesitate to make a good thickness of 2 cm and especially full of irregularities with the fingers or a spatula, because if it is too smooth, it will not look like a natural nest and the swallow will not be fooled!

We don't forget to make a small entrance!

Very important, 6 cm in length and 2.5 cm in height, once everything is dry, you gently slide the bowl and your nest is ready to be hung on its wooden support using 4 dowel screws under a ledge, or a shed, in any case in a location well sheltered from the weather and from the be patient, discreetly observe from a distance to give a swallow of windows the chance to come and settle there.