Welcome to our fourth Sounds of Nature post which we do hope you are enjoying as much as we are.
Our grateful thanks again to Assynt visitor Clive Davies from Stafford who recorded these breeding Swallows, Hirundo rustica, in the ice-houses at Culkein Stoer during summer 2019. The sound of the waves in the background is an essential part of this superb recording.
The ice-houses were used by the salmon netters to help preserve their catch and the ice came from the local fresh-water lochs; in the days when it was cold enough for the lochs to freeze with consistent regularity!
The Swallows have left now and will be on their journey to South Africa where they spend our winter but, of course, they get a second summer there. It’s not until December that they arrive at their ‘wintering’ areas.
David Haines