Sand Martins

We walked a near-deserted South Beach this morning, the sky threatening with the first rain for some days, and came back along the top of the sea wall between the shore and the golf course, the latter as deserted as the beach.

The golf club obviously uses this small quarry for the sand they need for things like the bunkers. This picture was taken on April 16th and we immediately noticed a change today....

....half a dozen or so small holes which looked very much the work of the sand martins. It's a perfect spot for them, south facing amongst other things, and....

....we can only hope that the club is aware of them and doesn't disturb them by taking sand during the nesting season.

This picture is of two of the sand martins but we've also seen the first house martins over the last few days, the first swallow having arrived on 7th April. Usually, it's the sand martins which arrive first.