FOR years, I enjoyed (tolerated) house martins who built their nest under the eaves of my house.
One year I noted they were behaving strangely. Close attention revealed that they had been “evicted” by the local house sparrows, who brutally murdered the young occupants and ejected them from the nest.
The house martins have not been back since, and the sparrows only occasionally frequent my garden.
Nature is a funny old thing.
Brian Short, Frosterley.
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