Wetzlar. In view of fewer and fewer nesting opportunities for swallows, conservationists call up for the nimble for the nimble migratory birds. “The smoke swallow has already returned from Africa in mid -March and from mid -April the flour swallow will come back,” explains Berthold Langenhorst, Managing Director of the Nature Conservation Association in Germany (NABU) in Hesse, based in Wetzlar. Swallows are cultural successors. The summer birds were once considered messengers of happiness that saved the house from fire and cattle from diseases. Today, according to Langenhorst, around 40,000 smoke and 50,00,000 meal-swallow pairs in Hessen are breeding. According to the NABU, the number is slowly falling, since the birds find fewer and fewer insects than food, modern facades do not offer any building material. After all: According to the nature conservation association, artificial nests like to accept the meal swallow with bright white belly, dark top and deeply sized tail likes to nest under protected roofing speeches at least two and a half meters. Langenhorst warns not a west facade. There are too often rain and wind from this direction. Smoke swallows have a brown -red throat and forehead and long, deeply owned cocks. They have their name from their earlier frequent nest building on open fireplaces and smoke catches. Today smoke swallows take on artificial nests on beams and walls in stables, barns and other buildings – if there are openings for entry and excursion. Cot and remains of nesting material of the swallows on facades and people often annoy people on the floor. “Many nests are therefore deliberately destroyed, a simple, half a meter below the nests, would effectively remedy the situation,” explains the NABU. In any case, difficult nests are not removed by swallows without the approval of the Lower Nature Conservation Authority. Conversely, if you offer accommodation to the little flight artists on a “swallow -friendly house”, get a praising badge for your facade at NABU. (dpa.)
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