Sand Martin papers:

references, abstracts and comments. Where there is no abstract, an abstract has been written, where abstracts are too long they have been abridged. Abstracts in languages other than English have been translated into English. The comment is personal, it points out errors and possible follow-ups, it is begun: CP:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

Acquarone, C., Cucco, M., & G. Malacarne (2003): Reproduction of the Crag Martin (Ptyonoprogne rupestris) in relation to weather and colony size. Orn. Fenn. 80: XX-YY. Internetversion av denna uppsats.

From 1994 to 1999, we investigated how climatic conditions influence the laying dates and number of fledged young of the Crag Martin Ptyonoprogne rupestris, a poorly studied colonial martin that, like other aerial feeding birds, is supposed to be highly dependent on weather conditions. Laying dates were concentrated in May and the first half of June. The mean annual laying date differed significantly among years; however, probably because of the small absolute difference between early and late years, there was no influence on the clutch size nor on the number of fledged young. Mean clutch size was 4.4 ± 0.9 eggs, the hatching rate was 80.2 percent, and the average number of fledged young was 3.1 ± 1.9. Temperature and rainfall in the days before laying and during the incubation period did not influence the breeding success, while in the chick rearing period there was a negative relationship between temperature and number of fledged young. It is supposed that high temperature can negatively influence breeding success through the drying up of small rivers where parents find food (mainly aquatic insects). In our study area the Crag Martins nested solitarily or in small colonies (mean 3.5 ± 1.9 nests). Colony size did not influence the laying date, the clutch size or the number of successfully fledged young.

Altrichter, K., Koller, J., & P. & H. Schneider. (1969): Erste Bestandsaufnahmen an der Uferschwalbe (Riparia riparia) in Bayern. Anz. orn. Ges. Bayern 8: 511 - 515.

Koller hade 2150 par på 499 km2 i trakten av Dachau, mer än 4 par/km2, vilket är en mycket hög siffra. De två andra inventerarna ger runda siffror, det går inte att bedöma dem.

Asbirk, S. (1976): Studies on the breeding biology of the Sand Martin Riparia riparia (L.) (Aves) in artificial nest sites. Vid. Medd. Dansk Naturhist. For. 139: 147 - 177.

The study was made during three breeding seasons in a colony with artificial nest sites. The construction of the nest sites made it possible to study the behaviour of the Sand Martins inside the burrow during all phases of the breeding cycle. Especially the excavation of the burrow and the behaviour of the nestlings have been analysed. The brooding success of the colony depended upon different factors, among which rainy days with small amounts of available food played a major role. Parasitism by mites (Ixodes plumbeus) did not seem to influence the survival of nestlings. Ecological and ethological adaptations to breeding in colonies and to the burrowing habit of nesting are discussed.

Beecher, M. D. & I. Mornestam Beecher (1979): Sociobiology of Bank Swallows: Reproductive strategy of the male. Science 205: 1282 - 1285.

Male bank swallows pursue a mixed reproductive strategy. As previously documented, they form monogamous pair bonds with females with whom they will share parental duties of nest-building, incubation, and feeding of the young. In addition, however, they routinely seek promiscuous copulations with other females, both before and after pair-bonding.

Berndt, R. K. (1983): Die Uferschwalbe als Brutvogel an den schleswig-holsteinischen Abbruchufern. Beiheft Veröff. Naturschutz. Landschaftspflege Bad.-Württ. 37: 69-74. Excerpts from text in translation.

The complete census in 1974 along the German Baltic coast between Flensburg and Lübeck comprised 42 colonies with 7,640 burrows. Part of this area had 9,720 burrows in 1979 (the same part in 1974: 5,800 burrows), an increase of 70 %, indicating a total population of 13,000 burrows in 1979. With index 100 for 1974, the calculated development based on 15 "sample areas" was 1979: 170, 1980: 202, 1981: 212. It is thought that fresh erosion of coastal sand cliffs offered Sand Martins particularly favourable breeding conditions in 1979 - 81.

Cowley, E. (1979): Sand Martin population trends in Britain, 1965 - 1978. Bird Study 26: 113-116.

Sand Martins show a marked degree of colony and area fidelity, and it is therefore considered that population fluctuations in north Nottinghamshire (440 sq. km) are representative of a much wider area; such counts as were available from other colonies and from bird observatories showed corresponding fluctuations. Sand Martins increased during the mid-1960s to a peak in 1968, so that the sudden decline over the following winter was very marked. The study area population was down by 45 % in 1969, and by 1974 was only 21 % of the 1968 level. Numbers then started to rise again until a further setback in 1978. A decrease in mean wing length over the period of the crash is believed to indicate harsh conditions in winter quarters where moult occurs, which supports the suggestion that the major cause of the decline was the prolonged Sahel drought. However, there is also some evidence that a series of cool. late springs in Britain may have contributed to the decline by delaying breeding and therefore affecting overall breeding success.

Cowley, E. (1983): Multi-brooding and mate infidelity in the Sand Martin. Bird Study 30: 1 - 7.

The extent to which British Sand Martins attempt second broods varies anually, but cannot be measured since birds change mates and even colonies. Females will remate while their first-brood young are still dependent, left in the care of the males.

Cowley, E. (19??): Population fluctuations in the Sand Martin in North Nottinghamshire, from 1968 to 1985. ??: 44 - 48.

CP: This paper was published in some small journal at the county level, I don't have the name. The census area covered 440 sq. km of N. Nottinghamshire, the estimated populations were: 1968: 700 pairs, 1969: 385, 1970: 275, 1971: 295, 1972: 265, 1973: 215, 1974: 150, 1975: 190, 1976: 225, 1977: 280, 1978: 215, 1979: 265, 1980: 295, 1981: 224, 1982: 264, 1983: 148, 1984: 65, 1985: 61 pairs. Cowley concludes: What is the outlook for the Sand Martin? To achieve the 1970's average of about 240 pairs in north Notts., the population would need to undergo six years at the best increase that it has ever shown, plus any addition to cover intervening setbacks. However, it is wrong to look upon instability or the present low population as a new or temporary phenomenon. The breeding strategy evolved by Sand Martins in Great Britain is one to be found in a species that regularly suffers great losses of population. It is quite different from that employed by the same species in North America where a less arduous migration and a continental climate make a single brood sufficient to maintain the population reasonably stable.

Cowley, E. (1999): Sand Martin Riparia riparia - male or female? Ring. & Migr. 19: 205-209.

8,037 examinations were made of brood patches of Sand Martins from 1971 to 1992 in north Nottinghamshire and given one of 12 different descriptions. The 1,997 birds which were examined more than once (5,443 times in total) and identified as 1,061 females and 936 males from the types of patch/es they had carried were then used to test the accuracy with which three distinct types of patch (described in the text) could be used to identify the sex of birds in different periods throughout the breeding season. It was found that females carried at least 98.9 % of the Large patches at any time of the breeding season; that males carried at least 96.5 % of the Small patches from June to August inclusive but that males carried less than 95 % of the Intermediate patches (which formed 29.7 % of the patches examined) apart from late in June and in July and males carried only 83.8 % of these Intermediate patches in early June and 86.6 % in August. It is emphasized that an examination of the cloaca did not form part of this study and was not used to identify the sex of birds in the field.

Cowley, E. (2001): June broods are of greatest benefit to Sand Martins Riparia riparia. Ring. & Migr. 20: 202-208.

This work examines the retrap rate in subsequent years of Sand Martins ringed as juvgeniles in Nottinghamshire from 1969 to 1991. It shows that the weight of juveniles fledging with primaries still partially in pin fell until the primaries were fully developed. This is a hazardous time and at least one-third of them died during this period whilst they were still dependent on their parents until they learned to forage for themselves. 19/322 (5.9 %) with primaries 6 or 7-9 partially in pin were retrapped in future years compared with 78/865 (9.0 %) with primaries 8-9 or primary 9 alone partially in pin. The subsequent-year retrap rate decreased dramatically for juveniles examined as the day length shortened. 38/368 (10.3 %) of juveniles with primaries partially in pin when examined in June were retrapped in subsequent years but this proportion fell to 47/527 (8.9 %) in JUly, 10/186 (5.4 %) in August and 1/91 (1.1 %) in September. This is probably because the juveniles fledging earlier in the season survived the immediate post-fledging period better. Data from an intensive part of this study suggest that they stayed around their natal colony for a median of six days in June increasing to 12 days in September.

Cowley, E. (2001): Long-term variation in survival rates of Sand Martins Riparia riparia: dependence on breeding and wintering ground weather, age and sex, and their population consequences. Bird Study 52: 237-251.

Aims To investigate the demography underlying long-term changes in population size in a large study area in central England, focusing primarily on describing the variation in survival and identifying its causes and demographic consequences.
Methods An intensive mark–recapture effort was undertaken on Sand Martin colonies in an area of over 400 km2 of Nottinghamshire, England, from 1967 to 1992. The resulting data were analysed using the program MARK to investigate variation in survival with respect to sex, age, time and variables describing the key climatic conditions on the breeding and wintering grounds. The same variables were also tested against data on the age-structure of the population.
Results The average annual apparent survival probabilities of adult males and females were not significantly different (males 0.312 ± 0.026 se; females 0.289 ± 0.026 se). There was no obvious long-term temporal trend in survival rates, but considerable fluctuations occurred between years. There was a positive relationship between annual survival rates and Sahel rainfall, but a stronger, negative, relationship between survival and the previous summer's rainfall in the study area. These relationships were reflected in correlations with the annual population level and the annual percentage change in the population, but other evidence suggests that rainfall on the breeding grounds during the breeding season has a further important effect on productivity.
Conclusion The Sand Martin population in the study area was limited by climatic conditions, primarily rainfall in the breeding area, but also rainfall on the wintering grounds. These climatic effects operated mostly by influencing annual survival, but also probably affected productivity. This contrasts with published results for Sand Martins in central Europe, which have been found to be more strongly affected by rainfall on the wintering grounds and for which relationships between survival and abundance are obscured by fluctuations in immigration and emigration. The importance of rainfall on the breeding grounds as a negative influence on over-winter survival is a novel finding both in Sand Martin biology and in the context of the environmental influences on passerine demography in general.


Freer, V. M. (1987): Factors affecting site tenacity in New York Bank Swallows. Bird Banding 50: 349 - 357. Internetversion av uppsatsen.

The returns of 292 Bank Swallows to sand and gravel banks in south-eastern New York State were examined to determine factors influencing site tenacity in this species. As in other species, it was found that the return rate of banded fledglings was low; but when their high mortality was taken into account, a large percentage of the survivors were shown to return to the banding site or other nearby sites to breed as adults. Some increase in site tenacity with increase in age was found. No difference in site attachment occurred between adult males and females, but more one-year-old males returned to the area than did one-year-old females. Adults returned more faithfully to sites where they had successfully produced young than to sites where few or no young were produced. Return rates in certain other species of swallows were compared with those of Bank Swallows. It is suggested that the much lower rate in Bank Swallows is an adaptation to the instability of its nesting locations.

Holmes, P. R., Christmas, S. E. & A. J. Parr (1987): A study of the return rate and dispersal of Sand Martins Riparia riparia at a single colony. Bird Study 34: 12-19.

Sand Martins were trapped at an Oxfordshire colony during 1979-83. The return rate of adult males in following years was higher than for adult females, and adult females dispersed more than adult males in subsequent breeding seasons. The return rate of adults in the3 first year after capture appeared lower than in subsequent years but this was not an artefact due to the catching efficiency being less than 100 %. Birds ringed as juveniles had a much lower return rate than adults but many of them were probably passage birds. Juvenile males had a much higher return rate than juvenile females, with the females much more dispersive. The return rate of known second-year birds, which were heavily male biased, was higher than that of adults, but not significantly different from that of adult males. Lower adult return rates and decreased recruitment from juveniles both contributed to the decline of the colony, both probably being the result of decreased winter survival.


Jones, G. (1986): Selection against large size in the Sand Martin Riparia riparia during a dramatic population crash. Ibis 129: 274 - 280.

In 1984 breeding Sand Martins declined to 27 % of their 1983 numbers at a large colony in Scotland. A population crash of similar magnitude occurred over much of central Scotland and over Britain as a whole. The decline in numbers was probably attributable to severe drought conditions experienced overwinter in the Sahel zone of Africa. There was a significant reduction in the mean keel-length of Sand Martins captured at the main study colony in 1984 compared with individuals measured in both 1982 and 1983, suggesting that selection for small body-size had occurred during the period of high overwinter mortality.

CP: To "Farewell to Darwin!".

Jones, G. (1987): Colonization patterns in Sand Martins Riparia riparia. Bird Study 34: 20-25.

Settlement patterns of Sand Martins at a sand quarry in central Scotland are described. Older birds returned to the colony before first-year individuals, and thus had the widest choice of subcolony in which to nest. A model of subcolony settlement was developed which assumed that individuals nested in subcolonies where their reproductive success was maximized. The colonization patterns observed fitted those predicted by the model, though several alternative models could also explain the settlement patterns. Cost and benefits of early arrival at the breeding colony are discussed.


Kuhnen, K. (1975): Bestandsentwicklung, Verbreitung, Biotop und Siedlungsdichte der Uferschwalbe (Riparia riparia) 1966-1973 am Niederrhein. Charadrius 11: 1 - 24. Summary, slightly changed.

Results of an eight-year count of Sand Martins in 1966-1973 are presented and used as illustration of population changes, breeding habitat, distribution and population density. The census area covers 2,221 km2 at Lower Rhine, northwestern Germany. At each colony was counted the maximum number of burrows (min. depth 5 cm) and the number of breeding pairs. Special methods, based on controls of burrow entrances and burrow depths, to estimate breeding pairs were worked out during the first years of investigation. The results have the following maximal insecurities: total number of colonies each year: ± 3 - 5 % (1971: ± 10 %), total number of burrows each year: ± 20 % (1971: ± 30 %), total number of pairs each year: ± 20 % (1971: ± 30 %). There is no significant decline in the population, although considerable fluctuations occur. The presumable cause of these fluctuations are almost exclusively weather conditions in migration areas and winter quarters. This is true for the extreme recession in 1969 after the optimum year 1968. (...) A calculation of population density is pertinent, since the breeding sites are distributed uniformly over the whole area. The average value of eight years (1966-1973) is 0.75 pairs/km2. (...)

Kuhnen, K. (1978): Zur Methodik der Erfassung von Uferschwalben (Riparia riparia) - Populationen. Die Vogelwelt 99: 161-176. Summary, slightly changed.

1. Long-term annual population counts in the colonial swallow Riparia riparia providing relevant data must be done in census areas whose population status is approximately congruent with the population development of the surrounding larger region. Therefore factors like sufficient extension and sufficient occupation by Sand Martins are of great importance in the choice of census areas. If we want to analyse the population (cf. Kuhnen 1975) in a region of 2221 km2, the minimum extent of study areas must lie between 250 km2 (c 1 pair/km2) and 500 km2 (c 0.5 pair/km2), the annual average number of colonies must be at least 10 and there must be an average number of at least 25 breeding pairs per colony.
2. In order to obtain standardization, three methods of population counts and special terms are described and discused from the point of their applicability in the field.
3. The average percentage rate between the number of breeding poirs and the maximum number of burrows present as a rule amounts to less than 100 % at the major colony or population level. This rate is governed by pair-formation activities: unmated males on an average excavate 1 - 3 holes beforean unmated femaledecides in favour of one of the holes. Pair/burrow rates ("P/B-values") will roughly serve to estimate the number of pairs present at colony or population level.

CP: Kuhnen uppger ett genomsnittligt par-/hålförhållande på 41.8 ± 0.7 % när antalet hål, minst 5 cm djupa, räknats mellan mitten på juli och början av september. För p/h-kvoten uppställer han ekvationen: p(%) = 16 + 84 e-0.57 log(h).

Mead, C. J. (1979): Colony fidelity and interchange in the Sand Martin. Bird Study 26: 99 - 106.

Because of the transient nature of most colony sites, breeding Sand Martins may be compelled to move as former nesting sites deteriorate. This study found that about 90 % settled within 10 km, with the longest displacements by first-summer birds and females.

Mead, C. J. (1979): Mortality and causes of death in British Sand Martins. Bird Study 26: 107 - 112.

First-summer Sand Martins are more prone to accidental deaths (e.g. traffic) than older birds, but most of the annual mortality occurs outside Britain. First-year birds suffer 77 % losses, while mean annual adult mortality is 65 %.

Mead, C. J. & J. D. Harrison (1979): Sand Martin movements within Britain and Ireland. Bird Study 26: 73 - 86.

The main autumn movements through Britain are oriented S-SSE for a short English Channel crossing. Adults move more directly than juveniles, and the latter have a marked exploratory phase of post-fledging dispersal. In the spring, first-year birds arrive back later than older individuals.

Mead, C. J. & G. R. M. Pepler (1975): Birds and other animals at Sand Martin colonies. British Birds 68: 89 - 99.

During several hundred visits to colonies of Sand Martins for ringing purposes in the 1960's, 16 other species of birds were discovered nesting in Sand Martin burrows. Three species - Starling Sturnus vulgaris, House Sparrow Passer domesticus and Tree Sparrow Passer montanus - were particularly often encountered using unmodified burrows, but several others utilised only eroded, enlarged or relict holes. (...)
As well as these nesting associations, predation on Sand Martins (or scavenging) at colonies by six species of raptors, three owls and five corvids, as well as by Black-headed Gulls Larus ridibundus and six or seven different mammals, is also described. (...) Sand Martin colonies in clean, vertical sand-faces cannot be reached by mammalian predators, but raptors may take quite a lot of birds at some colonies; Hobbies Falco subbuteo, at some sites in southern England, could well take hundreds of birds from a single colony each year. Nevertheless, such predation is considered to be almost insignificant in controlling the total population.

Morgan, R. A. (1979): Sand Martin record cards. Bird Study 26: 129 - 132.

Sand Martin tunnels are usually between 1 - 2 ft (30 - 60 cm) long, making nest observation difficult; hence information on the breeding biology is scarce. In quarries 137 nests lay on average 3.9 metres above quarry floor, at rivers 119 nests 1.8 metres above ground. Mean clutch size in Northern Britain (n = 23) was 5.00 eggs, in Southern Britain (n = 33) 4.64 eggs, mean brood size in Northern Britain (n = 57) 3.58 and in Southern Britain (n = 85) 3.42 young.

Nakano, D., Akasaka, T., Kohzu, A. & F. Nakamura (2007): Food sources of Sand Martins Riparia riparia during their breeding season: insights from stable-isotope analysis. Bird Study 54: 142 - 144.


Oelke, H. (1968): Die Uferschwalbe (Riparia riparia) in den Bundesländern Niedersachsen und Bremen. Vogelwelt Beiheft 2: 39 - 46.

1. The first count of Bank Swallows (Riparia riparia) breeding on the area, about 18,700 square miles of the German states Lower Saxony and Bremen, showed, in 1964, approx. 450 colonies with about 22,000 burrows present and 14,400 burrows ocupied.
2. Information is presented on the size and distribution of colonies. More or less natural distribution barriers are to be found in the marshy lowlands along the North Sea coast, in the hillside country and mountains that are more than 450 - 550 feet above sea level, and on the pleistocene and periglacial outwash plains.
3. 97 % of the colonies lie in gravel pits which themselves are bound to water areas, meadows and pastures, to the slopes of higher glacial deposits, especially along the terminal moraines and the wider floodplains, and to the neighbourhood of urban and industrial districts. Only 3 % of the colonies are along stream banks, and they are mostly restricted to the midland and southern parts of Lower Saxony. Some different nesting sites are described.

CP: Later on, this census is criticized by Kuhnen for using a too high estimate of the pair : hole ratio. Note that Sieber (1982) uses Kuhnen's estimate.

Sieber, O. (1980): Kausale und funktionale Aspekte der Verteilung von Uferschwalbenbruten (Riparia riparia L.). Z. Tierpsychol. 252: 19 - 56.

For breeding, sand martins dig burrows in sandy cliffs. The distribution of burrows and broods is non-random in different respects. The study deals with proximate factors responsible for this feature and with the question, whether differences in breeding success are correlated with differences in the distribution of burrows and broods.
A series of field experiments shows that characteristics of the cliff (upper and/or lower limit, existing burrows, ledges) and of the conspecifics (social attraction, defence of burrows) influence the birds' selection of a burrow-site and that site-attachment is also imvolved.
Birds in the highest burrows suffer less predation by a beech marten; the breeding success is correlated with the length of the burrows and with the synchronization of broods in the sub-colonies.

CP: Birds in the highest burrows are excavated from behind by Badgers in Sweden, the high positions are not necessarily safe. Synchronization is often pulverized by weather and predation in NW Europe, still Sand Martins may breed with extreme success. Breeding success in active gravel-pits seems to be strangely indifferent to colony position of nest(s) and to synchronization - if the weather is OK.

Sieber, O. (1982): Bestand und Verbreitung der Uferschwalbe (Riparia riparia) 1980 in der Schweiz. Orn. Beob. 79: 25-38.

(...)More than 95 % of over 1000 (Swiss gravel-) pits were visited between August 1st and 25th 1980, and a great number of them classified according to their suitability for Sand Martins. In the existing colonies the burrows were counted, and the number of breeding pairs was calculated according to the formula of Kuhnen (1975/78). In all, 123 colonies active in 1980 were found, almost half of them in the cantons Berne, Zurich and Fribourg. 98 % of the colonies lay in gravel pits, the greater part of which (80 %) are still being exploited. According to a rough classification about two fifths of the pits were suitable for colonization, but only a bare third of these actually was colonized. 11,240 burrows were counted in the active colonies, which gives us an estimated breeding population of 4,600 pairs. Small colonies with less than 25 pairs were the most frequent but harboured only 16 % of all breeding pairs. Roughly 3 fifths of all pairs lived in big (50 - 100 p.) and very big (over 100 p.) colonies, which together amounted to only a quarter of all colonies. The comparison with colonization in 1979 showed a colony-interchange rate of at least 15 %. Compared to the population of 1960 (Gattiker & Godel 1962 - "Die Brutvögel der Schweiz", Aarau), we found a reduction of 37 % in the number of colonies and as much in the number of burrows. The great difference especially in the number of colonies indicates a decrease in population in the last 20 years. Possible reasons for this and precautionary measures are discussed.

Svensson, S. (1986): Number of pairs, timing of egg-laying and clutch-size in a subalpine Sand Martin Riparia riparia colony, 1968-1985. Orn. Scand. 17: 221 - 229.

A Sand Martin colony in the subalpine (subarctic) birch belt at Ammarnäs, Swedish Lapland (65șN, 590 m a.s.l.), was studied from 1968 through 1985 (excl. 1970-1971). Colony size varied between 8 (1985) and 80 (1975) pairs, and the colony was deserted completely during egg-laying in 1979. Start of egg-laying varied from 3 June (1984) to 28 June (1982), and most often took place between 10 and 20 June. The start of laying was closely correlated with the date when 50 % of the ground was snow-free. This date was about one month before start of egg-laying and before arrival of the Sand Martins. There was a much weaker correlation between start of egg-laying and temperature in May and early June, indicating that the length of the snow-free period before arrival was more important. Temperature after arrival, however, modified the effects of the general advancement of spring. There was a critical temperature range (mean temperature of 5-7șC or maximum temperature of 10-12șC) below which temperatures deterred onset of laying. A temperature below this range after some pairs had started laying deterred new pairs from starting. Abundance of flying insects rather than temperature as such is likely to be the critical factor determining the start of laying, but there are no data on insect abundance during the early stages of breeding. The seasonal decline of clutch size was 0.2 eggs week-1 within years, but less between years with different median dates of laying.

Szép, T. (1995): Relationship between West African rainfall and the survival of the Central European adult Sand Martin Riparia riparia population. Ibis 137: 162 - 168.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of Sahelian rainfall on the Central European Sand Martin population for the period 1986-1992. The studied population breeds along the river Tisza in Hungary and is one of the largest in Central Europe. The changes in the population size did not show a significant relationship to Sahelian rainfall but a large decrease in 1991 coincided with the drought in three Sahelian areas. The survival rates of adults had a significant relationship to the rainfall of the Southern Sahel but not to the other two studied areas (Northern Sahel, Central Sudan). (...) The analysis showed a significant difference in the survival rates of the sexes, with that of the female being lower. (...)

Thurnheer, S. (1988): Zur Situation der Uferschwalbe Riparia riparia im Kanton Zürich, 1983-1987. Orn. Beob.: 173 - 174.

(transl.)In contrast to the Sand Martin populations of the cantons Bern, Freiburg and Solothurn, the population of the canton Zürich shows no extreme fluctuations during the last five years. In the cantons mentioned there was a decline of appr. 50 % (O. Sieber in litt.) while the number of burrows in Zürich only decreased by 14 %.
The estimated number of pairs was 2229 in 1968, 672 in 1983, 608 in 1984, 658 in 1985, 712 in 1986 and 745 in 1987. Out of 30 colonies from 1968 8 existed still in 1987 and had an estimated number of 593 pairs.

Turner, A. K & D. M. Bryant (1979): Growth of nestling Sand Martins. Bird Study 26: 117 - 122.

Nestling Sand Martins are heaviest at 12 days old (on average), but then lose weight. Rapid early growth of the tarsi enables nestlings to move along the burrow towards incoming parents. The nestling period averages 22.3 days, and the young are3 dependent on their parents for a further 4 - 5 days after fledging.

Turner, A. K (1982): Timing of laying by Swallows (Hirundo rustica) and Sand Martins (Riparia riparia). J. An. Ecol. 51: 29 - 46.


Waugh, D. R. (1979): The diet of Sand Martins during the breeding season. Bird Study 26: 123 - 128.

This study of insect remains in faeces found no particular selection for insects associated with water. Diptera and aphids were the more important prey groups for Sand Martins. There was evidence for differences in feeding ecology between British hirundines, based on prey size.

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    Listan innehåller 32 referenser 10.2.07.