We have had the wonderful pleasure of dealing with and observing an abundance of wildlife over the last almost eight years. Our last house was sandwiched between farmland to the back and natural water to the front as is this house. However, this house is a bit more rural so we get even more wildlife visits. When we moved to our last house we noticed swallows building nests under our dock. According to our neighbour at the time, legend has it that a swallow's nest should never be removed as swallows bring good luck.
As it happens, unless nest is causing a structural or safety issue we would not remove it. The only time the swallows were a problem was when they were nesting. Swallows are very, very territorial and surprisingly testy for such small birds. They dive for the head when threatened. They are a bit of a pain at the marina as well, perching over boats leaving their calling cards. We have a couple of plastic owls that help the problem somewhat but they still manage to mess up our boat cover.
I heard quite the racket outside. Upon investigation I saw a large number of swallows swarming and they obviously were not happy. Back in February when the ice gave way there was a fair amount of dock damage. It took out four of our neighbour's spiles, three of which had been jointed teepee style in the water, and more than likely one of the swallows' nesting sites along with their missing dock spile. The next doct over didn't lose spiles but is badly twisted and I would hazzard a guess any nests that were there are long gone. The poor swallows were looking for their nests!
Happy Gardening!
Garden Gnome
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