House Martin

Listen to example recordings of the main vocalisations of House Martin, provided by xeno-canto contributors.

This species can be found on the following statutory and conservation listings and schedules.

UK Birds of Conservation Concern	Red listed
Species of European Conservation Concern	Least Concern
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (global)	Least Concern
Schedule 1 license required (to disturb)	No
Birds Directive Annex 1	No
Listed on the Annexes of	Bern(III)

The House Martin's loosely colonial nesting habits and its strong association with human settlements mean that it is extraordinarily difficult to monitor. Anecdotal evidence of decline is often unreliable, because demise of a colony may be balanced by single nests or small groups becoming established elsewhere. For these reasons, study areas should be large, covered thoroughly, and ideally randomly selected. A first national survey designed on these principles was undertaken by BTO in 2015 (see here ).

The available long-term data suggest a rapid decline, although the confidence intervals are wide and the BBS's first decade or so showed an increase. However the BBS map of change in relative density between 1994-96 and 2007-09 indicates that there were strong decreases over that period across southern and midland England and in Northern Ireland and increases in northern Britain and parts of the southwest. More recent BBS data confirm that the declines over the period 1995-2018 have mainly occurred in England and that numbers have increased in Scotland and Northern Ireland over the same period. The species was moved from the green to the amber list in 2002, because of moderate decline in the CBC trend for 1974-99, and is listed as of European concern following declines elsewhere in Europe (BirdLife International 2004). A decline has occurred across Europe since 1980 (PECBMS: PECBMS 2020a>).

UK breeding population

-44% decrease (1995–2022)

Breeding House Martins are widespread in Britain and Ireland with the exception of the highest parts of the Scottish Highlands, Shetland, the Outer Hebrides and some exposed parts of the west coasts of Scotland and Ireland. Densities are highest in the eastern half of Ireland. Abundance is especially low in some urban areas, including London, Birmingham, Dublin and Belfast, despite the species’ reliance on buildings for nesting.

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Occupied 10-km squares in UK

No. occupied in breeding season	2670
% occupied in breeding season	88
No. occupied in winter	98
% occupied in winter	3.2

European Distribution Map

European Breeding Bird Atlas 2

Breeding Season Habitats

Most frequent in

Villages

Relative frequency by habitat

Relative occurrence in different habitat types during the breeding season.

House Martin is a summer visitor, arriving through April and May and present until September/October.

View a summary of recoveries in the Online Ringing Report.

Foreign locations of birds ringed or recovered in Britain & Ireland

View number ringed each year in the Online Ringing Report

Maximum Age from Ringing	7 years 1 months 12 days (set in 2002)
Typical Lifespan	2 years with breeding typically at 1 year
Adult Survival	0.41   (Male: 0.458±0.044 Female: 0.362±0.045)
Juvenile Survival	0.145 (in first year)

Wing Length	Adults	110.5±3 | Range 106–115mm, N=6214
	Juveniles	109.5±2.9 | Range 105-114mm, N=2280
	Males	110.6±3.6 | Range 106–115mm, N=1841
	Females	110.3±2.7 | Range 106–115mm, N=1716

Body Weight	Adults	17.8±1.5 | Range 15.5–20.4g, N=4215
	Juveniles	17.2±1.5 | Range 14.7–19.8g, N=1662
	Males	17.8±1.4 | Range 15.6–20.2g, N=1323
	Females	17.9±1.6 | Range 15.4–20.8g, N=1309

Feather measurements and photos on featherbase

Ring size	A
Field Codes	2-letter: HM | 5-letter code: HOUMA | Euring: 10010

For information in another language (where available) click on a linked name

Causes of change

The causes of the decline are currently unclear. A number of causes have been suggested but remain speculative and robust evidence to identify the main driver(s) of population change is lacking.

Further information on causes of change

Analysis of phenological data has found that the arrival date in the UK has advanced, between the 1960s and 2000s, by 16 days (Newson et al. 2016), although it is not currently known if and how this may affect breeding productivity for this species. Winter weather and food resources may be more limiting than conditions during the breeding season: annual survival rates from RAS sites in the UK for 1994-2004 were positively correlated with maximum monthly rainfall in West Africa. Some declines in survival rate are apparent over this period but they do not correspond well to the period of population decline (Robinson et al. 2008).

A number of breeding season factors have also been suggested as potential causes for the decline and for the contrasting trends between the north-west and south-east of the UK, but these are all speculative and robust evidence to identify one or more of these possible causes as a driver of population change is lacking. Previous research found that clutch sizes and the number of second broods varied by latitude and longitude (Moller 1984,Bryant 1975 ), and that breeding success is predominantly affected by foraging conditions (Bryant 1975, 1979,Poulin et al. 2010). Hence it is feasible that factors such as climate change and land use changes could have caused increases in breeding productivity in some parts of the UK and decreases elsewhere, causing the observed geographical variation in trends. However in the absence of demographic data it is not possible to confirm this. Competition with House Sparrow for nest sites has also been found to affect populations at local colonies (Tryjanowski & Kuczynski 1999). However, there is no evidence as yet to show that the overall proportion of usurped nests has changed over time and hence that House Sparrows could be having a population level effect.

Information about conservation actions

The main drivers of the decline for House Martin are not yet clear; hence, it is uncertain which conservation actions are most likely to directly benefit the species. However, it is known that House Martins usually prefer to use existing nests remaining from the previous year and will be more likely to raise two broods if they existing nests (e.g. Piersma 2013). Therefore, wherever possible, homeowners should leave existing nests in place over winter to enable them to be reoccupied the following spring.

Whilst research has not yet confirmed what factors are likely to be driving the decline and has therefore not tested possible solutions, there are some other actions which individuals and organisations can take as a precaution to address some of the potential factors whilst research is ongoing. Artificial nests will sometimes be used by House Martins and can therefore be provided alongside or to replace natural nests, particularly in cases where soffits and/or wall surfaces are replaced with PVC materials as anecdotal observation suggests such nests are more likely to collapse than those built on wood or brick surfaces. Another action which could be considered by site managers is the creation of 'House Martin towers' to provide potential nesting sites for House Martins on protected areas away from buildings. Such towers have been built for both House Martins and Swifts in several European countries.

Warmer, drier conditions as a result of climate change has also been suggested as a possible cause of the decline, and some homeowners have created muddy puddles during times of drought but the efficacy of this has not been tested.

Previous research suggests that breeding success may be predominantly affected by foraging conditions (Bryant 1975 , Bryant 1979; Poulin et al. 2010). Therefore, wider scale policies which aim to ensure habitat in the wider countryside supports invertebrates may also be important, e.g. reducing herbicide and pesticide use and creating natural habitat features.