When we moved into our farmhouse a few years ago in April we were greeted by so many swallows swooping in and out of the barns, coming out of doorways you felt like one might just fly straight into your eye if you weren’t careful.
There were (and are) nests hung from every beam in every barn, beautifully wrought creations made of mud, if you're lucky you might spot baby barn swallows peering over the edge, beaks agape waiting for mum or dad to land some food in their beaks.
That first year in our farmhouse, as the seasons turned to autumn the swallows lined up and departed for their winter feeding grounds, we realised how much we missed their joyful flight across our yard. Now every April we eagerly anticipate their return, delight in watching them fly at breakneck speed past your ear as they aim themselves perfectly through old round windows. I love watching them all lined up on an old telephone wire in the morning while I brush my teeth, my imagination wandering to where their other home is and if there are families there that await their return as we await it here.
Alongside our now annual tradition to go and watch the incredible starling murmurations on Avalon Marshes (a must if you have never been) and taking part in the 'Swan cycle' with the incredible Sacha Dench last summer, having a migratory species have one of its homes in my home has made the reality of migration feel even more real.
As a result over the last couple of years, Alice and I have had more and more conversations about bird migration which naturally led to the myths surrounding storks and babies as we talked about our relationship to birds. One day a conversation with my younger brother sparked the very early stages of this collection because of the picture it painted in my mind. He told me that if you stand at the top of the Empire state building in New York, you are in the thick of the avian motorways or 'flyways' where birds migrate. These flyways which are between 500 and 2000 feet up are where tiny birds, large birds, bats and insects take to the skies to travel between their summer and winter homes.
These bird ‘motorways’ in the sky are mostly out of sight for humans yet the activity they contain is immensely fascinating and immensely important for our world’s ecosystems. We have been lucky enough to interview Sacha Dench AKA the Human Swan for our Space Above the Ground collection where we learnt about her vital work researching and building awareness for the issues facing migratory birds. We'd highly recommend following her work with Conservation without Borders if you don't already
Migratory species are vulnerable to a wide range of threats, both climate-related and non-climate related, as they move between countries and ecosystems on a seasonal basis. The inherent movement in their lives exposes them to the impacts of climate change at multiple locations along their migration route with rising temperatures changing their routes and habits.
Already battling strong winds, seasonal changes and food availability on their long migratory routes covering vast distances, birds are now sadly struggling with habitat loss as well as large man made constructions such as power lines and reflective skyscrapers which become collision hazards in their way.
Due to birds sensitivity to changes in our environment they have become early warning signs of different threats to habitat quality, pollution, biodiversity and emerging diseases and particularly of climate change as they shift the range and timing of their migrations in relation to climate change. This means that studies on their migration are offering lots of insights and data on the impact of climate change.
This year we have seen first hand the impacts of our changing climate on the swallows in our yard. During the recent heatwave and somewhat ironically as we were photographing some new pieces to accompany our Secret Skies collection later in the year, we came across 5 or 6 fledgling swallows down on the ground in the space of 24 hours. They had mostly come out of the same nest, which was very high up directly under the tin roof of the tallest barn in our yard. We assumed that the nests proximity to the metal roof had made it more vulnerable to the heat as the other nests around the yard which were under wooden floors not tin roofs all seemed to keep their babies within them. We tried out best to look after the fledglings but sadly only one of them survived which was very heartbreaking. Despite the devastation we all felt at losing them it was an absolutely humbling thing to hold a tiny bird that can fly all the way to Africa and I hope galvanising for all of us to do what we can to protect them and the habitats they need.
In good news for another much larger migratory bird, the White Stork is slowly making a successful return to the UK after amazing rewilding and conservation initiatives. At Knepp Estate in West Sussex, 2020 marked the first White Storks hatching in the country for over 600 years, with reports showing many joined migratory continental routes in winter.
Their reintroduction to the UK has a positive domino effect, their huge stick nests providing secondary habitats for smaller birds while their natural foraging clears out insect pests and small mammals, benefiting the ecosystem.
We hope in some small way that this new Secret Skies collection can engage people in understanding how connected our world is and just how vulnerable migratory species are to changes in habitat and weather systems.
