A family of house martins has become regular passengers on one of CalMac’s ferry routes after building a nest onboard.
The birds have swapped their more common nesting places under the eaves of buildings for a berth aboard MV Loch Fyne, which operates between Fishnish on Mull and Lochaline on the Morvern peninsula.
A protected species that is on the UK Red List of Conservation Concern, they return to the UK after spending their winters in Africa.
Despite the unusual choice of nesting site, this isn’t the first time house martins have taken up residence on CalMac’s fleet.
Skipper John Cameron said: “The house martins are lovely and are drawing great attention from passengers.
“When the Loch Fyne served Lochaline from 1997 to 2016, we regularly had house martins nesting on board in the aft hydraulic cabinet.
“The Loch Fyne left that route for Mallaig and operated there for nine years. Her replacement vessel, MV Lochinvar, never played host to them, for whatever reason, but when the Loch Fyne came home this year, she once again became a nesting place for these beautiful birds. This time they chose to nest outside our mess room at the bottom of the wheelhouse stairs.”
NatureScot ornithologist Benjy Wilcock added: “This is interesting and unusual behaviour, although not unheard of. There have been a few previous documented cases of house martins taking up residence on ferries in Northern Ireland, Greece and elsewhere in Europe.
“As far as we’re aware, though, this is the only known case of this happening in Scotland. They will often return to the same nesting sites and certainly have been known to return to ferries multiple years in a row."
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He added: “House martins migrate thousands of miles from sub-Saharan Africa to Scotland each year, so perhaps these birds didn’t think much of a few extra miles back and forth each day.
“While it is great for those on board to see this unique sight, all breeding birds are protected, so we’d encourage people to enjoy it from a distance and not disturb their feathered fellow passengers.”
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