Scientific name: Hirundo rustica Linnaeus, 1758
Bird group: Swallows
Field characters. 17-19 cm. Most common swallow. Black upperparts with strong metallic blue gloss, dark brick-red forehead and throat, breast band blackish-blue, white breast, belly and undertail, and greyish white underwings with dark flight feathers. Tail deeply forked with long outer tail feathers, especially so in male. Juvenile like adult, but less glossy, upperparts more brownish-black and throat paler. Flight graceful, wingbeats interspersed with long swoops. Commonly found in flocks and small colonies. On migration and in winter gathers in large roosts, up to several thousands. Migrates alone or in flocks.
Voice. Call 'tswit-tswit'. Song pleasant chittering, often given from perch on electricity wire or in flight, ending in lower trill.
Distribution. Summer visitor. Common, locally declining.
Habitat. Open countrysides with meadows, hedges, near farms, etc. Nests in cowsheds, barns, and porches.
Food. Insects, caught only on the wing. Usually feeds in lower airspace.