house martins raised on fen meadow bugs

It's one of the last remaining Fen meadows in this part of the country, in Moray. I'm not entirely sure what that means for us as Humans, but I know is has lots of water, and I know there's an amazing array of plants. It feels and is abundant, nourishing, brimming with life.

The fen-meadow has developed over seasonally waterlogged, gleyed soils. Much of it is species-rich with a wide range of fen, tall herb and sedge species such as marsh thistle Cirsium palustre, marsh arrow grass Triglochin palustre, water avens Geum rivale, globe flower Trollius europaeus, flea sedge Carex pulicaris and tawny sedge C. hostiana. Fragrant orchid Gymnadenia conopsea, lesser butterfly orchid Platanthera bifolia and grass-of-Parnassus Parnassia palustris also occur. This is the best example of a species-rich fen-meadow in Moray. –– LETHENHILL SITE OF SPECIAL SCIENTIFIC INTEREST, NATURE SCOT 

I'm aware of my neighbour’s garage and the screeches from the eaves. Tons of house Martins dipping in and out of their dirt built nests. They've been here a few months, but I haven't been that aware of them until now. I watch as they dive from the nests and swoop over the fen meadow, gathering, capturing, gorging on bugs and returning back to their nests to feed their brood. They stay in those nets for 23 days.

Eating the bugs gathered by and caught in the air by aiming experts of parents, 23 days of bugs. It makes me wonder, are there House Martins raised on Fen meadow bugs better off, more nourished, bigger, plumper? The Fed Meadow is a site of significant interest, but to these bird parents, is it a site of healthier food? Do these parents know? Can they taste the difference? They traveled far, tasted cuisines of the sky that most birds have not maybe they know that these is the best bugs about.

It makes me think that there must be less variety in the monocultures are Fen meadow eateries, more complex ones, less of a supermarket diet, more like a Whole Foods experience. Then I think about the swallows at the front of the house, eating blue bottles from the backs of conventionally raised cows.

Both raised less than a few meters apart, and yet, their outlook, their diet, their choices, differed to the house Martins. It's so different, much like us, I guess some are the neighbours of Waitrose or Planet Organic others find themselves in Food Deserts, a bus, a car, a hop, skip and a tiresome jump the only way to find nutritional complex food.