News:
Project of the Month February 2026

Barn swallows nowadays lead a life full of threatening hardships and worries about the future.

Once eagerly awaited and joyfully welcomed as ‘harbingers of spring’, it is becoming increasingly impossible for our Barn Swallows to survive: building renovations, extensions and changes of use are continuously destroying their nesting sites inside buildings. Barn Swallow couples who still find a barn with an open entrance and are welcome there are extremely fortunate.

An emergency phone call from a nationally recognised Barn Swallow expert set off alarm bells for us: dozens of Barn Swallow nests that had been in use for decades in a barn in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania were threatened with destruction because the barn was to be sold and converted into a workshop.

That would have been the end of the breeding colony for the 48 pairs of Barn Swallows that nested there last summer – one of the largest Barn Swallow breeding colonies in Germany would have been irretrievably lost! Who would have been at all interested that the Federal Nature Conservation Act not only protects the swallows, but also their nests?

There was only one way to save and protect this unique breeding colony: we had to buy the barn and the land it stood on! Easier said than done, as a property boundary ran right through the middle of the barn building...

So there we were – under enormous time pressure, we had to make a decision to purchase two plots of land with a total area of 1,500 m², convince the two owners of our spontaneously planned swallow protection project, and, in addition to the purchase prices, also cover the high costs of the necessary land division surveys. The sad alternative would have been the presumed destruction of the entire Barn Swallow breeding colony – and that was out of the question for us!

Thanks to your generous donations, we were able to purchase the first plot of land last summer. Who else but you and us together could get such a complex and labour-intensive species conservation project off the ground so quickly and purposefully?

However, we still need around €24,000 to pay for the second plot of land, the separation survey costs and the necessary barn conversion measures to better protect the 48 pairs of Barn Swallows nesting there from rats, martens and raccoons.

Please help us make this “impossible” species conservation project possible: Support us with your project donation – for example, with a contribution of 15, 25 or 50 euros! Your commitment will enable up to 250 Barn Swallow chicks to grow up safely and securely in our swallow barn every year and lead a happy swallow life in the insect-rich surrounding countryside.