Normally our house martins leave for warmer climes by the second week of September at the latest. This year they are still flying around.

Do any of our experts know whether this has any ornithological or meteorological significance ?

Hi Roy we were wondering the same ours all diasppeared on Sunday 18th September ( the normal departure time of Mid September) but a couple of days later half of them came back and are still here.
Could it be an experiment to see is it worth the bother of flying all the way to Africa when life in Carvoeiro is so agreeable.

There seem to be far less than a couple of years ago. The In road used to be very heavily occupied at most places but there were none this year. What's happened to them? I notice that a lot of the storks are remaining as well - must be global warming?

I CANT PUT MY FINGER ON IT, normally they would be on their way to JOHANNESBERG by now,OVER THEIR so to speak. They do have a period where they test the air conditions, HAPPY HOUR its called. Perhaps we should all THINK FOR A MINUTE, to reflect on past behaviour patterns, I did see four birds leave but not more than that as FIVE GET OVER EXCITED and fly back, I am going to buy a plastic copy of one when they leave so THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING THERE TO REMIND ME.Perhaps we should BUILD a database so we can compare year on year?

Very good CM!