The House Martin is one of the iconic birds of summer. They build their nests below roofs, so they will not be nesting at Druridge Pools, but in the surrounding farm buildings. However, they feed at Druridge, both over the pools, and over the dunes.

The Sand Martin is a similar size and shape to the House Martin, but has a dark collar and is more of a brown colour, lacking the House Martin's blue sheen. One other major difference is that the House Martin has a white rump at the top of its tail, which you can see in the second two photos. Both have short tails compared with the swallow (in the forth photo)