Sand Martins naturally build their 80 cm long burrows in sand walls of dynamic rivers. However, since the dynamics of the watercourses have been severely restricted, many such sand walls have disappeared, which also led to a decline in sand martins. In order to promote this, Pro Natura Aargau created a sand embankment for the rare birds in the Chly Rhy conservation area in 2016. Since construction, one side of the sand fill has been cut off every year in March. Over time, wild bees and even a badger inhabited the sand heap, but the longed-for sand martins were a long time coming.

The good news came at the beginning of May 2019: Ambros Ehrensperger, responsible for information and supervision at Chly Rhy, had discovered the first 15 breeding tubes in the sand bed! And just under a month later, 200 tubes could already be counted - a great success!

Source: pronatura-ag.ch/de/rietheim-aue-chly-rhy

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Karin

May 18, 2023

Very exciting how many swallows are breeding in the meantime. It's worth taking your time and watching how they fly very purposefully to "their" cave and disappear into it.

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Me Li 🇨🇭

December 6, 2025

It's always a special experience to watch the sand martins here from spring until late summer. They're so fast in flight, and even faster in their nests. Finding the right entrance to the nest at that speed is a real feat. And I could watch them for hours...

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Elevation 370 m

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Monday 22 December

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-1°C

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Max wind speed: 9.0 km/h

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Take Me There

Location: Rietheim, Bezirk Zurzach, Aargau, Nordwestschweiz, Switzerland

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Observation Tower Chly Rhy Auen

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