The species is typically associated with coastal sites, especially islets. Typically, it is found around cliff-faces and gorges, though in many parts of the range it is also found in urban areas, where it commonly breeds. It forages over many habitats.

In Gibraltar the first clutch is produced from mid-April, peaking late May with second clutches from late July and last fledging mid-October. It lays two to three eggs. It nests in a variety of sites such as caves, cliff faces, niches, eaves, under tiles, holes in palms, and on Gibraltar forcibly vacated fresh nests of House Martins (Delichon urbica). The round nest is made of straw and feathers agglutinated and adhered to the substrate with saliva.

It feeds on insects and spiders.

The species is a medium-distance migrant, wintering in west and Central Africa. It is present in France from early April to mid-November, Gibraltar from late February to October and the Canaries from January to September. It migrates through north-west Africa from late February to early May and August/November (Chantler et al. 2014).

Although the generation length for both EU and Europe regional assessments were calculated using the same methodology, new information arriving after the EU assessments were undertaken gave rise to an update in the generation lengths. This new information was then used for the Europe level assessments giving rise to a difference between the generation lengths used for the EU and Europe regions.

In Europe, the species breeds mainly in Portugal, Spain and Greece, with significant numbers also in Italy, Croatia, Turkey, France and Bulgaria, among others.

Conservation Actions Underway
Bern Convention Appendix II. There are currently no known conservation measures for this species.

Conservation Actions Proposed
No conservation measures are currently required for this species.