Sewage sludge, the solid by-product of wastewater treatment, is increasingly applied to agricultural land as a soil amendment. However, wastewater treatment plants are not specifically designed to remove trace contaminants, which may accumulate in sludge and subsequently enter ecosystems. Understanding the bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of these contaminants, as well as their effects on wildlife, is therefore essential for evaluating the sustainability of sewage sludge management. To assess the bioaccumulation and trophic transfer of trace elements derived from sewage sludge, we quantified the concentrations of 11 trace elements across a simplified agroecosystem food web, including soil, plants, insects, and barn swallows (Hirundo rustica), comparing farms with and without sludge application. Particular attention was given to barn swallows, which act here as top predators and may serve as bioindicators of contaminant exposure. Potential effects on nestlings were assessed using growth, haematocrit, and telomere dynamics as biomarkers of physiological condition. Multivariate analyses revealed distinct contamination profiles across the four matrices, driven by differences in the distribution of individual contaminants. In addition, patterns of contaminant transfer across trophic levels varied among trace elements. Finally, barn swallow nestlings raised in sludge-amended areas showed no significant differences in growth or telomere shortening compared with those from control areas. However, haematocrit values increased with contamination levels, reflecting either an increase in red blood cell concentration, indicating a systemic inflammatory response, or a reduction in plasma volume due to dehydration, a condition often associated with elevated metal exposure. The limited differences in trace element concentrations and the absence of clear adverse effects between sludge-amended and control areas suggest that sewage sludge application has only minor impacts on the studied agroecosystem. Nevertheless, further research is needed to better understand the ecological consequences of sludge use by investigating additional toxicity endpoints and considering other species as ecological indicators.