I’ve seen Swifts on an unbroken run of 84 days this year since 1 May (and on one early date of 19 April). All of those days, bar one last week when we were away in Scotland, were in the skies above our home.
I am pretty sure that this has been a very good year for Swifts locally. There have been evening parties of 30+ birds screaming in the east Northants skies quite regularly and those have been rare in recent years.
I’ve paid more attention to Swifts (and clouds) than usual this year; I’ve looked at them both from both sides now, from up and down and still somehow, it’s their illusions I recall…
I expect to get to 100 on my unbroken run of Swift days but it would be an unusual August which provided a Swift/day in from these skies. But there may be a few in September.
Swifts partly define summer – whatever the weather.
Ten years ago to the day (or actually, the night) a Swift was tagged with a geolocator at Fowlmere, Cambs and headed south spending 26-28 July (the equivalent of Sunday-Tuesday) in central Spain and by 1 August (the equivalent of a week on Saturday) was on the borders of Mauretania and Senegal (read more of the BTo work here and here). So, look up – the small screaming bird high in the sky may be in West Africa at the end of next week. That’s not hanging about. They’re swift, Swifts, you know.
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Seven arrived in our village, as we were sat out the front on VE day,
and that’s the most anyone had seen until last Friday.
I was watering the allotment about 9pm, suddenly at least sixteen were screaming up and down the high street.
They reckon that immatures visit prospective nest sites, so hopefully
we will see an increase over the next few years.
I agree Mark, it seems to have been a good year. The colony on my house has gone from 12 to 14 pairs. My next door neighbour from 6 to 12 pairs! My local church has gone from 11 to 12 pairs, 10 breeders raised 20 chicks. St Mary’s St Neots now has 40 of the 60 nest boxes in the belfry occupied by Swifts – that’s more than Lack’s tower! A project we did in Cambridge with the local council 10 years ago now has at least 32 pairs in 71 nest boxes. Another one has at least 18 pairs in 50 boxes – I could go on … it has been a good year.
They have already declined in our immediate area in mid Wales I’ve not seen one on the daily walk since Monday when I saw three. The maximum count was about a month ago on a drizzly day when there were 42 low over the R, Severn with lots of martins (both species).
Swifts have declined by 57% in the last 20-25 years mainly due to the blocking up of their nest sites when older properties are renovated. Fortunately there’s a growing number of local swift groups (93 and counting) that have sprung up across the country making swifts the bird with the most local support in the UK. Most groups are independent of NGOs and many have shown great energy and initiative in their work to study and protect these remarkable birds. To join a local group near you go to the Action for Swifts blog and click on the map under ‘Swift Local Network’.
Despite the welcome upsurge in interest in Swifts much more will need to be done if we are to save this iconic bird which lives both in the heart of towns and cities (often in the poorest and most wildlife-deprived communities) but also in tiny rural villages.
If you don’t fancy joining a group the easiest way to help is to install some nest boxes…check out the shopping page on Swift-Conservation’s website.
That’s great if they’re doing well. They must have become much more numerous in historic times than they were in pre-history though, as humans provided so many extra nest sites.
Perhaps they used to nest in the colossal hollow trees we must have had thousands of years ago?
Interesting to speculate. If the island was covered in natural forest and scrub, and the trees were of all ages including broken, cracked and split,
dead and dying, then I wonder if replacing this landscape with buildings and open fields really would be of advantage to swifts.
After 5 years of trying I have my first pair of swiftlets in a box on my 1980s house thanks to the information from swift conservation and action for swifts. We only have around 30 pairs here on Kingsteignton in Devon when it should be far higher. I was in Beverly last year and was met by the scream of swifts as I left my lodgings. It made me realise how many have gone through the modern building techniques where the nooks and crannies they need in the roofs have been lost. So hopefully more people and building companies will put up and install boxes to give these true masters of the air a chance to recover their population and so that we can enjoy their aerobatic displays during the summer.
Thank you for this lovely article. Yes our colony at the Brighton General Hospitsl on the old buildings has increased nests too. We counted 24 nests this year. With 3 more of the Ecosurv swift bricks being nested in for the first time.
I have also noticed that their behaviour has perhaps been more routine through the season too around nest visit patterns and their afternoon siesta period too. During poor weather I guess they may be forced to be less flexible with their feeding patterns and behaviour generally each day. I had a low flypast of 60 around my head on Tuesday evening before they left. There will be few “stragglers” this year – they have had a great year!!!!
I would say Swifts are doing okay, or at least not declining, in my locality (NE England) but Swallows and Martins have dropped off hugely in the last 3 or 4 years. Swifts I love to watch most nice evenings until semi-darkness, when they seem to handover to the Bats (much lower of course) in aerial duties above the garden. I always shudder to think how much I miss these evenings during the winter.
When you say it’s been a good year for swifts I would agree up to a certain point. Yes there are definitely more adults birds around this summer. Probably as a direct result of the wonderful summer in 2018 when lots of chicks fledged. This year unfortunately just as the eggs hatched in June the weather changed. Here in the West Country it’s been particularly poor. Often very wet and windy which has resulted in a lack of flying insects just when the chicks needed them most. Broods of three have been particularly hard hit. I’ve lost 5 chicks this season that starved to death plus I had to foster another 6 chicks that were abandoned by their parents. In my colony it’s been the worst year in the last decade for chick mortality.
We had all on with a bloody House Sparrow fledgling, well done.
Thank you, that’s a lovely blog.
Still enjoying the swifts, before friutlessly trying to see comet Neowise. No further chance for 6,800yrs apparently.
Swifts seem to bedoing well here near Northampton, they arrived on time in May and parties of anything from 10 increasing to over 40 seen overhead regularly as summer has gone on. Weare near the river and lakes so I guess that helps. Builders put my swift box up but there has been scaffolding all round it for two months so fungers crossed for nesting next summer.
Hi but up to new swift box’s this year playing Swifts calls had a few pair’s of Swifts flying around my house over the lockdown I have seen a lot of Swifts flying around two new pairs had nested just down the bottom of my road may get a pair of Swifts next year
It is great to see all the responses to your article Mark and shows how Swifts are close to our hearts. Here in Calderdale my perception is that there are good numbers of Swifts this year too. I have seen 30+ groups in at least 3 locations. I think there is a definite shortage of nest sights locally though.