The swifts are back in town

..........and suddenly they are here! 
            We have been seeing a few swifts over the house over the last ten days or so but on Monday they seemed to be lingering and that evening as if by magic two appeared on camera in one of our two nesting sites on the house. This is most likely to be the pair that nested here last year and raised three youngsters as swifts are very loyal to nest sites and will return if they can year after year. 
            What is always staggering is that they will have been on the wing continuously since leaving our house in early August 2019 and all this time they will have kept intact somewhere a memory of how to find their way back. They will now will feed up to rebuild their strength after the long journey and with luck start making a family in about ten days time. 
              There is a camera set up in the nest cavity so we can watch them on tv

one of our returners settling in

to help them make a nest I provide them with a simple cup shape made of cardboard packaging

                We have two nests on our house, one is in a cavity in the brickwork which we think is a ventilation gap and this is to where this first pair have just returned. Its a small space but they have managed to raise young here for at least ten years. The other nest is in a rather posh fibre glass box made by a company called IMPECKABLE in Wrexham. Last year it was used for the first time by a pair  to raise two young. The adults arrived unusually late and laid their first egg in early June. They have not returned yet this year but it is still early days and it is known that swifts migrate in waves so hopefully they will fetch up soon enough, if not then perhaps with a little encouragement, another pair will move in.

              Swifts nest in colonies so I have a small loudspeaker set up on the outside of the house and can play swift calls to try and attract passing birds. This helps convince them that lots of others are nesting and thus its a good place to be.

our red nest box with a swift leaving in 2019, note the small loudspeaker underneath

                  Swifts numbers are in steep decline so providing nest boxes can make a big difference. They suffer from our obsession with tidiness and the blocking up of holes in roofs and cavities in buildings. With luck and a good supply of insects swifts will do well this summer and, fingers crossed we will once again have two pairs living with us as very welcome guests.

(Last year I put together a small book about swifts to go with an exhibition of the same name, called the Wind Rippers, containing my photos and extracts from a variety of sources, historical and modern, about encounters with these wonderful birds. Its a soft back book, 90 pages in colour, self published in a small edition.  Copies cost £10.75 inc. P and P.   If you would like a copy please email me on tonswifts@btinternet.com)