Screaming for help?

The beautiful sunny weather we've been having has seen me out in my garden even more than usual.

In-between planting out some green beans and thinning the lettuce, it was brilliant to hear the noisy wren from over the fence, the starlings pinging away from a nearby tree, to watch the male blackbird looking after his recently fledged youngster, and screaming above me, swifts chasing their dinner.

Although excited to see swifts zooming around above me, I wasn't so excited to see how few had made the journey back to our shores this year. Where in previous years I would see swifts in double figures, this time I saw just four in a group at any one time.

I'd like to think that some of them just haven't made it back here yet, but I know this isn't likely to be the case - the number of swifts coming back to nest in the UK have been steadily, and steeply, declining for the past 10 years.

However, I've learnt that it isn't all doom and gloom.

By filling in a simple form about the swifts you've seen, the results gathered will help build up a clearer picture of where swifts are nesting, meaning more nest sites can be provided and better protected - a small, but very important way to help these magnificent birds.