2012 Swifts

Really excellent news GB, you are doing so much good for your Swifts!  Sadly only seen a couple near me so far & I have no height to offer for nesting but I have been watching the live cams from Poland - what marvellous views, currently 3 out of 4 boxes taken & something I never knew before, looks like they nest in pairs -  Is that correct??  Very sweet & cuddly too!

Thanks Wendy. I know all the advice says that they like to nest high up - but I've seen them fly into a hole in a wall barely 10 feet up, so if you've got a north facing wall where boxes can go up under the eaves, it might be worth a go. But - apparently - you do have to be patient, as it sometimes takes 3-4 years for them to find the sites and then successfully raise young.

I'm hooked on the Polish swift-cam - it's usually the first thing I look at!

And, yes, they do roost together at night. Not so sure how sweet and cuddly they are though - they can be pretty fierce and fight each other and sometimes other birds as well!

Still - I love them!

It did cross my mind to try a box on the highest part but it's east facing so presumably no good, don't have as much height on the north wall ... may try it though as you have mentioned that lower is a possibility & when I do see them they are approaching from that north view, in fact, the first year I was here one flew into my lounge through the double doors (fortunately got out fairly quickly & unscathed) ... that was eight years ago & there were lots of them - never had so many since & I wonder why?

East-facing would probably be fine as well. The main thing with boxes is that they need to be out of the full glare of the sun, as the boxes will get too hot. But as you've seen them to the north, perhaps that's the place to have a go - or both North and East? As they are colony nesters, more than one box would be better.

Sadly, their numbers are declining fast - I've seen suggestions that we're lost about 25% of them in the past 15-20 years. It's thought that the main reason is loss of nest sites, because of people doing up their roofs, installing loft insulation, etc, etc. And new buildings tend to have entirely sealed roofs - so nowhere for swifts to nest (or sparrows or starlings. Apparently, they are extremely loyal to their nest sites, so if they lose them, it's not at all certain that they find a new one. And they don't seem to be terribly adept at finding nest sites, either. Not a bird that's well adapted to the modern world, I'd say!

You may well know about this but there are two great swift websites -

actionforswifts.blogspot.co.uk

and

www.swift-conservation.org

Let us know if you do put up some boxes!

Thanks for those links GB & will certainly put up some boxes this year - must do something positive!  Am going to take down the two Sparrow/Tit ones, one with nestcam, not used as surplus to requirements really as we are inundated with suitable nesting areas here, not sure if you know that I live in a chalk quarry, the walls of which are full of little cracks & crevices & topped with greenery/trees of all kinds plus two huge swathes of Russian vine absolutely seething with Sparrows!  Could utilise the cam in a swift box I suppose!

That's great Wendy! Well worth looking at those websites for further info about boxes, etc, etc. And if you are able to rig up a music player on a timer, which plays swift calls near to where the boxes are, so much the better!

Keep us posted!

Just been looking at those two websites you gave me the links for, mainly at all the different nesting boxes to get some ideas!  A great deal if interesting reading there, will take some inwardly digesting!  Still have all the printed care pages I downloaded last year when I was looking after a grounded bird, it was a fascinating insight into their world & a great success story as I watched it soar away!!

That must have been a great moment - congratulations!

Good luck with the decision making.

It was definitely pretty spectacular GB, far from the norm of garden bird feeding!  My Nephew had found it grounded & caught up in twine which he managed to snip away & then he brought it to me for R&R after we detected no injuries.  Kept it in a cat basket overnight with a towel for it to cling to, wouldn't take any food or water though ... following morning I took it to my Brother's for release from an upstairs window & it soared into the sky - free as a bird!!!