As we begin the countdown to this year’s swift season a brief look back on last year. Our season is all recorded in my blog archives for 2023, but in summary it was a poor year on several fronts. Firstly difficult return migration conditions saw a very staggered arrival of last year’s breeding birds and first time breeders. This saw many birds sitting in boxes waiting for mates to return- after waiting days or even weeks some attracted new mates. I can say with confidence that none of my 2022 breeders repaired with the same mates in 2023 and we ended up a pair down on 2022. The breeding season was ok but only just. Egg laying time was very cold and none laid more than two eggs. After that the season proved the worst I can remember for aerial activity. Screaming parties were absent on many days and prospecting activity was also scarce. Will 2024 bring a recovery I wonder? I am of course reporting my own observations from this area and different regions will have different reports, but here it was one of the poorest prospecting activity years I can remember.
Interestingly amongst friends in our Northern Swift Group we saw huge variation in success and activity. To the east of the Pennines the start of the season was very cold with wind off the cold North Sea. To the west of the Pennines skies were clear and the weather was often warm and sunny. This seemed to have big effect on breeding and particularly on prospecting. Friends to the west saw some substantial colony increases while to the east we struggled to see any prospecting activity at all.
Swift Events 2023
On a personal note the poor swift season was made up for by some real swift event highlights. In June Mark Cocker launched his brilliant book One Midsummer’s Day in Stratford upon Avon. He invited his friend Charles Foster author of The Screaming Sky to discuss swifts with him on stage at King Edward’s School. Both invited their book cover artists- myself (The Screaming Sky cover) and Alison Ingram (Midsummer’s Day cover) to join them. It was a lovely, well attended evening of swift (and so much more) waffle. The following day I ran a swift sketching workshop in the town.
Global Birdfair at Rutland Water was an opportunity as usual to talk to large numbers of visitors about swift conservation.
In November 2023 I was awarded the Birdscapes Art for Conservation Award at the Society of Wildlife Artists 60th annual exhibition at the Mall Galleries. This completely unexpected surprise was in recognition of the way I have used my art to educate and inspire people with my swift artwork. A real honour and my swift work will continue at the same pace!
With his enthusiastic engagement with the public by means of talks; his invitation to conferences where he has been asked to attend as something of an expert; his answering enquiries about practical issues around provision of nest sites; and with the use of his art to help raise funds to support relevant conservation organisations; this artist has done a great deal to try and help counter the decline in UK breeding numbers of a particular bird species.Above all, in studying his own colony, he has amassed a great deal of knowledge about the behaviour and biology of these birds. He has translated this knowledge and observations into: a sell-out book, a plethora of sketches, a multitude of studies and a body of beautiful and evocative paintings.The bird is the Swift, and the artist, who is an outstanding and deserving winner of this year’s ‘Conservation through Art’ Award, is Jonathan Pomroy.”
Steve and Liz Harris, Birdscapes Gallery
On 11th November I talked about attracting house martins alongside swifts at the Swifts Local Network Conference in Oxford. This was a very inspiring networking event with some brilliant speakers. A chance to catch up with many swifters from many regions of the UK.
Attracting swifts to nest- some personal observations
I should stress that these are personal observations and others will have different experiences, but at three locations my observations and results have been broadly similar. They arise from colonies started on houses we have moved to in Westwood, Wiltshire and Ampleforth and Gilling East in North Yorkshire. We have managed to attract swifts at all three houses, all within two years of moving in. There are no guarantees when trying for swifts, but by trying we are all contributing to a huge amount of collective knowledge online which surpasses even the best published monographs, so stick with it and record your observations for the benefit of others and swifts!
I am often contacted by people worrying that they are not playing calls frequently enough or loud enough and my experience shows that you can attract swifts by playing calls for very limited periods at relatively low volume. This is important when considering neighbours, but frankly I really dislike swift call recordings! There is plenty of room still for experimentation with calls and with different nest box designs- we are all still learning!
A brief history of our swift colony in Gilling East
2018– calls first played frequent prospecting. On 23rd July first swift enters a box luring a mate in on July 25th. They stay for a few days before migrating to Africa but don’t roost in the box at night.
2019- our first breeding pair starts breeding in late June fledging two chicks on September 1st.
2020- the same pair returns and breed, fledging young on 31st July. Plenty of prospecting but no second pair this year.
2021- the original breeding pair returns. They are joined by another pair on 9th June which fledge young in late August. In addition a third pair occupies another box 8th July and they build a nest.
2022- all 2021 pairs return between 9th-16th May- they all laid eggs at the end of May and fledged eight young between them at the end of July. A fourth pair occupied a box on 21st May- there is no camera in this box, but I know that one chick died at about 10 days old. The other chick fledged in late August.
2023- a poor year and we ended up back down to three pairs. None of last year’s pairs were reunited and no birds laid more than two eggs. A year memorable for its lack of aerial ‘screaming’ activity and prospecting activity.
So after first attempting to attract swifts in 2018 we had four breeding pairs in 2022 but sadly were back down to three pairs in 2023.
Attracting swifts
I have always used front (or side) entrance ‘shoe box’ sized swift boxes and uptake has always been quick- within two seasons. Where eaves are on the lower side (two of our houses have had eaves lower than 4.5m) I think a front entrance box enables departing swifts to keep more height as they can push horizontally out with their feet and don’t have to make the adjustments in flight required when dropping straight down. Also front entrance allows the birds to survey more area before they depart. Bottom entrance boxes are a well proven design, but as an artist front entrance boxes give me a better view of the adult swifts as they emerge and enable me to more easily sketch the young as they peer from the entrance in the days before they fledge. Each year I sketch the face markings of adult swifts using a scope, which enables me to identify some individuals. I don’t think a different design of nest box could have attracted swifts any quicker.
At each new house, after the first pair has been attracted we have gained on average about one additional pair each year. It is clear that some prospecting swifts learn to recognise a type of nest site based on observing the first nest box pair. Once this happens boxes on nearby houses can be recognised and occupied even if calls are not played. This happened back in 2003 when a friend put up boxes about 300m away from our house and didn’t play calls; he had swifts entering within days of putting the boxes up. Here, last year swifts checked similar boxes to ours about 100m away with no calls played- hopefully they will occupy this year. In Helmsley where I run Helmsley Swifts we have found boxes occupied despite calls not being played, but Helmsley is a blessed with a very healthy swift population.
I always block entrance holes up until mid April to prevent tree sparrows from ramming them full of nest material, but keep a keen look out for swifts from mid April. We once had a swift back in a nest site in Ampleforth on 16th April, though it had to wait two weeks for the next bird to arrive at the colony! Swift sightings are not uncommon from mid April and though these early birds are very much the ‘tip of the iceberg’ it pays to be vigilant if you have blocked your nest boxes, just in case one of them belongs to your colony. Here is an extract from my diaries in 2012.
“In 2012 on 20th April, a foul wet and windy afternoon I was amazed to see a swift flying at one of our blocked up nest boxes. In near gale force wind and heavy rain I raced up the ladder and took out the bung. The swift almost flew into my face and I had to really steady myself at height, but before I had descended it had gone into the box. The things we do for swifts!“
I have many tree sparrow nest boxes, but they do show a preference for swift boxes, often moving to them for their second or third broods when I unblock the entrances in May. This may also apply to house sparrows. Both species of sparrow are red listed so please provide boxes for them too.
At Ampleforth we had swifts nesting under pan tiles and in nest boxes and both nest site types were easy to fill; in my experience swifts make little distinction between boxes and ‘natural’ sites (or different configurations of nest boxes): as long as there is an effective cavity to breed in behind the entrance hole they often find it. Friends in Ampleforth have swifts in front and underneath entrance boxes with no obvious preference, having enticed them from pan tile nest sites when the roof was repaired. In Wiltshire a nest box pair nested right alongside a pair in a hole in the soffit- the soffit pair nested about ten feet inside the loft on insulation material. For me this showed the vast differences in swift nest space selection! There will probably always be an element of mystery as to why swifts ignore some sites and choose others, and why some swifts enter a roof and choose to crawl several metres over loft insulation to a chosen nest site.
The first box to be occupied here in Gilling East had the most difficult (to our eyes) flightpath, particularly when my son’s bedroom window was wide open(see photo above)- again I have watched several successful fledgings from this box so can feel completely satisfied that it is well positioned.
Of the eight swift boxes on this house three occupied boxes are next to each other on the north wall, the second pair nested next door to the first and the third pair nested next door to the second. However this is only one site so I am careful not to draw too many conclusions from this. When our first pair started breeding I did play calls on the other side of the house, but it seems new pairs were more attracted to the sight and sound of a real pair than calls.
A summary of non- breeders in Gilling East
I see two main arrivals of non-breeders. The first (sometimes referred to as the second wave) arrive at the end of May and early June. They are clearly more experienced birds (probably two years old plus) who are more likely to land on entrances first time. Individuals from this wave often latch on to breeding pairs and follow them as a partial albino male at my Ampleforth colony did (see solo prospectors section below). Some of these will pair up and breed later that year (so become breeders) while others may occupy a nest hole but not breed. They often aim at a breeders’ box and perch first time. My second breeding pair did this to the breeders a couple of days before they moved in to a box next door and started to breed. I suspect some also remain non breeders who don’t breed or occupy, but gain more experience around their chosen colony- learning poor weather feeding sites etc. The first three weeks of June here can be very quiet around colonies here as incubating birds come and go and flypasts are at a minimum usually reserved for when birds first leave their nests in the morning and at dusk.
But the youngest non-breeders (we presume from observation) arrive in late June. I can be precise about this. Remarkably in 2020/21/22 here in Gilling East, North Yorkshire they arrived on 23rd June in all three years. What I notice most is a sudden dramatic increase in screaming flypasts and the numbers of birds involved. Also an increase in loud dawn flypasts which makes sense because they don’t have nest sites. Also we see the approach and landing practice (more random prospecting) in abundance from 23rd June on. They tend to leave in the last week of July though this can vary by a week or so either way according to weather.
The arrival of these birds can see repeated fast, screaming flypasts during evenings. On 23rd June 2020 I recorded over a hundred flypasts in the evening. Dozens of flypasts may be performed between 7pm and dusk where in days and weeks before there there were very few. The change the younger birds bring here is dramatic. The other very noticeable change is an increase in birds ascending at dusk to aerial roost.
I wonder if a ‘system’ has evolved so breeders have minimal disturbance from young birds prospecting- especially during incubation and when most tiny chicks are in the nest. Similarly in times of poor weather youngest prospectors leave the colony area giving the adults undisturbed time to raise chicks.
Watching the ‘bangers’ in late June/ July
The behaviour most often referred to as ‘banging’ is more random and involves touching or landing on multiple boxes or below them, under gutters etc. This behaviour is more commonly seen towards the end of June and throughout July and is often referred to as the ‘third wave’. In my view many of these birds will not be persuaded to enter that year because they are not sexually mature. They appear to be practicing approach and landing while probably also scanning for potential cavities. Swifts, although amazing fliers, have to learn manoeuvres in tight spaces. If you watch them you can see they try different approach angles. Eventually more experienced birds learn the most efficient flight path and tend to stick to it.
Can we even prove that this behaviour is prospecting for nest sites, or could it be something else? Perhaps it is largely a social activity where younger birds are joining a colony for the first time, while perhaps seeing potential cavities for the future? This so called ‘third wave’ often mixes with older non-breeding birds in the second wave, so the picture becomes quite confusing, but it is the busiest time of the summer around a swift colony. It is also the time when you can observe the largest gatherings in the evening and see a proportion of birds ascend to sky roost.
When swifts do become sexually mature the ‘switch’ is flicked and they may suddenly enter nest boxes confidently and rapidly. No amount of call playing will persuade them to do so until that ‘maturity switch’ is flicked, however the calls have attracted them to a new potential nesting area which they will probably return to the next year.
My advice is to relax and enjoy third wave ‘banging’ behaviour- it is spectacular behaviour to watch and is very often the beginning of a new colony. Often ‘bangers’ will visit and display intense activity for twenty minutes or so then move on (despite calls playing)- sometimes you can see them move to another location to do the same, here they often prospect at our house then repeat the performance 150m away at the village hall where two pairs nest. This indicates they have not yet chosen a colony to join, let alone a nest site. It is a stage I have observed with every new colony I’ve started and in each case the following year a box was entered. So these days I sit and enjoy watching the ‘bangers’, sketchbook to hand- the ‘bangers’ offer some of the finest views of swifts, especially when they linger on a wall in the open then fall away to fly inches from my face!
Solo prospectors
One more thought on nest site selection, in my opinion a very important one. Consistently the birds to watch have been the solo prospectors (male swifts?). There is no doubt they select quiet times to prospect for nest sites, when groups of ‘bangers’ are not around. They make no sound at all and don’t seem to be influenced by playing calls. At our colony in Ampleforth one such bird was a distinctive aberrant male which silently and alone prospected then entered a nest box three brief times before departing. It didn’t roost and didn’t attract a mate that summer, but it came straight back found a mate and bred in the same box the following spring.
Below- the aberrant male swift at Ampleforth, watched for two years as a non-breeder then for a year as a breeder. Sadly it died during the incubation period during its second breeding season– its mate quickly found another male, laid new eggs and they fledged young late in the same year.
Once the site is entered and selected the swift will return with a mate, sometimes in the following year. The pair will circuit fast with the lead bird showing its mate the nest site often screaming when close to the entrance. After a few fast circuits the lead bird will enter the site hoping the mate will follow. This can happen quickly or the mate can take many attempts to get the approach and landing right. Sometimes the lead bird(male?) in the box will leave, join up with its mate in the air again and repeat the process until she(?) follows in to the nest site. From the gentle bonding calls they make to each other in the air, I assume that the pair is often formed before they first enter the nest site together.
It is possible that all these silent prospectors (as with many other species) are males who select the site then attract a female, but we cannot identify their sex in flight. The aberrant male in Ampleforth presented me with a rare opportunity to identify the sex of the solo prospector, but I could only do this a year later when I saw it mate in the box and then saw its mate lay an egg!
Non-breeding occupants to breeding pair
I have seen two main scenarios where birds first enter nest boxes then breed.
- A pair enter from June onwards and start a nest to be used the following year. They can enter for the first time a few days before most swifts leave and breed the following spring. I put a new nest box up on 20th July 2018, a pair was in on 23rd July 2018 and it was used for breeding in 2019.
- A single bird (male?) enters a box several times in a season but doesn’t roost or attract a mate in. It returns to the box the following spring, attracts a mate and breeds that year.
Some observations on playing calls
At Helmsley Swifts we are seeing nest boxes taken where calls are not played- we used to play calls at two chosen sites in the town as it is impractical to play them at each site and we didn’t want calls playing in every street. Swifts are finding boxes hundreds of metres away from the call sites and indeed only one of the call sites has attracted a nesting pair. We presume this happens readily in Helmsley due to the relatively large swift population. Prospecting swifts probably learn to recognise nest boxes as potential nest sites once they have seen one occupied.
Young prospecting swifts often tour a wide area going from house to house and will see the recurring nest box shape. Sometimes I follow them around as they spend 10-20 mins prospecting each site. Interestingly when they do this calls don’t seem to stall this process- they continue moving from building to building. For example they might spend 20 mins looking at our house with calls playing then move on to another house for a similar amount of time with no calls playing and no nest boxes.
Ampleforth and Helmsley have high populations of swifts which might influence the ease with which nest boxes are found, but Westwood in Wiltshire didn’t and swifts found boxes without calls there.
Most swifts arriving in May are already tied to a nest site. It is very unlikely that these birds will prospect your nest boxes. You can play calls at high volume with birds nearby and they are often completely ignored. There is however a chance that birds whose nest sites have been destroyed over the winter will prospect so it is worth a try. But don’t be despondent if your calls have no reaction even from swifts overhead in May, hopefully towards the end of the month, given warmer weather the first younger prospecting swifts will be here; this is the time when playing calls can really work its magic.
Prospecting times
I have a lot of notes on swift prospecting times between 2002-23 and the morning period has consistently proved to be the most frequent time for prospecting action. In my experience prospecting before 6am is unusual even with calls playing. There might well be a few fast passes from dawn but actual prospecting is rare. Perhaps this is linked to increasing warmth as the sun rises higher in the sky? But from 6am prospecting is more likely to increase, particularly after 7am, then decreasing towards mid morning. Interestingly though, last summer friends in Lancashire had a lot of prospecting from before 5am, but here nothing until well after 6am. So again regions and local colonies may vary.
There is sometimes a prospecting session at lunchtime or at the end of the afternoon on really warm or humid days. There are of course exceptions and I remember a wet morning last summer when prospecting was constant- the temperature was just 14C. Some warm humid days might see prospecting at anytime of day. But generally fine, calm weather is best. Evenings in my experience are best for watching high speed low level fly-pasts- I have seen very few evening ‘banging’ or prospecting sessions at any of our colonies. If you are playing calls and don’t want to disturb neighbours it may help to concentrate calls only in the most effective times- if I was choosing 2 hours playing I would go for 7.30-9.30am.
I have noticed that if you are playing calls and have prospecting swifts in the morning they often return to perform low level, fast flypasts in the evenings even with calls off, particularly later in the evening from an hour or so before twilight. Evenings seem to be social time for swifts and I usually turn the calls off and enjoy the show. A very good sign that swifts will choose your boxes is if your house is the last call of the day- perhaps only two or three fast passes before they fly aloft to roost. At this stage your house might also be first call in the morning too so be prepared to be woken by loud screams at 4.30am!
Remember the youngest prospectors will initially be looking for a colony to join, or a place to start a new colony. This is probably the first step, then of course they have to find a nest site in that colony. In my experience once swifts keep coming back to your house with no calls being played the work of calls is probably done. You can keep on playing but it won’t make a lot of difference. The regular presence of the swifts will bring in others anyway.
Experimenting with playing calls
Many of us are in a position to experiment with swift calls. There is no doubt that calls attract swifts and can attract them to new areas quickly. This is an important conservation tool especially where long term nest sites are on offer. But there is so much more we could experiment with to make playing calls more efficient and more bearable. This can require a bit of courage! The temptation is to play constantly and loudly, but is this effective? Here are a couple of approaches I have tried that I feel work and are worth exploring further.
The first is turning calls off when prospectors arrive. When the swifts come down below eaves leave, turn them off, perhaps ‘burst’ them again briefly after a couple of minutes. I thought it was risky at first but the response was very interesting. They didn’t leave and look elsewhere, but remained curious. Rather than aiming for the site of the calls they were looking for where the calls might have come from. I realise this approach can only applied if you are present when prospecting occurs. But if you are around and swifts are prospecting it is well worth trying.
Another idea that requires even more courage is to stop playing once you have sustained swift interest. I tried this back in 2002 in Wiltshire when all I had was a Sony mega bass cassette player on the ground beneath the nest boxes! They kept coming back when calls were not being played, suggesting that they had great location memory and had formed an attachment to the site. I have a strong feeling that in many cases once swifts have been attracted to calls a few times that could be all that is needed, but it is perfectly understandable that people keep playing them to be sure.
Another approach I have tried is to keep the calls playing at very low volume once swift activity is sustained. I found that reducing the volume to well below natural levels was still effective, possibly more effective, perhaps imitating the sound of birds calling from within a loft? In some cases just a few doses of calls may be enough to sustain interest. So don’t feel you have to ‘pump up’ the volume all the time!
Many are now experimenting with different swift call recordings. I have tried a great variety and certainly noticed some direct responses to very clear single ‘screams’ with prospectors calling back, but that said twenty years ago there was very little choice and the classic repetitive duets seemed perfectly effective- if you could stand the monotony! Perhaps the biggest argument for more mixed calls is that they sound more natural and are less strain on our ears and more importantly your neighbours’ ears! Personally I really dislike hearing recorded calls of any mix, instead preferring to hear the natural call pattern of swifts.
Once I have attracted a first breeding pair I stop playing calls completely and enjoy watching the swifts attract more swifts. It is easy to see swifts join swifts in the air before they descend to eaves level. The presence of house martins if you are lucky enough to have them frequently attracts the attention of prospecting swifts. The feeling when you trying to start a colony and swifts keep returning of their own volition is wonderful. It often means success is imminent. You can be inside the house and suddenly the burst of noise as they scream their arrival, causes you to drop everything and run outside!
Weather affecting non-breeders
The weather can hamper prospecting behaviour, as summer 2023 proved. Younger non-breeders are known to leave colonies in poor weather. In evolutionary terms this probably enables the adults to feed their young undisturbed, with less competition for food and no need to defend nest sites. In a poor summer prospecting time can be severely curtailed. We don’t know where these birds go but there is strong evidence many migrate south, down the east coast and cross the sea to the continent- interestingly we do not see their return passage, probably because they come back high in fine weather? In less severe weather they probably temporarily disappear to feed and roost over local reservoirs or lakes where large gatherings occur. The skies over colonies can be really quiet at these times with only breeders quietly coming and going.
Aerial Territories
Swifts have an aerial territory around a nesting site. With frequent observation you can observe this as birds tend to circle, especially in the evenings around their aerial territory. In the early stages of colony formation birds may circle frequently over your house. Increasingly you may see high speed, low level flypasts with very loud ‘screaming’. We can only speculate as to the reason but these flypasts probably consist of colony members perhaps with prospective colony members as summer progresses. With a new colony you might experience many flypasts before birds have even entered nest sites. In my experience frequent screaming flypasts, especially if they continue with your calls off are a very good sign for future colony development.
Positioning a swift nest box- height
Many people are concerned about positioning a swift box too low. I know of several nest sites in eaves of 2 metres height. These are unusually low but nevertheless the swifts choose to use them. Agile cats could be an issue for the swifts on low approach or departure(Gilbert White wrote about this problem in 18th century!) and at another colony I watched in Hungerford High Street some swifts were killed by cars when they swooped low over the road to access nests 3 metres above the ground. Sometimes swifts are downed by corvids or sparrowhawks as they access nest sites, but this could occur at any height.
A question I am often asked is, will the nest box be too low for a swift to fledge successfully? I have seen many swifts fledge and in each case the fledgling lost less height than a typical adult leaving the nest. Basically the fledglings flap hard from the outset and take a far more level course before rapidly gaining height. So from my own observations I would not be particularly concerned about fledglings losing height, especially when they leave front entrance boxes; the adult birds lose more height and they can adapt to some very low nest sites. I have seen fledglings leave at dusk through tree ‘cluttered’ flight paths where we would not recommend siting boxes and all were successful. To me it is clear they have great spatial awareness from the outset even in near darkness. Furthermore when presented with a clear flight path fledglings often choose to take a flight path over or round what we see as obstacles- perhaps this is a deliberate strategy to avoid predators. I did once see one of my fledglings chased into the gloom by a tawny owl and was left unsure of the outcome.
Even at recommended minimum heights of 4-5 metres and more, adult swifts often take a trajectory that takes them very close to the ground- frequently 1 metre or even less over our lawn when they leave the box. This is clearly a choice as they have the ability to stay higher. The ‘drop’ from the nest, aided by gravity gives the swift quick acceleration which gives it a better chance of evading predators before climbing to a relatively safe altitude. Almost any situation will have its dangers as would a ‘natural’ nest site eg. weaving in and out of trees or cliff face situations. Each potential site should be judged on its own merit.
Moving house after you have attracted swifts
I am often asked what happened to our swift colonies after we moved house. I am pleased to report that in each case the colony has been preserved or added to and furthermore new owners have stayed in touch and reported on the swifts. Of course this might not happen in every situation. However, take the worst case scenario- new owners move in and take down the nest boxes. In the time we have lived there young will have fledged and we know most will have returned to breed at different colonies or found entirely new nest sites (the beginning of new colonies). With luck the displaced birds will find new nest sites in time- we need more research on what happens to displaced swifts but at the moment it is almost impossible to do. We know some injure or exhaust themselves trying to access previous nest sites but many must find new sites somewhere- this might lead to a lost breeding season which would still contribute to a declining population, but we simply don’t know enough about what happens to displaced swifts to accurately predict its contribution to the species’ decline. If swifts don’t find new sites, being long lived birds, there would be thousands of breeding age birds ‘wandering’ the skies aimlessly- there is no evidence for this.
I believe we should be optimistic and attempt to educate the new house owners. In many cases this will encourage the continuation of the colony and better still convert more people to enjoy the presence of swifts and to help protect them. Moving house therefore offers a great opportunity to spread the word.
A final thought
There is now a huge amount of collective knowledge on attracting swifts but there is still much we can learn. When I first started attracting swifts in 2002 there were no local swift groups so I experimented on my own really, using the plans from the late Henry Douglas Home’s superb chapter on swifts in his book The Birdman. He is the man behind the design of the ‘shoe box’ swift box. We know they can nest in smaller spaces and we know they nest in completely open loft spaces too so they can adapt to a huge range of nest sites but it seems to me that the basic ‘shoe box’ sized swift box remains the best compromise, particularly if you want to fit cameras.
Although there is far more advice out there now and great connectivity between swift enthusiasts online I don’t think much has changed for me since those first early efforts- my nest box design, siting and use of calls remains more or less the same today. Seeing a swift fledge (and I have seen many now) remains top of my list of favourite bird sightings perhaps joint top with attracting a swift to a nest box at the start of a new colony. My passion for these birds only increases.
Through the summer of 2024 I will be blogging regular swift and house martin diaries illustrated with my sketches on this website. Do sign up to receive these by email or follow me on X (Twitter) or Facebook where regular updates are posted. If you search through the spring and summer blog archives on this site you will find many observations of swift behaviour inside the nest box and in the air. There is a tab in the side bar Swifts 2021-23 which edits the swift blog entries for these three seasons.
All text and images copyright © Jonathan Pomroy 2024
Swift Conservation and Action for Swifts have websites packed with advice on attracting swifts. Swift Conservation even has a shopping page with many links to nest box suppliers etc.
Swift Conservation Homepage (swift-conservation.org)
http://actionforswifts.blogspot.com/
There are too many swift conservation groups to mention individually. X Twitter is very useful for finding your local group.
Bristol Swifts run by my friends Mark and Jane Glanville is a superbly informative site about swifts, especially on news from their own Bristol colony. Mark keeps a superb blog through the swift season.
Leeds Swifts, fellow Yorkshire swift fans have lots of information about swifts and swift rescue. They keep a superb blog on Facebook throughout the swift nesting season https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=leeds%20swifts
Bolton and Bury Swifts carry out extensive swift(and house martin) conservation work in Lancashire
https://www.boltongreenumbrella.org.uk/view-group?group_id=88
GALLERY– SOME RECENT SWIFT PAINTINGS
The sketches on this page were all made from direct observations of swifts. I have sketched them by our house in flight and using camera footage from the nest boxes. Swifts have captivated me since childhood when I used to watch them nesting at my primary school in Hungerford. Don’t waste any opportunity to watch and listen to these incredible animals this summer. Hold the memories firm in your mind and you will be able to recapture your swift experiences in the darkest days of winter.
Some of my swift sketches are available to buy as originals or prints in my shop. Please see link below
https://jonathanpomroy.bigcartel.com/
All text and images copyright © Jonathan Pomroy 2024
Jonathan Pomroy 