Yesterday the final youngster fledged from box 3 and the adults didn't return to roost last night. So that's our box 3 all finished with for the year. Sad to see them go, but happy that they all survived and hopefully will return next year. The single adult is still feeding the two youngsters in box 1 but it won't be long before they are away too!

Yesterday two of the youngsters from box 3 left. Must have been some time late morning as they were there first thing, peering out of their doorway as usual. So last night there was just one young left in the box to roost with one parent bird. Box 1 are still all present, it will probably be around a week or so before the young are ready to leave. Here is the one remaining swiftlet in box 3 this morning:

 And here are the two youngsters in box 1 this morning:

Box 1 swiftlets are growing fast, here they are looking almost the same size as those in box 3 now.

The just about a week older ones in Box 1 are looking ready to go and have been spending their time doing wing excercises and pushups:

And peering out of the entrance hole:

Here are their three cute little faces looking out of the bottom entrance:

We shall miss them when they're gone!

 The situation today is much the same as the last couple of weeks. Box 3 youngsters are still with us but looking like they could go at any time. Box 1 are still being fed by the lone parent and are doing well now. Here are box 1 this afternoon:

 

And here are Box 3, together with both parents briefly...a full house! 

Some pictures taken this morning of our swiftlets, first box 1:

They're still doing OK. And here are box 3, who are starting to survey the outside world from their entrance hole. Won't be long now before they are away!

Nothing much has changed over the last few days. There has also been little sign of any new swifts prospecting, in fact it's been extremely quiet, with just our own swifts coming in to feed the youngsters briefly and then zooming off again, in fact we hardly see them too. Here are the youngsters in box 1, they don't seem to have put on much growth, although they are starting to lose their downy feathers now:

And here are box 3 with one of the adults, they look almost fully grown now although they're only a week older than box 1, but they still have both parents coming in to feed them:

If we don't get any prospectors in the next few days/weeks I should think there's little hope for next year now that we are down to only one-and-a-half pairs.

Thought you'd like to see some video of our youngsters this morning, whilst the parents are out. First up, Box 3 who are growing really well:

And here are the two in Box 1. Notice the difference in size between the two families, Box 1 are considerably smaller, although being roughly a week younger than those in Box 3. Maybe their growth has slowed a bit as they're only being fed by the one parent now?

Well, it seems that one of the adults in box 1 really has gone missing, and the other adult is carrying on, on it's own. Thank goodness they only had the two young, I think it would have had trouble keeping up with three. We still have a full house in box 3 though, with the youngsters continuing to grow and both parents feeding them. Let's hope one of those doesn't go missing as well....

We were a bit disappointed last night to see that one of the adults in box 1 did not return at dusk to roost. Hoping it was just having a wild night out on the town and will return today! But it's reminiscent of last year's sudden disappearance - the remaining adult carryied on, on it's own, to raise the two youngsters. Box 3 adults were both present last night though.