A new year for the swifts...will ours return again?

This blog tells the story of our lengthy wait for swifts to take up residence in our nestboxes, if you want to see how we started... and more importantly, how long it took, you can read all about it here: https://cleyswifts.blogspot.com/2016/07/this-blog-chronicles-our-lengthy.html 

So, we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of 'our' swifts and hope that they will arrive on their usual date which is around the 5th May-ish. Two swifts have already been seen over the village as I write today but they're probably just passing through.

During the winter I spent some time making a new box as our old Box 5 was on it's last legs. This time it's made of solid 6 x 1 pine, and totally covered in roofing felt so that hopefully it will have a few more years in it than the previous one. I even made a 'covered' porch for it this time! Getting it up to the eaves was a bit more of a problem as it was so heavy. I managed to get the brackets on the back of it in exactly the same position as the previous box so that we could use the same holes in the wall -  the next problem being to get it up there on a ladder without killing ourselves in the process. Eventually I came up with the idea of a long rope attached to eye hooks in the sides of the box which was then slung over the top of our roof and the box was then hauled up from our flat roof on the other side until it was hanging in postion. Then all my other half had to do was get up the ladder with a screwdriver and fix it in position. Success!

There are other swifts in the village but ours are out on a bit of a limb, being around a quarter mile from the others, so it's more or less a new colony...which is taking quite some time to expand. We live in hope though. We have six boxes mounted on the front of the house, facing north.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even so, they can still get very warm in the summer. We have only had three of the boxes occupied by pairs who have then bred, but all six boxes have had visitors at some stage. All have cameras in them so that we can see what's going on and how many young are being reared and all can be reached from our upstairs windows. We haven't quite worked out how to have multitudinous wires going through our upstairs rooms that wouldn't involve making yet more holes in our ancient walls, so we just put up with them for the few months that the swifts are here.

The newly fitted Box 5 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the winter we put sponges in the entrance holes to stop sparrows and other birds taking up residence in the spring (we do have dedicated sparrow and starling boxes, as well as two house martin nests that have never been used). So the sponges have come out now and we shall wait to see who turns up this year. 

One more thing...anyone who is having their roof repaired,  having a new-build house, or any other sort of re-construction, please think of the swifts who are rapidly running out of nesting sites. Please think about putting up nest boxes or having dedicated swift bricks built into your house or even accessible roof tiles to let the swifts in. 

 

All gone now!

 

A final update. All of our swifts have now left, with the first youngster in box 3 leaving on Saturday 26^th, mid-morning. The second one remained and finally left 3 days later on Tuesday 29^th. The adult however came back to roost alone that evening presumably just to make sure that the youngsters were definitely away. Here's a video of the pair of them doing a bit of wing fluttering in preparation for leaving:

 

This second video was taken in the morning before the first youngster left, you can see they're already looking a bit restless:

 

 

 And finally, this picture is of the second youngster, rather lonesome, looking out of the box entrance. It was to remain a further 3 days before making the move.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The pair in Box 1 failed to roost on Saturday 26^th so we thought they too had left - but they returned again for one night on the Sunday 27^th and then left next morning.

So that’s it for this year folks, the end of yet another year and we live in hope that they will all return next year!

Still here!

 Our young swiftlets in Box 3 are still with us, but they're getting restless now. Here's a picture of one of them looking down through the box entrance, planning it's escape route no doubt! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are the pair in Box 1, they're having a bit of a lie-in on this rather dull morning!

 

 

 

 

 

Another update

 

Another update on our two swift families. The new pair who have taken up residence in Box 1 have been busy furnishing their new home. In fact they have laid a ‘carpet’ of feathers as can be seen in this photo:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in the video below you can see that one of the pair is re-arranging the ‘carpet’ into a nest of sorts and sticking down the loose feathers. They definitely look like they’re in for the long haul and will be back next year!

 

 

Meanwhile, in Box 3 the youngsters continue to grow. Unfortunately there has been no more sign of anyone visiting Box 6 which is disappointing.

 

 

 

 

One's gone missing!

 

Here’s the latest video of our young swifts in Box 3. This time one of them is doing ‘press-ups’ in readiness for fledging, which we estimate should be around 30^th July, so a little while to go yet. But look more carefully and you will see that there are only two youngsters in the nest now.... 

 

 

We don’t know what’s happened to the third one. Everything was fine last time we looked which was only a day or so ago. We’ve checked the gutters below and around the nest box, and also the ground and garden in general and there’s no sign at all. So we are completely baffled as it was very much alive and well before. It’s possible that it’s still in the box, in the corner underneath the camera but of course we’re unable to see without disturbing the other birds, so we’ll just have to wait and see if it does reappear.

The second video shows the parent bird coming in to feed and the absolute pandemonium in the box as the two youngsters compete for attention! 

 

On a good note, the pair in Box 1 are well settled now, and laid another egg which will go to waste but at least they’re trying. And Box 6 has had prospectors this morning, with one taking up residence for a while so we are hopeful that maybe it will visit again with a partner. Apologies but I can't figure out how to get rid of the pink "tart's boudoir" effect in Box 6, but never mind, you can see that the visitor is having a good look around this very desireable home!

 

 

Growing fast!

A quick update on our little family in Box 3. As in previous years, one of the parents has now stopped coming into the box and roosting with the youngsters or visiting during the day so the three young are now being looked after by a single parent. Again. Has the other parent been taken by a predator, or has it simply got fed up with bawling kids? We think the missing parent is our 'Stumpy' as the remaining one has a full tail. Anyway, they're growing well now and looking fit and healthy, here's the latest video:

 

 

 

 

Another egg....

 

Here’s another video of our growing family of young swifts in Box 3 - not much to see here as they’re having a nap. 

 

 Meanwhile, in box 1 there has been a development - a few feathers have been fashioned into half a nest and the pair are obviously having a trial run because there’s now an egg in the corner. As per usual with first year birds nothing will come of this but we’re hopeful that next year they will come back and do it properly!