Thursday, 31 May 2018
Last night our roosting tally was two in box 1, no-one in box 2 - that one seems to have disappeared temporarily (we hope), and two in box 3 which are now on eggs - how many we don't know yet but we had a glimpse of one briefly yesterday. Here's hoping box 2 finds a partner soon and returns to take up residence.
Wednesday, 30 May 2018
Last night we had two birds roosting in box 1, one in box 2 and two in box 3. Still waiting for box 2 to find it's partner, we wonder if it's still on it's way or if it's been lost? Having been away in Scotland for the past couple of weeks, what has been startlingly noticable is the vast number of insects up there as compared to Norfolk and the rest of the south of England. Our vehicle was absolutely covered in insects before we left Scotland, something that we have not seen down here for years now, so food shortage must surely be one factor at least in the general decline of the swift population down here. Obviously the current fog today on the coast is not helping either, although our own swifts are managing to get out and about still. Here's hoping things pick up soon. Here is an image of one of the pair in box 3 this morning, which looks as though it could be sitting on eggs - hopefully we can confirm this shortly.
Wednesday, 16 May 2018
Still off to a slow start, in fact nothing's changed since my last post in that we still have one bird roosting in box 1, none in box 2 and a pair in box 3. Although the odd extra swift has been seen flying around with our birds none has yet entered any of the boxes. Here's hoping things get better soon....
Sunday, 13 May 2018
We still seem to be off to a slow start here at Cley Swifts, last night's roost was one in box 1, (although two were seen in there during the daytime and seemed to be quite happy with each other) none in box 2 (where have they gone? only one of the pair in that box has showed so far) and two in box 3, the only pair that seem to be permanently settled so far. We live in hope...
Friday, 11 May 2018
Last night box 1’s partner seemed to have returned, so at roosting there were two in box 1, one in box 2 and one in box 3.
This morning’s photo shows the pair in box 1 still, box 2 is empty and box 3 seems to have found a partner. So that’s good, if box 2 was just out early (and had not moved into box 3 early this morning) then we have 5 out of 6 swifts home again.
This morning’s photo shows the pair in box 1 still, box 2 is empty and box 3 seems to have found a partner. So that’s good, if box 2 was just out early (and had not moved into box 3 early this morning) then we have 5 out of 6 swifts home again.
Yesterday morning we woke up to find a pair in box 1 and a single swift in box 2.
Then last night three swifts roosted, in boxes 1, 2 and 3, each on their own, so either the partners are still out there somewhere, or at least one of them is in the wrong box…. Good to see that my newly reduced sized entrance hole (65mm x 28mm) on the new box 2 (and new box 4) is still manageable for swifts but hopefully not for starlings.
Then last night three swifts roosted, in boxes 1, 2 and 3, each on their own, so either the partners are still out there somewhere, or at least one of them is in the wrong box…. Good to see that my newly reduced sized entrance hole (65mm x 28mm) on the new box 2 (and new box 4) is still manageable for swifts but hopefully not for starlings.
Wednesday, 9 May 2018
Well, we thought they were never going to come…but yesterday swifts were seen flying past the house and on a couple of occasions some ‘screamers’ did a couple of flypasts as well. Then they were not seen again all day. But yesterday evening we found one bird roosting in box 1.
It’s a start at last, hope it’s partner turns up again soon! This afternoon, at 17.10 pm there is currently a bird in box 3 so hopefully another partner will turn up at some stage.
It’s a start at last, hope it’s partner turns up again soon! This afternoon, at 17.10 pm there is currently a bird in box 3 so hopefully another partner will turn up at some stage.
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