On Sunday our two young swifts finally left, one in the morning and one late afternoon, leaving just the adult bird to roost Sunday night. The adult bird hasn't returned since, so this is it for this year. Not quite as successful as last year, having reared just five youngsters this year but hopefully this is just a minor blip and we'll be back on track next year. So here's to next year folks, we shall return in the Spring, round about the beginning of May. Thanks for visiting!

We still have a full house in box 1, with the two youngsters and the one parent still feeding them. They are a bit more lively now, we haven't seen them sitting in the entrance peering out yet, but it shouldn't be long now before they are away. Here they are yesterday, having a good preening session:

The rest of the time they are just resting in the corner of the box. Although the box is in the shade all day I think they must still be feeling the heat a bit and are not doing much in the way of wing excercises yet.