Our last remaining youngster departed on the 26th July. The lone parent roosted in Box 3 that night and then also departed. The prospector/intruder did not return either. So that’s the end of our season, we look forward to seeing them again next year, hopefully!

At last we had an interested prospector flying around the house yesterday and this morning and it actually entered Box 6 this morning and had a look around. Our three youngsters in Box 3 were still on the nest with the parent bird out for food.  The prospector then entered their box whilst the parent was away and it briefly attacked the youngsters. Two of the youngsters then fledged - we saw the second one go at exactly 12.45. The parent then returned with food and a fight ensued, with the remaining youngster hiding away in the corner. At first we thought it was dead as it didn't move for a long time but it was just a bit traumatised and appears to be OK now. Here are some videos:

In the above video you can see the three youngsters in Box 3, and the newcomer having a look in Box 6.

In this second video you can see the one remaining youngster hiding away in the corner whilst the parent bird, the one with the full bolus, is fighting with the intruder. This went on for a few minutes, with both birds eventually exiting the box. The youngster appeared a bit traumatised but returned to the nest and at the time of writing, Tuesday late afternoon, is still there. We think it may be away tomorrow though. Hopefully the intruder will return and resume it's inspection of Box 6!

 

Here's today's video of our three youngsters. They're nearly ready to leave. As you can see the parent bird comes in to feed and there’s a mad frenzy as they all gather round. It all happens very quickly, as the parent is raising the young on its own and needs to get out as soon as possible for more food. They're all pretty hungry!

 

Here's our lone adult with the three youngsters. The other adult decided it had had enough of the screaming kids and left two days ago, leaving the remaining adult to bring up the three youngsters on it's own.

Our youngsters are all well and growing fast. Here’s a video taken yesterday  while the parents were off hunting. As you can see, they are starting to exercise their wings already even though they barely have their eyes open yet! 

 Here's the latest video of our three youngsters with one of the parent birds...they're getting bigger now!

24th June.We definitely have three youngsters now and are able to see them, here is a video taken this morning whilst both parents were out finding food. 

 

There are very few swifts being seen around here though, virtually none and certainly no prospectors around our boxes, so our pair are on their own! 

We think we now have three chicks, although we’re not able to see them very well as yet, as as one the parents is on the nest all the time. However, here’s a short video we were able to get this morning:

 

Yesterday morning we saw the first sign of a chick, which was a broken eggshell in the corner of the box. We’ve not as yet been able to get sight of the chick/s yet though. We just hope that the adults are able to find enough food to keep the feeding going.

 

A third egg laid this morning. We should see some youngsters arrive around the 14th June, all being well:

 

 A second egg laid this morning!

We have an egg!

 Good news, our pair in Box 3 laid an egg this morning. Looking forward to seeing some more over the next couple of days:

 

Yesterday our swift’s partner came back so both birds roosted in Box 3 last night, hooray!  Two days later than last year. They’ve been flying around the house today, (just the two of them) and they seem to have made themselves at home. Here’s a video from yesterday evening:

 

The first of our swifts finally arrived last night in Box 3, just one day late. Hopefully it's partner will turn up shortly or if not it'll find another one. Last year they managed to raise 3 young so we hope they'll have the same success this year. Maybe we'll get some takers for the other boxes, we still have four empty ones which were unused last year - it would be nice to think that perhaps we'll get the start of another colony at some stage! Here's our lone parent at the still in-situ nest from last year: