Box 1 lay an egg

At last, the pair in box 1 laid an egg this morning. Later on the box was checked again, only to find the egg was out of the nest:

So whilst the birds were out it was placed back in the nest:

Luckily the boxes are all sited next to an upstairs window so we can reach into the boxes without resorting to a ladder every time. Here's the owner sitting on it again whilst adding feathers to the nest, and hopefully the egg will stay where it should be.

Decoy Swift has not had to come out today, (it's been 'perched' by the entrance to box 6 for the last two afternoons) because the good news is that a new pair seem to be interested in box 5 now. We don't know if it was because of Decoy Swift or not but we hope they will stay to roost this evening. Here are two short videos of the interested parties inspecting the box, firstly the finder, and then it brought a mate along to view as well:

 Here's hoping they will move into this very desirable residence permanently!

Prospectors

I noticed today that there were some prospectors doing a few fly pasts and also landing briefly. They seemed to be most interested in box 2, which of course is already occupied by the pair and three chicks. The adults were out at the time, but the prospectors didn't enter the box. Rather, they seemed more interested in the upper back of the box, just underneath the gutter. This is rather annoying, since boxes 4, 5 and 6 are empty and just waiting for somebody to move in! It occurred to me that maybe next year I should put false gutters on the fronts of boxes 4, 5 and 6, just above the entrance holes, if that's what they seem to like. Obviously I can't be up a ladder right now doing it, as the swifts are coming and going a lot of the time, so that'll be a job for the winter. However, it then occurred to me that maybe there was something else I could do, (other than a large white arrow saying 'This Way Please') to draw their attention to the vacant boxes....enter 'Decoy Swift':

Made from a piece of cardboard cut out (to a rather large, admittedly),  swift shape, painted black and with wire 'feet' on it's head to hook on to the entrance hole, this will remain for a couple of hours each afternoon and be removed before dusk, just to draw the prospector's attention to the box. I don't know if this will have any effect at all but it's an interesting experiment...watch this space!