2018 - Another Year!

So here we are, another year. There have already been some sightings in the last few days in the UK on the Swift Local Network, so the cameras are back in and ready to go.

During the Autumn we decided to take down the concrete Schwegler swift box 2. It was far too heavy and dangerous, the camera had moved slightly and we were unable to get to it without getting up a ladder and taking it off the wall to make adjustments. Also we might have been able to foster a fallen-out-of-a nest young swift to the pair in that box last year, if it had had an opening door. So it has been replaced with a brand new wooden one, along with box 4 whose door hinges had come unstuck, both made and put up by myself - it's not the easiest thing to try to match up all the screw holes in the  back of the boxes to those already on the wall! Each box has 3 coats of cuprinol and 2 coats of exterior varnish plus roofing felt on the top so I'm hoping they will last a bit longer this time. The entrance holes have been made smaller, to exactly 65mm x 28mm to try to stop the starlings getting in, and they now have a little overhanging 'front porch' which is painted black to mimic an overhanging gutter, and a tiny 'ladder' under the entrance made of matchsticks stuck on with superglue!

 

Sponges were placed temporarily in the entrance holes to stop the starlings and sparrows trying to get in but we have just removed them in anticipation of an early arrival! We wonder what the box 2 pair will think of their new home - or will they even take to it at all? We certainly hope so!

Our swiftlets have hatched!

Apologies for the short break in transmission, I've been sweltering away in sunny Portland for the last week. Before I left we had a pair of swifts in box 1, a pair with three eggs in box 2, a pair in box 3 and a starling family in box 4. But the good news today is that the swift eggs in box 2 hatched earlier this week and the swiftlets are doing well. We were able to see that there are actually three in there this morning and here is a short video of the parents feeding:

The starlings in box 4 raised four young and they fledged whilst I was away.  Here is one of the young being fed
before they fledged:

The box has now been cleared out and is ready and waiting for some swifts to find it – unfortunately apart from our own ones there doesn't seem to be much activity at all locally, so the rest of the boxes may remain untouched.
The occupants of swift boxes 1 and 3 are still bringing in feathers for their nests but neither has laid any eggs yet....we live in hope!

After box 3 abandoning the two eggs the other day, they have now both disappeared from the nest. They could be lurking under the camera, or maybe they have been tossed out but we couldn't see any sign of them on the ground or in the gutter below the box. But the good news today is that box 3 seems to have found a new partner, so we hope they will settle down together, although it's probably too late for a new clutch of eggs. But hopefully they'll both return next year to breed.

Box 3 newcomer settling in:

We have also seen that there are actually four baby starlings in box 4, but one is usually hidden from view most of the time. They are doing well and growing fast.

Baby starlings in box 4 and two swifts in box 3:

video of the baby starlings:

Box 2 are still incubating their three eggs, and box 1 are spending most of the day out and just coming in to roost, as is the single starling in box 6.

A setback

Yesterday one of the birds in box 3 disappeared and did not come back to roost last night. The other bird has had to go out and leave the eggs un-incubated several times, and has been gone most of today so things are not looking good. Maybe a hobby has had it's partner, but at this early stage there's no way the other one could bring the eggs to hatching and at the same time feed itself.  Box 2 is still incubating and still has a partner right now, and the starling in box 4 is still feeding young -  the most we can see are three. And a starling is roosting again in box 6, maybe it's the other parent of the youngsters. The swifts in box 1 seem to have given up bringing in feathers. It seems that this is a bad year for swifts, several people on the swifts local network are saying that numbers are down to a third of what they were last year, so it's not just us seeing very few in our immediate area. We hope that Box 2 will continue to brood their eggs and raise young.

Below, the seemingly abandoned eggs in box 3, with box 2 still incubating, and the baby starlings huddled invisibly in the bottom of the nest:

The Starlings have hatched!

Yesterday afternoon the starling eggs in box 4 hatched, I think we have three or four, but it’s difficult to tell right now. The sooner they're fledged and away the better! This morning we had two prospectors at the swift boxes, they were trying boxes 1, 2, 3 and 4 which are all occupied, but ignoring boxes 5 and 6 which are empty. Don’t know why that should be but we hope they find them soon. Box 1 have started nestbuilding, they seem to have got the hint at last after our homemade plywood and feathers nest! Boxes 2 and 3 are still incubating.
Here is box 1, having just brought in a mouthful of feathers:

We don't seem to be seeing as many swifts over the village this year and wonder if the constant renovations of old houses and roofs is having an effect? It seems that any swifts in the air around our area are actually our own ones, so we hope they will bring some more in from somewhere and increase our little colony.

Another egg!

Not much has changed over the last couple of days, other than that a pair of starlings started roosting in box 6 and then started building a nest. Before they could get too far we removed the nesting material whilst they were out and put a temporary baffle on the entrance to keep them out until they had moved on elsewhere.

The baffle is now off again and hopefully some more swifts will have a look at it, and also box 5 which has had no interest so far. The other starling is still in box 4, we think it has four eggs. The good news today is that whilst box 2 were out we were able to see that they now have three eggs in their nest.

So that's five eggs that we know about - of course box 3 could also have three eggs but we've been unable to see them as they are constantly being incubated.
Box 1 have made no attempt to build a nest, although they are roosting every night and seem settled, so we gave them a helping hand -  some feathers stuck onto a sheet of thin plywood and slipped it into their box whilst they were out for the day. Hoping this might encourage them to get moving themselves!

Another egg

We still have our three pairs of swifts in boxes 1, 2, and 3. Box 3 already have two eggs, and yesterday box 2 laid another egg, so that's four altogether and both pairs are now incubating. As is the starling in box 4 but we're unable to see the nest as there is so much bedding blocking the camera view! The pair of swifts in box 1 have not started making a nest yet and are mainly using it as a roost.

We have an egg!

Our 'gang' of three has now become a 'gang of five' with the single swift now residing in box 1. So if you see five swifts flying together around our home, they'll be ours!  We're hoping the single swift will find a partner soon. There's been nothing new to report over the last couple of days, other than that the starlings are still occupying box 4 and one was seen to enter box 5 yesterday morning briefly but it didn't stay. The good news today is that box 3 swifts have laid an egg! That was unexpected, we thought box 2 might be the first to start laying, but then again, their nest is so deep and feathery that it would be difficult to see any eggs even if they were there. Hopefully we will have another egg in box 3 by tomorrow morning.

17th May

Last night just the 'gang of three' (as we have always called them) swifts roosted, two in box 3 and one in box 2. Then this morning, two starlings were continuing their nest-building in box 4. Today has been rainy on and off, the swifts have been coming and going throughout the day, but at 3.45 when I checked the cameras I was delighted to see a second swift in box 2. It looked slightly nervous as if it hadn't been in that box before, but soon settled down with the resident swift and there was some mutual preening.... So we live in hope that box 2 has found a partner again!

As you can see below, taken this morning, the starling nest in box 4 is getting rather large, I think we might lose all camera view soon!

Up till yesterday, the single bird in box 3 was still alone, but was still making adjustments to the nest:

Then last night it was all change, only one bird roosting in box 2 and two birds in box 3 ... so what's going on here then? Has box 3 found a mate, or has the male of box 2 simply gone into the wrong box? Has he actually got two wives?

Meanwhile, in box 4 a starling has moved in and has put some nesting material in there. It also roosted last night on its own. No doubt the nest will get much larger - last year it virtually filled the box and blocked the camera view!