Each year when late spring arrives I start to look out for the swifts. The house that backs onto my back garden have nesting swifts They don’t have a nest box but there is a natural cavity underneath some of their roof tiles. I’m not sure if they know they are there nor not but I get the impression they are not very nature friendly so I don’t like to draw attention to their arrival just in case they decide to block up the hole! This year they arrived on May 7th. They are generally joined by another 4 swifts screeching around the house and its so lovely to hear.
Swifts are an amber-listed bird, this means we need to be worried about them. There breeding numbers have been decreasing; 51% between 1995 and 2015. One of the reasons for their reducing numbers is partly down to the loss of their nesting locations. They nest in the same place every year. When they get back in the spring their home can sometimes be gone. This can be down to people fixing their roofs or buildings being demolished completely. One of the best things we can do for them is to increase the locations that they have available to nest in. I would love to have a swift nest box on the house but they have some requirements. There needs to be a clear 5 meter drop from the nest as this is what they need when the swoop up to the nest and also for leaving it. This I have on one side of the house, however its west facing and doesn’t have shade from the sun, so unfortunately its unsuitable 🙁 If you have a suitable location for a swift box, please if you can, help out these wonders of summer. You can find out more at swift-conservation.org and also submit your sightings to the RSPB.