Here come the swifts

I am eagerly waiting for my first swift of the summer. Swifts are one of the last migratory birds to reach us in late Spring and one of the first to head south in late Summer.  They can be confused with swallows and house martins but are more scythe-shaped and are brown except for a small white patch on their throats.  Swallows and martins build mud nests while swifts nest in existing cavities.

Swifts are amazing creatures that spend their life on the wing only landing to lay and brood eggs and to feed their swiftlets.  They spend the majority of the year in sub-Saharan Africa and then migrate thousands of miles to spend three months in the UK.  One of my favourite sights and sounds of summer is groups of swifts flying at rooftop height and emitting their piercing call.  Unfortunately, these “screaming parties” are becoming less and less frequent.

Swifts prefer to nest at least two storeys up, in places that they can fly up into, and ideally in colonies.  As we have improved our buildings, there are less and less suitable places for swifts to nest.  There are swift colonies in Priestwood, in the centre of Wokingham and in Wildridings, but there are currently no colonies in Binfield.

Although swifts prefer to nest in existing colonies and young birds return to the site where they were born, pairs of birds will prospect for suitable nest sites up to a few miles from the colony.  Recent research has shown that playing swift calls can attract birds to use a nest box away from an existing colony.  Homeowners in Priestwood and Braybrooke are doing this, and we are about to join them.

Swift bricks, hollow bricks with an entry hole suitable for swifts, have been included in the construction of the Blue Mountain community hub / GP surgery, and with the help of Bracknell Forest Council and Binfield Parish Council, we have added a swift call generator to the building to try and attract prospecting birds.  With the help of the Eco Church project team and Bisham Nest Box Group we have also put up a swift nest box and call generator on St Mark’s Church. 

If any other home or business owners in the area who would be prepared to have a swift box, and potentially a call generator on their building, then please contact us.

We can also arrange talks for any appropriate groups about swifts and their conservation.  There are a number of local groups that lead walks and give talks on related topics, for example - https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-short-walk-to-see-the-swifts-tickets-1330799570339

For more information on swifts have a look at a blog-post I wrote last year - https://binfieldeg.wixsite.com/binfieldeg/post/a-swift-exit

(p.s. thanks to my friend Mary Braddock for the swift picture)