Swifts - they're starting to arrive

(c) Abby Eaton

Liz Nash has reported that she saw 5 swifts yesterday afternoon from her garden off High St, Tisbury.

As Elizabeth Forbes mentions in her newsletter to supporters of the swifts campaign, now is the time to turn on the player for swift calls if you have one with your swift nest box.

"There's no need to check on the boxes, other than to note if any have come loose in the winter gales. Any problems: let me know and we'll try to sort.
 
This year, we're hoping to record the outcome of our campaign in terms of nesting activity. If you would like to help in this way, please just keep an eye open and a notebook and pencil handy, because we'd be really grateful if you could make a note of activity around nests/boxes:

• If you have a box/es or even a nest on your own house, you may hear some little scrabbling noises when you're in the room on the inside of where the box is installed.
• You may hear a 'thud' when you're in the garden below the box (ie, a bird's just flown in) in which case grab a pair of binoculars and see if there's any movement in the box - in a few weeks, if there are any young, you may see little white faces peering out.
• Whether or not you have a nest/boxes on your own house, you may enjoy 'screaming parties' down at roof-top level, which can indicate nesting nearby, in which case see if you can identify the nest site.
• And, if you're friendly with a neighbour who has a nest/box/boxes, ask if they'd like you to keep an eye on them as it's difficult to watch your own house - or ask them to help you keep an eye on your own.
• Finally, if you're good at counting birds and you see a big party of swifts flying around often in the early evening, let us know how many you estimate are in the flock."

Elizabeth is happy to be the first port of call for any queries or reports, so if you don't know her email address, please use the contact form and we'll pass them on to her.