Swifts & Things

Brief update, my birds in box 20 have displaced their second clutch after incubating for about two days with no issues, they then managed to knock one egg out at night, then the following day the second egg was out. Footage on the camera showed  them quite lively at the time of displacement and I’m not hopeful of them trying again this year.

Better news for my pair that originally began their journey in box 18 who also displaced their first clutch and then relocated in box 17. They have since laid another egg today (14th June) so hopefully they’ll be more successful this time around.

On to box 22 that first arrived on the 31st of May and they have now laid their first egg too. Their nest hasn’t had a great deal of effort put into it so time will tell if this stands the test of time.

Finally I have a new bird that’s been coming and going in box 21 today much to the annoyance of the Sparrows that had nested and laid eggs already. Lots of nesting material in there that makes viewing a bit crap but hopefully it has a mate with it in tow that will show up soon.

Well I had a guess and wrote on the calendar the date I thought the first chick would hatch and had it down for the 13th, so was pleasantly surprised by when I caught sight of one on the 10th and then a second on the 11th. Just waiting in the third and final egg to hatch at the time of writing.

Other developments this week, there have still been a few birds prospecting and late evenings (around 9pm) seem to produce a flurry of activity, which is something that has never really witnessed in past years.

My pair in box 7 which has no camera, I’m pretty sure are currently incubating eggs. After I watched a returning bird enter the box and then soon after another exited. Which would tie in quite nicely with a swap over of incubation duties.

On the 11th June a new bird entered box 21a in the morning, spending time in and out of the box, then later in the day it was joined by a second bird. I initially didn’t want to get my hopes up after being fooled by birds swapping boxes however their behavior did make me think they were indeed a new pair. They initially kept bickering and not getting on before slowly coming around to each other with the odd mutual preening. Later in the evening when all other pairs were accounted for I could then confirm that they were my sixth new pair for the season, taking my total to nine pairs.

I’m still a little hopeful I could add more pairs this year as only this evening after all my birds had returned to roost there was still around half a dozen Swift buzzing the house and boxes as the evening was drawing to a close before disappearing into the fading light.

It’s been an interesting week since I last posted, the new bird in box 22 spent one night alone before a second bird was seen entering in the morning

However the second bird chose not to roost that evening leaving the other bird on its own but did roost up the following night where they have been bonding and roosting together since. I’m hopeful now these should go on to egg lay at some point this season.

There was definitely an increase in new bird activity around the house on the better weather days we had, with birds banging boxes on all three aspects and today was also good with some birds clinging on briefly before flying off. Some very windy weather also helped with nest building with plenty of new material being brought back over the days.

I did have a bit of short lived excitement when I thought I’d gained a new pair after I began to see birds coming and going all morning in box 17. It turned out however to be my pair from box 18 and strange behavior as they had resided in box 18 since May 18th and had laid eggs in that time but displaced both from the nest. Maybe the switch of boxes will improve their chances of raising a brood this year as I’m confident they will attempt to lay again.

Onto my other birds and pairs in boxes 3, 15, 20a and 24 are all still incubating nicely and the pair in box 20 have laid another egg this morning, approximately 9 days after their last egg that was subsequently knocked out the nest. Hopefully since then they have improved on the nest cup and added some extra height and it remains Insitu🤞. My last pair in box 7 (no camera) still come and go frequently and it will be a while yet before I can confirm if they go on to raise chicks.

Quick update this morning else I know I’ll forget, now yesterday I decided after much deliberation to put a few displaced eggs back on the nests of the respected birds. However it wasn’t long before both eggs were out again in box 18 and the one in box 20 was also flicked out(see video)

So this morning I checked box 18 as it’s the easiest to open up and now only one egg was visible with the other nowhere to be seen, not even on the ground outside. I checked the single egg that was left and it did have a small puncture in it so I didn’t bother to put it back and I’m unsure when this was sustained.

But I think for the remainder of this season I’m going to sit on my hands and whatever else happens in the nest with their eggs just let nature play out. After all in a natural colony there would be no cameras or someone on hand trying to make good when eggs are out the nest.

To add on, today 31st we appear to have a new bird fresh in box 22, all other birds in boxes nearby were all accounted for so I’m confident it’s not another bird box hopping. All it needs now is a mate in tow and there’s still a possibility they could go on to nest🤞.

At the end of week three and still plenty going on, in box 20a after their first egg on the 21st they had the usual day of rest then laid another on the 23rd. They showed no signs of incubating initially and in my notes I even wrote about the possibility of maybe a third egg maybe on the cards. Then on the 25th I was pleased to see they had indeed laid a third egg and what will be their first clutch of three eggs, since then incubation has been ongoing.

Mirroring last year, the pair in box 3 were not far behind  box 20a, with one egg on the 22nd and a second on the 24th with incubation from the 25th.

Onto box 15 and my oldest residents, their first egg was laid in the 26th only to be pushed out the nest, a day of rest again and a second egg laid on the 28th. Now after initially seeing the first egg out the nest I was in the mindset that I wasn’t going to interfere and put it back on the nest however I did change my mind. They didn’t last long back in the nest after the pair then decided to mate on the nest that night which resulted in both eggs now being displaced 🙄.

The following morning (today) I decided to push both eggs back into the nest cup and after last night’s antics maybe these will go on to lay a third egg. Interestingly I’ve always found eggs left in their box at the end of the season, in their first year it was two and last year just the one, yet they have still gone on to lay again and raise young.

Now onto this year’s new pairs and first the birds in box 18, now I’d not seen any signs of nest building from these on the camera and then on the 29th I see an egg just in camera shot up against the wood of the nest concave. I then suspected this pair had decided to build their nest where it suited them, so when I knew they’d left I quickly opened up and checked and also adjusted the camera having confirmed that’s exactly what they’d done. Not only had they done that but there was also a second egg in the nest that my guess would have been laid on the 27th.

On to box 20 and a first egg was seen on the 24th, I also found an egg on the floor under this box which I’m guessing was from this pair. This egg soon disappeared from sight on the camera and then it wasn’t until the 29th before another egg was seen in the nest and is currently the only egg in the cup.

Box 24 and the pair that couldn’t decide between this box and box 23 finally decided this was the box for them and they laid their first egg on the 26th and a second on the 28th and currently wasn’t incubating today 29th.

Finally I can also confirm I do in fact have a fourth new Swift pair on my house, I’d seen a single bird entering box 7 on my front aspect on occasions then yesterday evening (28th) I watched as two birds circled the front aspect before both disappeared inside. So quietly confident I will finish up this year with seven breeding pairs of Swift on my house, not bad if I do say so myself 😁.

So nearing the end of the second week since my Swift arrived back and I can confirm I have three new pairs, I did initially think there was four however it seems one pair couldn’t quite decide on which box they preferred. So much so they spent two nights roosting in separate boxes until last night when they did roost together in box 24.

This pair was also witnessed earlier in the week flying around with a third bird around my house, the pair then entered box 23 only for the third bird to follow them into the box. Two’s company and three is definitely a crowd when it comes to swifts and after a brief fight inside the box the single bird tried to make a quick exit that was hampered by the bird inside obviously clinging onto the hapless bird.

I did have a little more excitement however two days ago when I was stood outside on a damp and miserable morning, I see two birds buzzing my front aspect. When you watch Swift around your colony for long enough you get a feel for what’s going on and I instinctively knew these were not an old pair. Then after five minutes or so one disappeared very confidently inside box 7 on my front aspect, it was followed closely by a second bird but it chose not to attempt to to enter.

After checking last year’s notes I had written on two occasions where I had witnessed a bird confidently going in this box, so it will be interesting to see what happens. I don’t however have a camera inside so I will have to rely on good d fashion observations, which will be nice and hopefully over time I may hear the jangling noise of chicks overhead.

Also this week I had the raiding Sparrow, last year we had a House Sparrow that obliterated the Swift nest in box 15 and took it all for its own nest and I think this is the same bird that’s definitely working clever. Out of sympathy for the Swift I even collected some feathers to give them a bit of help however the Sparrows soon made short work of removing them long before the Swift even had a chance to use them 😂

Update 11:51, today I have my first egg, I had my suspicions when my old pair in box 20a had spent all morning in the nest while all other birds had vacated their boxes. Then they finally moved off, happy days😁.

So yesterday I see the arrival of birds in box 15 and I was kind of questioning if they was in fact my oldest residents due to a few discrepancies and it just so happens I was right. As today I had what I thought was another new pair in box 20 however on closer scrutiny I noticed a small white patch on the head of one just like the bird that arrived back in box 15.

Since then I’ve had no other birds back in box 15 and no birds in to roost, so bringing me to the conclusion they are in fact a new pair that have not really come to grips with their own box. So good news all round as I love it when my suspicions are confirmed 😏, I now have a brand new pair that could potentially raise young this year and they’re no longer at risk of a full on fight once the true residents of box 15 return.

The countdown has already begun and I’m already planning what needs to be done and sorted before I open up my boxes for my fourth year. I normally empty any boxes of nesting material that had any House Sparrow that nested last year but the resident Swift nests I leave, I know others clean the nests to reduce numbers of Louse fly. However my take is they’ve probably been co existing for 100’s of years and any natural nest site wouldn’t have any interference from us, so I let nature take its course.

I also have currently three new cameras to install that I’ve sourced over the last year from https://gardenature.co.uk/products/product-ahd-nest-box-camera-only they’re a bit more expensive but are AHD cameras and will give a much better viewing experience and will go in the three occupied boxes I currently have. The ones I take out will then be put back into other boxes and I’ll also move cameras from boxes that had no Swift activity last year to boxes that did, as this just makes sense. I’ll still be five cameras shy of covering every box but I intend to upgrade a few each year and fill them all.

My other plan for this season is to organize an open garden during my annual leave in mid July, by then the Swift will have young in the nest and the prospecting is normally at its peak. Then anyone interested in what’s involved in creating a colony or just wants to see them in action up close can come around and have a natter over a cup of tea and if I’m feeling generous some cake 😃. Just be warned I can get quite enamored once I start talking Swifts.