A Swift farewell!
Early August is always a bitter sweet time for me. Whilst the warm weather (hopefully!) and the promise of a well deserved family break are most welcome it also marks the departure of one of our most enigmatic avian visitors – the Swift!
Common Swift
The Common Swift (Apus Apus) is one of the UK’s most unique and stunning breeding birds. Evolved to live life almost exclusively in the air, this long distance migrant spends most of its time feeding over the plains and forests of Africa before travelling thousands of miles to breed in our (once) insect rich Northern climes.
Arriving here in late April or early May the Swift is a true city slicker finding nooks and crannies in our roofs and eaves to build their rudimentary nests and raise their young. Amazingly its only during the breeding season (when laying and incubating their eggs and brooding/feeding their chicks) that Swifts need to land (using a traditional nest site) spending the rest of their lives on the wing. The Swift, the worlds fastest bird in level flight (some raptors such as the Peregrine are faster in a stoop!) feeds, preens, drinks, sleeps and even mates in the air (something I was lucky to witness for the first time this year). When a young Swift first fledge’s from its nest it will begin its migration to Africa shortly after and will not touch solid ground for two years when it returns to the UK for the first time looking for a nest and a mate.
For the last five years we have been involved with Swift conservation on a local level and have been running a local conservation group – Chaddesden Swift Group – in our area of north east Derby with the twin aims of helping raise awareness of declining Swift numbers in the area and giving homeowners practical tips and advice on how to help the birds.
A grounded Swift
We’ve been involved in distributing and fitting Swift boxes (a great practical piece of conservation), giving talks on Swifts to schools and local groups and leading popular Swift walks for everyone from families to groups (to showcase these amazing creatures).
The departure of our Swifts is just one small part of an upcoming avian saga as Autumn migration gets into full swing with migrant birds heading south and stopping off to rest and refuel at various places on the way. It’s one of the most exciting times in the birding year and a great time to be heading out on one of our guided walks.
So its with a twinge of sadness that we say goodbye for another year to these scimitar winged, screaming beauties but there is plenty to look forward to and we’ll be scanning the Spring skies waiting for their return
