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Swifts terrorising our balcony!
I love to sit there with a beer/wine while they scream overhead!
https://youtube.com/shorts/v35HrVy-mXw?si=RfbrUOB5qykeRdT9
Put up a swift nest box last year (not a great situation due to our aspect/geometry) so of course we've got swallows in the porch instead. Loads of swifts screaming through the town too as usual. No shortage of crevices in shonky old stone buildings round these parts.
Swifts in Sussex have been pretty active in the last week, tho little action today as it is drizzly.
Have managed to get some good pics, one screaming party of 29 up high, and some others on low passes over the garden. And this one just about to have lunch.......
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16786159@N08/53872576032/in/album-72177720319018070/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16786159@N08/53872576132/in/album-72177720319018070/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16786159@N08/53873831124/in/album-72177720319018070/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16786159@N08/53873890700/in/album-72177720319018070/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16786159@N08/53873890700/in/album-72177720319018070/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16786159@N08/53873482066/in/dateposted-public/
I thought it was perhaps time to resurrect this thread for 2025.
I saw a couple of swallows at the nearby donkey stables about 8 days ago, they've since grown to 5 or 6 zooming about. And a few house martins too. But the big sign of spring appeared today when I was wandering around Shrewsbury with Huey - a flock of 12 or more swifts caught my attention screaming over the Monkmoor area. Oh yes, what a lovely sound. Bring on summer 👍 Must check the river near Atcham for the sand martins in the next week or two.
No doubt others have had them for a while, so why keeping quiet?
I'm in furthest north Wales and I noticed today that the swifts are back - Def not here a few days ago.
The sand martins have been here a little while and was watching them nesting above a favourite beach last weekend.
Cuckoo's calls have been heard around here (top end of the Amman Valley, Carmarthenshire) for about a fortnight. No swift or swallows yet 🙁
A few swallows in NW Derbyshire so far. No swifts, house martins or cuckoos yet. Hobby up the top of the river Goyt the other day, just before it all went up in flames.
Half a dozen Swifts over my house (Salisbury). These were back a couple of weeks earlier than usual.
It's lovely to see and hear them screaming around the sky, hopefully lots more on the way.
Swifts were slightly early here (Germany), probably due to some decent weather. Heard the first ones on 28th April (I think the earliest I've ever heard them before was 27th). Nesting in a gap in my rafters on 1st May (usually is about 5th May).
Not heard any cuckoos yet. loasda woodpeckers though.
Saw quite a few house martins here in Sussex a week ago, flying around a bell tower.
Then saw a couple of swifts on May 1, probs a week earlier than usual, but haven't seen them again for a couple of days, suspect the cold north wind has turned them away until it warms up again. This has given the starlings a couple more days to get the fledglings out of the swift box before the swifts start taking a look.
I've heard more cuckoos in the last few days than I can remember for a few years. Seems like a few blackbirds will be having a bad time for the next month or so...
Saw my first swallows a couple of weeks ago, and some swallows and house martins last week, no swifts as yet, though.
Dorset - I saw my first swallows quite a while back, early / mid April. They looked like they were 'passing through'. Plenty of Swallows around now, hanging out on the phone / electricity wires so I assume they are staying here... I've heard Swifts and there are a few House Martins around.
This is my 9th summer in my current house. When we first moved here we had at least 2 house martin nests that were populated every summer. As did most of our neighbours. Not so now we haven't had a single house martin family for at least the last 3/4 summers. So my observations agree with the reported stats that House Martins are in decline. 🙁
sorry didnt have time to caption the pic, its a Montagu's Harrier
My first swallow was 21st April. Quite a few since then. My first cuckoo sighting was the same weekend as the first swallow, and I've heard a couple more since. Also sand martins, but no house martins or swifts yet. I was out with the local bird group watching nesting ospreys, and we also found ring ouzel and a peregrine nest with both adults in attendance, and I went for a walk to look for dotterel at the weekend. Turns out I was about two miles away from where they've been spotted. One bit of empty moorland looks much the same as any other to me, but then I'm not a dotterel!
Not entirely sure, I had a glimpse of a high flying bird with swept wings flying like a Swift out of my front window, but I had something to sort out and I couldn’t see it when I came back with binoculars. I’ll be keeping my eyes open for them now, where I live it’s just too urban for swallows, and house martins don’t seem to like the area either, probably because people don’t like the nests under the eaves and the birds shitting on the ground below, to which my response is get over it, hose and brush it away once a week, nobody cares, get over yourselves. It could be a lot worse - pigeons and gulls, the latter of which shit to Olympic standards, and it eats holes through your car paint!
I’ve now got a Swift box under my front eaves, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed a returning three year old bird is looking for a nice place to set up home.
As far as cuckoos are concerned, I haven’t seen or heard one for decades, sadly. Maybe this year.
couple more pics of migrants from this year - lesser kestrels
Swifts seem to have been a little delayed by that wet 2nd half of May, but quite a few of them here in Hurstpierpoint now. There seem to be 9 occupied swift boxes in our corner of the village which is great. We have a second box which has been getting some passing interest.
Pretty sure this box is occupied because interested parties are being rebuffed and we have seen some quiet comings and goings morning and evening 
Is there really no chance of fixing the title of this thread?
It grants every time I read it.
Wonderful photos susepic!
My hit list for the upcoming year:
Nightjar
Bittern
Shrikes
Osprey
And hopefully the building works at home will be finished so the swallows will nest in the garage again. Fingers are very crossed.
Somebody said to me last week he'd seen swifts flying over a field near Telford. I thought that seemed highly improbable, if I'm honest, but he was adamant. They'll be several weeks yet.
No sign of swallows or martins yet, possibly a bit early and winds not too favourable. I’m hoping my swift box might start getting some attention this year - one of the sparrow boxes I put up at the same time is getting some love, but sadly not by the sparrows, a blue tit has taken up residence in one compartment, and has been zipping backwards and forwards from the Acer with moss in its beak, and from the surrounding gardens with feathers.
I put the boxes under the gutters towards the back of the house, I’m wondering if the sparrows might prefer a box at the front - they’re often in the hedges at the front, but they haven’t been coming to the feeders in the back garden for several years, sadly - used to love seeing them buzzing around the tree.
I saw sand martins last week whilst canoeing on the Dee.
I saw sand martins last week whilst canoeing on the Dee.
Martins have been seen, some of the ospreys are back too. Strange early spring with some of the winter migrants (redwing) overlapping with the first the summer arrivals.
My hit list for the upcoming year:
Nightjar
Bittern
Shrikes
Osprey
Nightjars - they were nesting on one of the hills near Swansea Centre, but there's been a lot of deforestation there, so maybe put off. Neath Valley is good for them though.
Ospreys - Whitford, Cwm Ivy, Llanrhidian Marsh area of Gower. Pretty much guaranteed visitors every year. Also a few others dotted around the area.
Bitterns - plenty booming in the Avalon Marshes, Somerset, last February but I don't know any near us.
Shrikes - I haven't seen other than in books!
Cheers Jon. Ospreys also near Talybont on Usk, so I think I will combine a (hopefully) sighting with a Gap ride.
I last saw a shrike in the 1980s in Norfolk!
It's usually first week of May for swifts in Sussex. Which will give the starlings time to get their brood gone from the swift box here. Will put up the speaker with the swift calling to get some interest. Lots of comings and goings on last year but no brood.
Saw a tortoiseshell butterfly in the garden over the weekend - bit premature i thought.
SouthDowns National Park posting that nightjars are having a good spell on the heathland in the park, but no specifics obvs where they are nesting.
Never seen a shrike.
Im mildly excited about whats is going to turn up and when this year. Last year swallows arrived on the 3rd May up here in the highlands, so will be very interested to see them again.
Bearing in mind its mid-late march, we seem to have a whole host of trees and shrubs coming to life despite still getting snow showers and frosts. Last few days have seen a massive hatch of flies which the tits in particular have gone mad for. Food in the feeders is lasting the week rather than a day now.
Id love to see or even hear a bittern, ill need to head well south for them though so probably need to make a special trip. Which to be fair would be a great reason.
When I was a kid in the late 70's I distinctly remember thinking i would never see a Red Kite, I think there were only 12 pairs in the UK....now they come round my garden 2 or 3 times and day, often in pairs and are everywhere around here. So Maybe one day will will see widespread Bittern's too, here's hoping.
I haven't seen an osprey for a while but regularly used to see them on the firth or along the coast. I startled one in the woods once, it had a fish which it left behind but then returned for, once I had moved away. I was as shocked as it was! The fish was massive.
Not directly related but a PSA for a TV program called The Birds on iPlayer. A beautifully captured documentary about peregrines and murmurations of waders in the Wash. Dramatic and sometimes melancholic.
Cheers Jon. Ospreys also near Talybont on Usk, so I think I will combine a (hopefully) sighting with a Gap ride.
Of course - there's the nest observation point on the canal. Last year, the local bird group headed up there to watch them after going up the hill near Pen-y-Fan to find some ring ouzels. It was a good day. (We saw a peregrine take down a herring gull that day, which was odd!)
Id love to see or even hear a bittern
As mentioned above, I headed down to the Avalon Marshes just over a year ago and they were booming everywhere, although I didn't see any. It is an astonishing noise. There were also marsh harriers everywhere, to the point that I almost got bored of them that day. My interest has since been rekindled, of course, and I was watching a local roost yesterday to see if any were active. They weren't, probably hunting a bit further afield now that their juvenile has fledged.
We had a local RSPB group outing today to Monikie near Dundee. Plenty of Sand Martins about, and we saw an Osprey at Balgavies Loch nearby.
Swallows are normally mid-April up here.
Marsh Harriers have wintered at Loch of Strathbeg the last couple of years, whereas previously they always headed south for winter.
Highlight today was 50+ Little Gulls feeding at Monikie, which seems to be a pit stop on their way north to breed.
I was treated to a large flock of sand martins over the Afon Dyfrdwy at Cynwyd yesterday. They appeared to be enjoying a fly hatch in the spring sunshine on the SW side of the bridge, flying up & down, and resting on the parapet of the bridge.
Id love to see or even hear a bittern, ill need to head well south for them though so probably need to make a special trip. Which to be fair would be a great reason.
@kormoran, we went to RSPB Leighton Moss https://www.rspb.org.uk/days-out/reserves/leighton-moss on Tuesday and there was plenty of Bittern booming going on. It was the first time I'd ever hear them so that was really cool. There was also a Little Gull is sight. If you were to make the trip down here there are several Osprey breeding sites nearby too. For example Foulshaw Moss https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-reserves/foulshaw-moss
I sat for about an hour on Mynydd Myddfai listening to skylarks yesterday. It was lovely.
Saw and heard the first local(ish) swallows and house martins in the area between Wenlock Edge and Caer Caradoc today. Summer is a'coming 🤞
I sat for about an hour on Mynydd Myddfai listening to skylarks yesterday. It was lovely.
There’s a walk I do fairly regularly that takes me across fields that are planted for crops for beer making, and the two things that I’m almost guaranteed to see and hear are skylarks and hares, regardless of the time of year. I heard and saw a skylark rising from a field just outside of town on Thursday, and a couple of swallows this morning, which was lovely to see. Waiting now for the swifts to arrive.
I headed down to the Avalon Marshes just over a year ago and they were booming everywhere, although I didn't see any. It is an astonishing noise.
It is indeed, best described as like blowing across the neck of a large bottle! I’ve been lucky enough to see several down there, but never had a chance to take any photos, a phone just isn’t up for the job.
I’m wondering if the sparrows might prefer a box at the front - they’re often in the hedges at the front, but they haven’t been coming to the feeders in the back garden for several years, sadly - used to love seeing them buzzing around the
Since I posted that, I’m now getting a pair coming to the fatballs in the back garden, which is very pleasing indeed! They don’t seem to allow the blue tits to bully them, like they do the other tits and the goldfinches.
Sparrow on the fatballs, goldcrest on the fat filled coconut shell above. They’re always around.
A friend in Llandeio (about 10 miles away) has spotted his first swallow of the year 👍🏼😀
Saw the first swallow on the 15th April. Then many house martins on 17th April.
lots of larks this year over the fields, not many Lapwings in the fields and only a few Curlew. A worrying downward trend.
I camped in glen Lyon this weekend Loads of Swallows and swifts and martins
First swallow in mid-Sussex a week ago, and a couple more yday. Reports of house martins in the village.
Starlings in our swift box are about to fledge, and next door have a brood too. Fledgling almost took MrsEpic's head off in the garden over the weekend, not sure where he came from.
This afternoon we had a sparrowhawk land in our birch to much opprobrium from blackbirds and starlings, he then went off and looked like he had someone lined up in next door but 1, but didn't see him re-emerge.
Saw my third swallow while on a walk along the Bybrook from Ford, so I’m now waiting on the first screams from a Swift to finally convince me summer is here. And hope my swift box gets some notice…
And hope my swift box gets some notice…
You may already be using a swift call speaker CZ, but if not it'll make a difference as they'll come find the sound. We've been using a Bluetooth shower speaker suckered to the nearest window, but I'm getting a proper speaker from peak boxes for this season.
not many Lapwings in the fields and only a few Curlew. A worrying downward trend.
Yeah, curlews are having problems but we have a lot of them around here. My ride yesterday took me along the Loughor estuary and there were hundreds, with a few whimbrel mixed in. Also, whitethroat and Cetti's warblers were evident yesterday, but I haven't seen a swallow or cuckoo yet. (There is a cuckoo over at Pant Yr Sais fen, which I will be visiting later in the week.)
As I got my first view of the estuary a huge bird was flying just over the trees ahead of me but I couldn't get a view of it. I'm thinking it was probably a heron, seen at an odd angle, but there's every possibility that it was an osprey as they fish the area.