On the 7th March we were delighted to welcome Ailsa Claybourn to the Village Hall to talk to us about ‘Scintillating Swifts’. With a background in teaching, Ailsa ran successful bird groups at her school and now gives Swift walks & talks, volunteers with BBOWT and works at Thatcham Discovery Centre. Swifts are special and amazing birds – in an average swift life they will fly up to 2 million miles, reaching speeds of up to 69.3mph. They can fly up to 500 miles a day to feed their babies, and once fledged the youngsters may not land again for 3 years until they are ready to nest!
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Swifts do not like rain and live in the air – drinking whilst flying and sleeping in the air by going up to 3,000 metres and then shutting down half of their brain at a time as they fly.
Ailsa ran through how to identify Swifts, House Martins, Sand Martins and Swallows and let the audience hear their calls (including swift screaming parties). All these birds migrate from Africa to Europe to breed, taking up to 6 weeks for the journey and arriving in the UK from early April for swallows and house martins to mid May for swifts.
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As with much of our wildlife these birds are in significant decline due to lack of insects, storms and climate change (dry summers) which impacts on nest building with less mud being available. Swift numbers are down 62% since the year 2000.
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Ailsa ran through what we can all do to help these birds. She highlighted local projects – Hungerford Swift Town project and listed resources which provide help, information and support (see below). This includes what to do and who to contact if you find a swift on the ground because if grounded their legs are very weak and they are not able to launch themselves back into the air. Because of this weakness another fascinating fact about baby swifts is that they practice ‘press ups’ to strengthen their muscles before launching themselves from the nest when they fledge!
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Aisla explained about the different type of nests built by each species and showed designs for suitable nest boxes. For example homeowners can help swifts by including swift ‘bricks’ and swift friendly roofs into the home as well as the more conventional nest box designs. The ‘swift mapper’ website can be used to report swift nests and swift screaming parties, this site is also very useful when identifying risks to swifts with proposed building projects.
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We finished the evening with a short Q & A and Ailsa highlighted Swift Awareness Week this year from 29th June – 7th July. An example of a swift box was available to see on the night along with useful identification sheets and details of websites for organisations that support swifts, such as www.swift-conservation.org, www.hampshireswifts.co.uk, and Swift Town Hungerford facebook page.
Emergency help for Swifts, Swallows and House Martins
Each of the birds needs specialist care and must be helped by trained carers:
If you find a Swift or Swallow injured or on the ground, contact:
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RSPB https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/wildlife-questions/44254/what-to-do-with-a-grounded-swift
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The Swift Conservation website also has advice and a list of carers
If you find a grounded or injured House Martin look on:
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https://housemartinconservation.com/ for advice of carers
Nest boxes
If planning to install your own nest boxes always research the siting for your box. These birds always try to return to the same area, so if trying to attract birds to a new site for swifts in particular it can help by playing recordings of their 'screaming parties'.
To build a Swift box look at https://www.bristolswifts.co.uk/swift-nest-box-design, or https://www.swift-conservation.org/Zeist-drawing.pdf. In addition there are many ready made designs available on Amazon.
Swallow nest cups are available from as little as £13.95 online, with similar prices for nesting cups for house martins.