Swift surveying

It was still sunny though the forecast was ominous for the next few days, so as long as the rain held off it was probably a good evening for surveying swifts.

Walking down Market Street, I had arranged too meet Lindsey on Kent Banks Road by the library, a group of four swifts were happily screaming in and out of the gaps and alleyways between the houses. I stopped for a minute or two to see if they would disappear into a roof space but the joy of flying wildly around or more likely the abundance of small flying insects kept them airborne so I carried on.

Surveying swifts requires a number of things to make it a success. Reasonable eyesight helps, along with the ability to count, at least up to ten. And of course the brass neck to stand on the same spot on a street staring up at a house, especially when the owner is peering back at you from behind their curtains.

Lindsey was where she said she would be, and there was a party of four swifts flying around, which was a good sign. Lindsey had surveyed the street for the previous two years and had a record of where the nests were, so it was initially a question of seeing if the adults had returned. As well as actually observing the birds entering the nests, usually under the eaves or in small holes in the walls, you can play a recording of swifts calling, and often you will get an answering call from birds that are already on nests. This is one way that swifts looking for a nest site find out whether a potential spot is occupied. Of course it can be confusing and resulted in me getting over excited once or twice before realising that it was the recording and not live birds that is was hearing. Me getting excited doesn’t happen very often, especially on a strange street and it would not do to repeat it very often.

After Kents Bank we found our way to Crowstones. There we chatted to a chap clutching a strimmer and a spade on the way back from his allotment. We lamented the loss and decline of wildlife in general but swifts in particular but surprisingly all we agreed that left alone or given the chance nature could recover and recover quite quickly.

From there we crossed the market and investigated Harrington road. Up to seven swifts were doing their thing around the buildings and we spotted two disappearing into one of the buildings opposite from where we were standing, but I also became aware that we the observers were wing observed.

By now it was getting dark, and the swifts disappeared without us spotting where they went. So with the sounds of blackbirds alarming calling and a couple of bats, the night shift, taking over from the swifts, it was time to call it an evening.

It had been a successful one though, and there are few better ways to spend a summers evening than watching these magnificent birds rule the skies above our houses. It would be a tragedy if our summers were to lose their screams and the sight of the antics and acrobatics that their sheer joy of flying bring to the space above us.