Burton Swifts - Friday 28th June 2019 week

Front Royal Hotel Cottage elevation (Click over to enlarge)

Shows the nesting site histories including 2019 so far

It's good news!
We are now up to 19 confirmed nest sites already..... 

Historic final end of season counts were as follows:
2018 = 25 sites
2017 = 22 sites
2016 = 23 sites
2015 = 20 sites

We had up to 5 Swifts flying above the Royal, Neddy Hill and the Memorial Hall areas, but by the time we returned at the close of the watch the numbers had swelled to 11 birds in these same areas.

Generally throughout the watch from approx 2000hrs to 2130hrs we had few birds as though the majority had gone away somewhere to feed up or like we have mentioned before they could have been at a height beyond our sight!

The first watch was opposite the Royal Cottage front elevation, where we witnessed one bird on two separate occasions enter and leave the eaves site just over one metre in from the left hand side. This is a very old established site in our records which has been used now from back in 2013,2015,2016,2017,2018 and again this year 2019. Its immediately to the right hand side of a large triangular hole just under the plastic guttering.  Also on our return and passing the Royal we were fortunate to see a bird entering yet another old established site (but new for this year!) which is again in the eaves but this time to the right hand of the cottage and above the left hand side of the right hand window. This site has been recorded in each year since 2014 to the present.  We also had a small party of 3 screaming birds using Main Street at this point which we took to be immature birds which at times let you think they were about to descend into a nest site but at the last minute sort of swerved away and continued with their screaming chasing frolics!

Our last point of call tonight was at the Manor House although we never witnessed any nesting activity, but did see a regular 5 birds in the skies above the Manor House/Coaching House. 

Tonights observers were: Reg Hesketh and Bryan Yorke. 


Nest sites occupied so far this year = (19) plus probable 2 at Clawthorpe. 

Post Office Buildings (1)
Cocking Yard (4) maxed
Royal Cottage rear (4) maxed
Royal Cottage front (5) out of 7
Coach House gable and rear (1?) out of 4
Manor House gable, front and annexe (4) out of 6
Clawthorpe Hall Offices (?) seen 3 birds in skies overhead

Also it's interesting to report good news from Tanya and Edmund up at Sizergh who are also having a good year so far with their Swifts!  and such a interesting report especially in relation to the "banging" activity.......

plenty of swifts

Thu Jun 27, 2019 4:02 am (PDT) . Posted by:

"Tanya Hoare" tanyaedmund

We've had bangers since end of May but today its been Bangers Central here,
lots of them in wonderful sunshine.

All our pairs (18 + 5 in adjacent cottages) have returned this year which
seems to be bucking a trend? (Although in one eaves site, one swift didn't
come back til 23 May and it pulled in a new mate on 2 June. They laid eggs
on 20/22 June which means they'll be staying really late into August.)

Other good news is that we have at least 6 new pairs. Two of these have laid
eggs, again not til between 21 to 26 June so even more swifts will be
staying very late. We've never had this before. We wonder about the future
for these swifts, not just the chicks, but the adults remaining after most
swifts have departed.

But we've had more than the usual number of eggs being knocked out of nests.
This is not just in Stimpson boxes, but also in one of our eaves sites which
is very spacious, which has never happened before. Knocking the eggs out
looks entirely accidental, but who knows? And in one nest they were
deliberately ejected from the box even though we can see no evidence of
fighting. This means that our chick rate will be down this year, we only
have one nest with 3 chicks being reared.

Some other less good news is that a parent disappeared from one
long-standing nest the day the chicks hatched (more of this saga later).
Yes, the weather was bad, but the other swifts seemed to cope all right.

So because of the new pairs, overall this year has been good so far, albeit
with quite a few not-so-good happenings too.

Tanya & Edmund (Cumbria)

The next Swift watch will be next Thursday 4th July 2019  - Meeting at the Memorial Hall at 2000hrs - Everyone Welcome  

Burton Swifts - Thursday 20th June 2019 week

Showing the "Cocking Yard" nest sites as of now

It's good news!
We are now up to 18 confirmed nest sites already..... 

Historic final end of season counts as follows:
2018 = 25 sites
2017 = 22 sites
2016 = 23 sites
2015 = 20 sites

We met up at the Memorial Hall, and counted at least 9 birds in the skies. After ten minutes we moved on and observed from the end of Cocking Yard were we witnessed birds going into the first property on the left at the established left hand corner entering the roof area by going behind the soffitt board. We first established this site last year and nice to see the site being used yet again.  We also managed to witness a bird going in and out of the Hangings Farm site, and also we kept seeing a bird entering or leaving the site to the right hand side of Cocking Yard 3/4 way up the Yard.  Peter a local resident of Cocking Yard also helped us by keeping a close watch on the nesting Swifts and was also able to confirm a couple of sites which we had questioned last year. This was a fantastic help to find out about these two sites and this now brings the Cocking Yard nest sites up to at least 4 on the cottage frontages.  We have also had indications that a pair may well be nesting on the rear of the first property on the Left but this has yet to be confirmed. 

Even more good news follows when Sue told us that she had seen birds flying in and out of the rear of the Royal Cottage, using all the four sites eg: 3 regulars on the annexe and 1 on the return.  We were still short of confirmation in regards to the large hole at the top on the rear of the Cottage, so this is also now confirmed. 

We moved on after a short check out of the Royal Cottage front were we had no birds for the short period we watched.

So we moved on to watch at the Coach House and the Manor House and we were delighted to be able to confirm yet another site on the gable of the Manor House, its a site 3/4 way up on the gable front side, just another one of the small hole sites which again can be confirmed now being used. We do have this site recorded each year since 2016. 
We did also note activity on the Coach House with definite sightings of a bird leaving from the eave level on the gable, but things seem to happen so quick that we could not be sure at just which point the nest site was.  We also thought that maybe a bird also was using a site on the rear of the property, but again no official confirmation. 

We also had a regular 3 birds flying together at times in the vicinity over the Coach House and the Manor House, this bringing the total seen in the sky to at least 12 birds. Little in the way of screaming parties tonight.

Tonights observers included: Reg Hesketh, Hugh and Sue Miles, Bryan Yorke.

Nest sites occupied so far = (18) plus probable 2 at Clawthorpe. 

Post Office Buildings (1)
Cocking Yard (4) maxed
Royal Cottage rear (4) maxed
Royal Cottage front (4) out of 7
Coach House gable and rear (1?) out of 4
Manor House gable, front and annexe (4) out of 6
Clawthorpe Hall Offices (?) seen 3 birds in skies overhead

The next Swift watch will be next Friday 28th June 2019 (PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF NIGHT FOR JUST THIS WEEK) - Meeting at the Memorial Hall at 2000hrs - Everyone Welcome  

Burton Swifts - Thursday 13th June 2019 week

We met as usual at the Burton Memorial Hall, it was dry and holding off but very damp all around. Obviously tonight was not the right conditions for the Swifts to be seen and we only had a single bird in the skies above the Memorial Hall and a pair in the skies above Coach House and Manor House. It is difficult to understand where the birds go when it's like this, do they go further afield to find food (which we think is the most likely) returning every now and again to their nest sites to pass food over, or is it that they are going high up to a point they cannot be seen!

We spent short periods on Caterpillar Walk trying to look over to the backs of Cocking Yard, because we had seen a bird which seemed to go down to its nest in that area (although we could not confirm), but did see the gentlemen who lives there and he told us that although he has not actually seen the bird go in to the eaves of his property, he thinks there is a pair present because he is hearing them scuffling about. 

We continued checking out at the rear of the Royal Cottage and pleasantly surprised to have two separate Swifts go into two of the sites on the rear annexe eg: the large slit on the corner, and the small hole just further up from the large slit. The skies had seemed empty but just now and again you get a treat! Nothing was showing on the front of the Royal Cottage elevation.

We quickly moved over to the Manor house where again we saw no activity although there were two birds in the skies which could have been from the Manor House or there again could have been from the Coach House.  We spent 15/20 minutes but never saw anything going into nest sites.

Observers tonight included:  Reg Hesketh, Sue Miles and Bryan Yorke

The next Swift watch will be next Thursday 20th June 2019 - Meeting at the Memorial Hall at 2000hrs - Everyone Welcome  

********

Worrying news!

Below is a piece recently issued by the RSPB and put on the Rare Bird Alert web pages: 

Wildlife experts who work to save the UK’s dwindling Swift population are concerned at the late arrival of these birds, which nest here after spending the winter in Africa. Many Swifts have arrived up to two weeks late, and the RSPB has received numerous calls and emails from people concerned at their absence.

What might have caused this delay? Swifts would normally begin their journeys north from Africa in April. Their epic 6,000 mile journey is often fraught with hazards but weather conditions this year may have made migration especially difficult.

When the birds arrived in Europe, they were faced with serious climatic challenges. This year there have been distressing stories from Italy and Spain showing that Swifts, some of which may have been on their way to UK nest sites, have even been killed by storms and cold wet weather. Doomed to die of starvation and hypothermia, they have been trying to survive overnight by clinging to each other on walls to avoid the wind and rain.

Swift expert Edward Mayer, who runs the Swift Conservation website and free advice service, says “There has been some really appalling spring weather this year in Italy, France, Spain and the Balkans. Temperatures should have been in the 30s but were in the low teens, and much lower at night, with prolonged rain storms making things even worse. This suppresses the Swifts’ flying insect food, soaks and chills them - and can kill them”.

The unseasonably low temperatures in southern Europe will have made life even harder for these small birds desperately needing to refuel for the final leg of their journey. Then predominantly northerly winds have made flying north even harder.

Although these are extraordinarily resilient birds, Swifts that make it to the UK face further challenges. They typically nest under the eaves of houses but in recent years many of these spaces have been blocked up leaving the birds with the difficult task of finding somewhere new to raise their young during the limited time they spend here. The RSPB ran a campaign between February and April to encourage people to make new homes for them, by buying either a specially made nestbox or making one of their own.

“Swifts have huge public support in the UK” says Jamie Wyver, the RSPB’s Swift Lead. “Our supporters and social media followers are incredibly enthusiastic about them, and earlier this year we sold well over 1,000 new Swift nestboxes! As well as our own regional teams working hard to make sure these birds have plenty of places to nest, there are around 75 independent local Swift groups.”

The RSPB’s John Day and fellow Swift experts Dick Newell and Edward Mayer recently had published a co-authored article providing advice for ecologists in the membership journal of the Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM). The article outlines ways in which new building developments can easily accommodate homes for Swifts, neatly built inside wall cavities. These “nest bricks” should be added typically in small clusters of two to four to gables of houses, as Swifts prefer to nest close to one another.

Everyone can help Swifts this summer by adding sightings of the birds nesting or flying around roofs to the RSPB’s Swift Survey: rspb.org.uk/Swiftsurvey. Data gathered in the survey are used to show which sites are most important for Swifts.

There’s also an opportunity to get out and enjoy the Swifts that have made it back this year and learn how to help boost their numbers during Swift Awareness Week, from Saturday 22 to Sunday 30 June. This will highlight the plight of this iconic bird and show how everyone can help by, for example putting up Swift nest boxes and gardening for wildlife. Over 70 local events have been organised during the week so far, from the south coast to the north of Scotland. Further details of each event can be found on the Action for Swifts website.

RSPB
11 June 2019

Burton Swifts - Thursday 6th June 2019 week

Burton Swifts - Thursday 6th June 2019 watch

Tonight I would say was perhaps the best night so far for both activity and recording nesting sites.  The weather was clear and warm and we can imagine it creating a large mass of insects at moderate altitudes.  We counted approx 15 birds in and around the Memorial Hall and a further 8 birds in and around the Manor House/Coaching House areas.  We did suspect that non-breeding birds could well have swelled the numbers.  There were plenty of screaming chasing parties with one party up to 8 birds. At times some of the birds flew low eg: below the Main Street telephone wires. We did notice on the Manor House that birds (up to 3 in the party) but one in particular was investigating a hole on the front of the House as though perhaps canvassing for a site for next year! it checked out this hole on two separate occasions and held itself at the hole entrance for several seconds before flying off again.

Also we did well this evening with 2019 nesting sites, we had a pair of birds seen to go into a new eaves sites on the post office block, just inches away from the two old established nest sites. Also we had a further two birds seen going into two (regular) sites on the front of the Royal Cottage, bring this front elevation up to 4 sites already this year and not forgetting the 3 sites on the rear already recorded. We were eager to start seeing some activity at the Manor House and Coaching House, well as far as the Manor House our watch paid off and before long we saw a single bird going into the gable end corner, also on the front elevation of the Manor House we saw another bird going into a eaves site one metre from the left hand corner (a established site) and we were lucky enough to see yet another bird again using the eaves at the left hand side of the lower annexed building to the right hand of the main building.

12 Nest sites already recorded being used (2019) are:
Post Office buildings - 1
Hangings Farm - 1
Royal Cottage rear and return - 3
Royal Cottage front - 4
Manor House Gable and front elevation - 3

Tonights observers included: Reg Hesketh, Branwen Kilburn and Bryan Yorke

The next Swift watch will be next Thursday 13th June 2019 - Meeting at the Memorial Hall at 2000hrs - Everyone Welcome