It has been another busy period for the fantastic Woodbridge Swifts project! Nick Marshall from Woodbridge Swifts provides an update on the breeding season.
The skies may have been silent since August, but we can look back on the three summer months when the swifts were with us with satisfaction. We have more boxes, more nest sites, and these are gradually increasing year by year.
The mild and early spring this year led to some early records of returning summer visitors, including swifts. My first one was on 26th April at the Martlesham sewage works, at least a week earlier than expected, and by the first week of May some of our birds were already back in their nest boxes.
Following the good breeding season last year the number of swifts in and around the town this summer was good. We knew of 60 occupied nest sites in Woodbridge last year, and this year’s total was at least 72. Typically a successful pair of swifts will fledge between 1 and 3 chicks – the unusually high number of nests reported as producing 3 chicks this year is another encouraging trend.
This was no doubt helped by the warm, dry weather and consequently good supply of insects, which may explain another interesting aspect of this year’s breeding season. A number of observers had reported that birds were not disappearing during the middle part of the day as much as usual. Swifts are known to travel huge distances daily in search of food, but this year there were apparently enough insects available in and around the town for the birds not to need to travel so far.
At the beginning/middle of July we saw the usual influx of non-breeding birds, retuning to prospect for next year’s nest sites. Woodbridge echoed to the seemingly joyous screams of the swifts and then…. nothing, overnight they were gone. A few stragglers or late breeders who didn’t get the memo remained, but the majority of birds left a week or so earlier than usual.
This year’s apparently successful breeding season bodes well for next year – at least for Woodbridge, and hopefully elsewhere.
Nest box cameras
A final word about nest box cameras. A camera in your swift nest box can greatly enhance your enjoyment of the swifts’ brief presence with us. You can observe the behaviour of the adults and chicks as they develop. You can even watch them when you are away on holiday!
For more information, you can email: [email protected].
Find out more about nature recovery and swifts in the Suffolk & Essex Coast & Heaths National Landscape at https://coastandheaths-nl.org.uk/managing/nature-recovery/.