Swift Half update - 23rd August 2010

• Just a quick "pre-post" to say that we are back from a two week break on the Greek island of Kefalonia (where we did see a few migrating swifts - more on that soon).
• I will post properly (on Kefalonia and Swift Half) when I get more time...

Swift Half Update - 28th July 2010 - ROOF EMPTY.

• It is with a heavy heart, tinged with a little pride and relief that I blog today to tell anyone interested that our family of Swifts have now ALL left their nest for the summer. The last to leave was the female, who had been roosting in the roof on her own for the past two nights - but not last night - the nest space was empty for the first time in over 3 months. A timeline to their season can be seen below:

1. 23rd April - I see my first Berkshire Swifts of the year.
2. 24th April - Male Swift roosts in our roof for first time this year. (Day 1 of occupation).
3. 27th April - Female Swift takes up residency - nest buidling immediately begins.
4. 5th May - Both adults start to roost together in nest space.
5. 17th May - First egg (A) laid (Day 24 of occupation).
6. 19th May - Second egg (B) laid (Day 26 of occupation)
7. 21st May - Third and final egg (C) laid (Day 28 of occupation).
8. 23rd May - Second egg (B) rejected and ignored, eggs A and C incubated still.
9. 6th June - Egg (A) hatches (20 days after being laid).
10. 10th June - Egg (C) hatches (20 days after being laid).
11. 18th July - Chick from egg (A) fledges (42 days or 6wks exactly after hatching). Chick not seen again (leaves nest, leaves for good). One chick left in nest with parents.
12. 22nd July - Chick from egg (C) fledges (42 days or 6 wks exactly after hatching). Chick not seen again (leaves nest leaves for good). Only adults left in nest.
13. 22nd/23rd/24th July - both adults continue to roost together in nest at night.
14. 25th July - Adult male leaves nest, 92 days after arriving. Adult female left in nest alone.
15. 25th/26th July -Adult female continues to roost alone in the nest at night.
16. 27th July - Adult female leaves nest, 92 days after arriving. No swifts in nest at night. All swifts gone.
17. Swifts still flying over house, I can't tell whether these are are family or not.
18. I expect ALL Swifts to be gone from berkshire by 1st week of August (we are on holiday then, so won't see them leave).

• A few points to note - All three eggs laid two days apart.
• Both incubated eggs hatched exactly 20 days after laying.
• Both chicks fledged exactly 42 days (6 weeks) after hatching.
• Both adults spent exactly 92 days/nights in nest (female arrived a few days later than male).

• There you are grapple fans, I wish our swifts well, and if Anna and I are still around next year, I'll welcome them back with a fair amount of joy, at the end of next April.... Until then, you'll excuse me if I get quite sad, I'm sure...

Swift Half SWIFT update - 25th July 2010

• This (unique, I hope) SWIFT update post should put you in the picture re our family of swifts, which we (and you?) have been watching all summer, until that rather untimely computer incident on the 16th July here, put pay to any live web feed of our growing family.
• On the 18th July 2010, the eldest of the swift chicks fledged. We haven't seen this chick again, since this date. From the 18th (night) there were 2 adults roosting in the nest, and the youngest chick.
• The youngest chick, between the 18th and 22nd July, was left alone for very long periods during the day. The parents would come back with food, but not as often as before. This growing (and sole, now) chick would spend the majority of its day, stretching its perfect little wings, fanning its tail, and preparing itself for the big off. We expected this to happen every day after the 18th.... but:
• The second and last chick to fledge didn't do so until the 22nd July. We've not seen this chick since either. On that day, there were a series of ALMIGHTY thunderstorms round here, and south England - what a day to fledge! I hope the little chap (chappess) avoided all the storms - or its first day out of the nest would have been its last. I would like to think he/she would have avoided these very heavy but very localised downpours (and lightning bolts) just fine.
• Since the night of the 22nd July, I haven't seen the two fledglings, but BOTH parents still return to the roof space each night to roost together. There's something quite endearing about that I think - I felt sure that once the young had gone, the adults would to. NOT so. I can't speak for tonight yet (obviously) but last night, both parents were roosting overnight in the roof again - reserving strength for the big push back to sub-Saharan Africa I suppose.
• When will they ALL go? When will the nest be empty until next year? Who can tell. I would fully expect though to have both parents (and chicks, wherever they are) to migrate down to the SW of England first (Devon/Cornwall) in August and then once their reserves had been built up, fly over the channel, over continental Europe, over Gibraltar, over N.Africa, over the Sahara and back to sub Saharan Africa - arriving there, mid September at the latest (if they make it at all). Anna and I are on holiday in early August - I expect our adults will start the push south (and not roost in the roof) about that time.
• NB. In case you've forgotten - (for both young fledglings this year) - they spent 2 or so months in our roof - in a nest space about the size of a shoe box. When they launched into the air for the first time (18th for Swift a, 22nd July for Swift b) the change to their life was absolutely IMMENSE. Both of the young swifts would have had to taken flight (and not landed in error) immediately - they wouldn't have the capacity like all other birds, to take a short training first flight and land on a nearby wall, fence or tree. Fly they did, or die they would. Completely and utterly unique amongst ALL birds.
• Each new flying swift would have to immediately rely on instinct and other surrounding swifts, to fly higher and higher at dusk, and rely on sleeping on the wing, rather than what they'd been used to for the first two months of their lives, sleeping in the nest with three others to keep them warm. Another IMMENSE change.
• Each new flying swift would have had to rely on instinct (purely) to immediately start hunting for itself. If it didn't start to catch food for itself, it wouldn't even last a day. Another IMMENSE achievement.
• Both of our our swifts will now have to fly to sub Saharan Africa in August (not landing once) spend the winter there (no landing) and fly back to this part of the world in April next year (no landing still). If one of our fledged chicks was a female - there's a chance she might breed in her mother's nest (our roof) next year (only if her mother doesn't return though - swifts return year after year not only to the same locality, but to the same NEST!) If the nest that she was born in this year is already taken, our 1 year old female will have to find another - and then finally land (touch down) for the first time in May next year. NINE MONTHS after she left our roof this year and she's been to south Africa and back in that time, and not stopped flying AT ALL during those months. Incredible eh, but not as incredible as the case if any of our swift fledglings this year were male....
• IF any of our little swifts that fledged this year are male, they will face all the tests immediately that any young female will face, and they will return here next May. But. Chances are they will not breed in their first year and spend the summer here, screaming around in "raiding parties", and perhaps (most probably in fact) not land at all here next year. It will be 21 (TWENTY ONE) months before any of the young male chicks that fledged this year, land again here or land anywhere for that matter - in those twenty one months, they will have not stopped flying ONCE, not landed once, and been to sub Saharan Africa and back TWICE.
• I hope you appreciate just how incredible these birds are. They may not be as pretty as Swallows for example, not as clever as Jays, not as majestic as eagles, not as pretty as kingfishers, but in my opinion - they beat ALL these birds. There's nothing like swifts, nothing at all, and I feel very humbled and very privileged to have seen the intimate life in nest of our young family this year. I hope you've enjoyed the footage I managed to pump through live on the web. Apologies again for the issues during the chick's last week.
• Good news is I have managed to record some lovely footage (with sound) of the Swifts last week via video. The parents feeding the last chick, amazing footage of the last chick preparing itself for its massive first flight, and the last few roosts. All very good quality (much better than the web feed). I will look to turn this footage into a DVD in the next two months and post the short clips on this website, so you'll not have missed anything after all -just need a few months to get that stuff onto DVD.
• Anyhoo - thats our swifts. The "Swift Half" swifts. First one arrived April 23rd. Last chick to fledge went July 22nd. Almost exactly three months. As I write this, I expect both parents will roost together in the nest again tonight. That will stop soon though. I'll let you know.
• Thanks very much for bothering to be a little interested in my favourite birds of all. They need YOUR help. Please visit all the Swift sites I've linked to on this blog, and in february next year, pop a swift box up under your eves. Go on....! TBR.

Swift half news - 4th July 2010

• We have yet another blackbird nest in the rear (rear) garden - the third blackbird nest this year and unfortunately the kittens have found it again. It looks slightly more protected than the other two, and both spostles will have a bit of trouble raiding it I think. Raid it they will though I'm sure - fending off a very aggressive male blackbird (he's been really dive-bombing both cats) on the way.
• Flower report - the eldderflower is gone and the honeysuckle & potato flowers are virtually gone.
• Still no rain of any sort to speak of - and not much forecast for the month ahead they say (not that I trust any weather forecast which delves more than three days into the future!)
• I am having great fun watching our growing swifts in the nest. They have incredible mouths don't they? Like Pac-man or Elmo (for Sesame street officianados). I think they will be gone within a fortnight now - maybe sooner - so much earlier than our original guesses of 26th and 28th July...

Swift half news - 27th June 2010

• The heatwave continues - set to go to 31c today.
• The swifts are getting bigger and bigger (as you'll see if you've been watching the live feed on this blog) - both parents are feeding them as many flies as they can -returning to the nest with swollen crops full of flies rolled into a "bolus".
• The entrance hole to the swift nest is coming in for a lot of attention not only from the sparrows (who have a nest in the same bit of roof remember) but also juvenile starlings and raiding parties of yearling male swifts - I watched a dozen or so swifts for a few hours today, all from the garden. (see my swift photos on flickr).
  
  
• You'll also have noticed that the swiftlets in the nest are panting heavily - their huge gapes wide open - it must be incredibly hot under those tiles. We really could do with a little rain and a few cooler nights -if only for the little swifts!
• I cleared out the pond yesterday (well got rid of a barrel-load of blanket weed anyway) - we have a water lily bud under the water -maybe now it'll have the space to get to the pond surface and flower.
• No dragonflies over the pond this year yet - not even common darters.
• All the rose and cockchafers are "eclosing" from the lawn - Yala and Malu (our kits) like them a lot!
• A few moths in the trap -buff ermines, green pug, heart and club - nothing really spectacular though.
• The young woodpeckers (and parents) are still returning to the woodpecker - attractor for their grub.
• Two young robins in the garden also, and a new woodpigeon nest in one of the damson trees.
• One of our home-made elderflower champagne bottles exploded in the privy this week - come round to ablute and you can also get drunk at the same time, just by using our outside lav!
• Yala has had a major scuffle last night - at least two nasty cuts under her fur and she is acting very strangely today -almost looks drunk - very slow, very unfriendly -she's obviously in a bit of pain - does another trip to the vets beckon?
• Loads of strawberries in garden
• First red runner bean flowers appearing
• Sunflower growing nicely

Swift half news - 30th May 2010

• Heading helter-skelter into June now (the year is flying by eh - 3 weeks and the nights will be drawing in again!)
• Malu has found the second blackbirds nest in the back garden (once again built in a spot where predators can take out the chicks with no effort at all - blackbirds don't half build their nests in terrible places). Over the last two days he's taken all three nestlings (by the look of them only 4 days old) and killed them all outside the back door. Again, there was nothing I could do about this. Malu 6 - 2 Yala is now the kill score.
• Eighteen of my bee holes are now occupied with egg, pollen and sealed - a resounding success this year.
• Woodpeckers drumming on large trees in and around Swift Half - very late to start displaying - I assume the male is just letting nomadic woodpeckers know that this is his territory (remember there were two males in the garden this winter, as well as a female), and that he has chicks by now, I hope, somewhere.
• No dragonflies over pond yet, but blue damselflies have joined the red damselflies in the garden now.
• Swifts still only incubating 2 (from 3) eggs...

Swift half news - 12th May 2010

• Three of the four blackbird eggs in the honeysuckle have hatched - the fourth is imminent I think - but I still think eventually these wee birds are going to be tea for our cats unfortunately.
• A new species of bird in the garden today - a Whitethroat (a summer warbler - gone back to Africa come the autumn). A really nice find - and I'm convinced now that the mystery bird I saw drinking from the pond last summer was also a whitethroat now. I wonder if we'll get our hawfinch back - a real stunner - seen once last year in one of the damson trees.
• The swifts brought back another big fluffy down feather (from a pigeon again I think) to their nest space in the roof. No eggs yet though...

Swift half news - 7th May 2010

• Both swifts still in roof - its a real shame that the camstreams footage any viewer sees really is terrible quality compared to my direct link to the roof space. I put what I see on the computer next to the embedded camstream footage (on this site or the camstream site) and the quality just does not compare - I can see every feather detail on the swifts - but on the camstreams feed - its so much softer and blurry. You get what you pay for I suppose - and this camstream site was free!
• Malu (male kitten) has done something to his left eye - bloodshoot, bit squinty - we'll call the vets tomorrow morning if it doesn't improve overnight.
• 14 bee holes sealed now, and 14 bees still visible in other (unsealed) holes in the bee post - like I've said before - an incredible success this year!
• Very small (juvenile) newt seen in pond for first time tonight.

General (county) news - 5th May 2010

• First real hatch of sedge flies on the Thames this morning.


• First really good numbers of swifts overhead (I counted 15 or so over Caversham Weir, Reading, at 7am)


• Pair of terns now over Caversham Weir.


• All Black Swan cygnets now hatched (eight in all I think, from two separate adult pairs).


• Coots broods hatching also.

Swift half news - 3rd May 2010

• Our swift got up very late today - maybe around 10am, and bad news - sparrows are moving nesting material into the swift roof space. Not much material granted, but there's certainly a little turf wars going on...
• Next door neighbours' vixen was out late this morning also - around 8:30am, and the girls (our hens - Couven and Cutlery) were a little twitchy. Cutlery is still having trouble producing decent eggs, but she managed a reasonable one this morning, and both girls took an extended dust bath this afternoon.
• Both (quite large) fox cubs seen in neighbours' garden at 9:15 tonight - quite bold they were...
• 5 potato plants above ground now.
• Hen blackbird still sitting on her (doomed) eggs in honeysuckle.
• Cold week ahead (northerly wind) - may put the breeding/hatching/growing back a bit.
• The mason bees in my post are really busy though - plenty of pollen brought back to the holes by the bees this morning. I think we'll have a full compliment of eggs in bricked-up holes by june at this rate - at present I have 5 holes all bricked up with pollen and egg in (to hatch next year) and twelve occupied holes (I can see the bee inside the hole) ready to be bricked up soon I hope). Wonderful stuff - my bee post is unbeelievably successful this year!

Swift half news - 29th April 2010

• You might have noticed that in my introduction to this (my) new blog, at the start of April, I suggested I'd post quite infrequently - but whilst my favourite birds of all are back with us (our swifts), I'll probably post every day. They're here for about twelve weeks - that's all.
• Great news for this blog today - I have connected the Handykam Swift Cam (click on any handykam flashing label on this page to visit their site) via a Gardenature USB connector to the PC - and from today, 28th April 2o10, I can feed live footage of our swift space in the roof of our house "Swift Half", to anyone that's running a computer that has the capacity to handle live webcam footage, and isn't blocked by firewalls (at work for example!) This webstream can be seen at the top of the blog's front page.
• Regarding the web feed - I am limited to ten viewers at any one time and also limited by the fact that I have to have the computer on to broadcast. It's a free service, so I guess thats fair. BUT. If you see an "offline" still- it either means I've turned the computer off, or there are already ten viewers around the world, watching the webstream.
• At present, there is generally only one swift in the space at any one time, we think the female, but two are around (we hope a pair).
• Very often, the swift(s) are hunting constantly during the day - please remember these birds are virtually unique amongst birds - they are flying machines - built to fly and not much else. They do everything on the wing - sleep (when not breeding), mate, preen, drink, catch prey and even catch and bring feathers and grass in the air, on the wing and bring it back to the nest site. The only time you will ever see a swift land is when it is breeding. Very often a young male, upon fledging, will spend it's first two YEARS on the wing - and not land ONCE in that time. Their latin name, Apus apus, quite literally means "No foot. No foot" They do have feet of course, but their legs are incredibly short and they are pretty inept at walking. Our British swifts are all chocolate brown in colour, with a white patch under their beaks. Quite incredible are swifts - and thats why I find them fascinating.
• As for our footage - generally there is always a swift in the roof space between 20:30 at night and 07:30 in the morning. Quite a lot of preening and sleeping, and not much else right now, but Anna and I are very hopeful we will get an egg or two before too long.
• Swifts generally have 2 or 3 eggs, and until then, almost all footage of swifts in the roof space will be at night (UK time). Once (if?!) eggs are laid, then it all changes, and both parents (if both are still alive) will incubate and also both will bring food to the chicks regularly, should the eggs hatch.
• This food is pure and simple mashed up insects, caught on the wing (of course) and rolled into a "bolus" in the parents' swollen crops. If this occurs, you might well notice their white chins (crops) bulging with flies and beetles, brought in for the young. Swifts catch thousands and thousands (maybe 10,000+) insects a day.
• This is all speculation however (as far as our swifts are concerned) - as some viewers to this site might know, I found a dead adult swift and an unhatched egg in the roof space during the winter - last year (and the two years before) were not good for our swifts in the UK -and combine the poor weather with the lack of nest sites (we like our houses to be neat and tidy these days - no gaps under the roof etc...) and its fair to say that our British swifts are in REAL trouble.
• You can also watch our swift cam on camstreams live (see "my links" on the RHS of this page or click HERE).
• Today? Well - at least one of the swifts has caught two small fluffy pigeon down feathers in mid air of course and brought them into the nest. The female (probably) might glue these together with a little swift saliva to form a, cough, nest. Hem. There was a swift in the space when I started broadcasting live at 5pm tonight (UK time), but I think they're hunting again now. Its pretty humid here tonight, I guess the insects are out in force for them. EDIT - One swift (the female I hope) returned to the roof at 7:30pm. It has an hour or so of light still today, so may disappear for a while before settling down for the night - watch to see...
• Well anyway - Anna and I hope you enjoy our live swift footage at "Swift Half", and we hope even more that we have a successful swift year.

Swift half news - 27th April 2010

• Day 4 of occupation of our roof by the lone swift and..... I think he's found a mate!


• This evening I watched two swifts courting (well... not fight anyway) in the skies above the house and as I type, one has gone in and I think (she?) is starting to arrange the grass strands in the space - mixed in with a little swift saliva.


• I think (she?) looks sleeker and prettier than (him?) also -but I may be wrong here.


• Anyhoo - there are definitely two swifts interested in the space now, and if I was a gambling man, I'd put money on the female now occupying the space.


• I'm recording constantly now (its tea-time for me and my mate) so I'll see soon enough if I was right I guess...


• Other news - Malu caught a holly blue butterfly today and I wrestled it off him before he could eat that too...


• Another queen tree bumblebee in honeysuckle this afternoon also.


• Full moon tonight -sometimes known as the egg moon or seed moon or growing moon in the UK in April...

Swift half news - 24th April 2010

• OUR SWIFTS ARE BACK AT "SWIFT HALF"!
• We have a roosting swift, called in by my phone in our roof - came home today.
• Live footage via a camera in its nest space is beamed onto out tv.
• Now I've got to work out how to rig it up to the computer and put this live feed on the web!
• Anna and I are VERY happy!
• Click HERE to find out more about the lives of British swifts (in Oxford).
• Click HERE to visit the most comprehensive "swift website".

General (county) news - 20th April 2010

• Airspace over UK opened again for the first time in over 5days. I saw 4 planes this afternoon!
• I know a lone swift (my favourite bird of all) was reported in Berkshire yesterday, so my eyes and ears (?!) are peeled now for the homecoming!
• My sister let me know today that the swifts are in Paris and have been for a day
• A pal from Jersey also told me today that he saw three swifts pass through the island today.
• I am ready...

• NB. A friend of mine in Ireland has sent me a link today (after airspace was tentatively opened over the UK again) to watch live plane radar on the web. The site is a little slow, but I thoroughly recommend it. Click HERE or use the 24hr flight radar (live) link in my "general interest links" to the right of this page.

Swift half news - 11th April 2010

• Bee-flies appear in territorial flights above patio
• BLUE MASON BEES (my favourites!) return to bee post
• 7-spot and 14-spot ladybirds mating in garden undergrowth
• Early mining bees (Andrena hameorrhoa) mining nests in lawn
• Buzzards overhead on thermals

I do hope the swifts make it back to their nest (video camera still in place). If they do make it back, it will be between two and three weeks from now, thats all...

General (county) news

• Bluebells not in flower yet (2 weeks away?) but foliage thickly covering local woods.
• Toads back to breeding ponds (they've crossed their roads etc...).
• Most hirundines back in UK (but waiting on swifts - 3 weeks?).
• Many birds (blackbirds, mallards etc...) sitting on eggs already.
• Local Barn Owls still not in breeding hole(s).
• Weather very unsettled still.