On the subject of Swifts a lot of new birds appeared on the scene on Friday night with one very agile character displaying in very near darkness this involved the most aggressive and super fast flying (often at head height) I have ever seen; it was circling the house and ‘whacking’ my latest Swift-box (Mk IV) with a tremendous force. The birds were again much in evidence the following morning with a larger pair once again banging at the entrances of the box in the same manner as the previous evening they were also causing some minor inconvenience to the sitting Hs Martin’s checking out their homes on the west wall with the expected response that involved a great flurry of activity from the sitting birds. I agree there appears to be more Swifts around this year so far but they are so elusive I would be happy to have a non-breeder aboard as I have been making and experimenting with various designed boxes over the last four years and the current model is the best to date in terms of response (pic attached) its got a brick effect finish and integrated mini speakers. The House Martins are having a good year with six active nests two of which have fledged birds; I’ve lost the plot with counting the birds this year as there is so much nest hopping it’s become more of a commune than a colony on my wall!!
Tony Clark