PeCAN trustee for Nature Recovery Melanie Oxley tells us what was discussed at a recent talk about swifts, for Swift Awareness Week:
Thirty five interested residents from Petersfield and surrounding villages came to hear Catharine Gale, a trustee with Hampshire Swifts, talk about these remarkable birds. Although this was her third presentation for PeCAN in Petersfield, it seems our interest in swifts only grows, which is a very good thing.
Research and monitoring swifts underpins the many grass-roots swift groups that have grown all over the country, adding to the knowledge of these birds, about which there is still a lot to discover. Findings on the migration patterns of swifts from an 11-year study by an international team, including the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), had us transfixed with wonder. While most migratory birds follow a pattern called leap-frog migration, swifts use a rare pattern called chain-migration, probably because, uniquely, they spend their entire life in the air except when nesting.
Swifts that migrate here to breed can visit as many as 16 countries in one continuous flight, feeding as they go, spending longer in areas that are rich in aerial insects to refuel, albeit always on the wing! Thanks to tracking devices, researchers discovered that swifts migrating from Southern Africa to breed in Northern Europe usually take a faster, more direct route, yet on the return journey they take a slower, more meandering flight along the west coast of Africa, perhaps because their sense of urgency has gone. Swifts make use of favourable tail winds on migration, and they are able to sense changes in air pressure, which can result in them flying further to avoid bad weather.
Hampshire Swifts has been surveying swift nest sites and monitoring swift-boxes in and around Winchester since 2018 and have put up over 500 swift-boxes in the city. We were heartened to hear that having swift-boxes installed, especially if they can be grouped together, as we are attempting here with Petersfield's Swift Streets, can result in more swifts breeding.
The Hospital of St Cross is a great example of this. You can read about the beginnings of the project here. The number of nest boxes there has since increased to 35, and you can find a 2023 update here.
In Winchester, as elsewhere, the swifts’ natural nesting sites are being destroyed due to modernisation of the built environment. But as many more swift-boxes are now available in the city for the swifts to nest in, since 2018 there has been approximately a 30% increase in swifts breeding.
Hampshire Swifts is keen to keep adding data to this project and needs us to help by reporting sightings of swifts entering a cavity in a building or a nest box, either in Winchester or elsewhere in Hampshire. They need these reports of nest sites every year.
To report your sighting of a swift nest use the Hampshire Swifts Survey form here.
Many of us in Petersfield, where over 100 swift-boxes are already installed, have realised we need to be patient, as it can take a few years for the birds to find their potential new homes - but once they have found your swift-box, the same pair will return year after year! Worth waiting for.
Please consider making a donation to Hampshire Swifts, to support their vitally important work for this species.