A swift summer

Louise Bentley looks to the skies and listens for the sounds of summer…

They will soon be here again with the promise of summer and proof that the globe is indeed still working; as Ted Hughes wrote in his wonderfully evocative poem, “Swifts”.

Swifts and house martins are masters of the built environment, although they have suffered steep declines, they still breed right across the country. So, wherever you are, keep your eyes to the skies in the coming weeks.

House martins, distinguished by their bright white rumps, build closed cup mud nests, under deep eaves.

These chatty little birds will get straight to work, collecting mud for nest building or repairs. They are family-orientated birds too, as the first brood will often help their parents raise their younger siblings. If you live near a colony of martins the best thing you can do to help, is to put up an artificial nest bowl.

Swifts are one of the last migrant birds to arrive, look for their dark arrowhead silhouettes, skimming through the skies from early May. Listen for their screaming calls, as they chase each other across rooftops, reaching speeds of up to 70mph.

They will reserve the very best displays for warm, still days when their antics easily rival a Red Arrow airshow.

On other days they are concentrating on the serious job of procreation. The pair meet on the nest site each spring, which is usually a hole in a roof space, they do not build mud nests and although they mate for life, they only spend three months of the year together.

After renewing their pair-bonds, they will share parental duties, eggs are incubated for 20 days, then it’s all systems go feeding the hungry swiftlets for the next six weeks.

To hear more about our spring and summer visitors check out our sightings blog on the website www.lancswt. org.uk

When the young are ready to fledge, they go alone, often beginning their African migration immediately, although they will join with other swifts on the way. Being the non-stop bird, fledglings will not touch land until they are ready to breed themselves as two or three-year-old birds.

These summer visitors do us a great service, consuming billions of pesky insects each year, so please be kind to them and avoid using pesticides in your gardens.

In 2016 we set up a local project, Bolton and Bury Swifts, aiming to reverse the decline of swifts and martins who are losing their homes in the eaves of buildings, due to roofing renovations.

We are encouraging people to put up boxes and bowls, we are asking architects, planners, and developers to include swift bricks in new building developments.

We need more voices asking for these simple enhancements as, sadly, in some areas whilst house building is at pace, provision for buildingdependent species is scarce.

Why not survey your area this summer and record any colonies of martins or swifts you find with your local environmental records centre? Locating colonies is the key to protecting them. To find your local environmental record centre, visit: www.alerc.org.uk

For further information email Louise at boltonandburyswifts@outlook.com