Jonathan Pomroy
Wildlife and Landscape Artist
All images displayed on this web site are © Jonathan Pomroy
Tel: 01439 788014
Swifts prospecting for nest sites
I saw my first Swifts of 2008 above Skipton, North Yorkshire on 26th April. It is always thrilling to see the beautiful shape of a Swift in the sky nearly nine months after their departure from England. The first bird above our village arrived on 5th May. The following day numbers of Swifts reached double figures over the village with some screaming past one known nest site. A pair of swifts were seen mating in the air on May 9th.
On May 25th I watched four Swifts screaming around the rock face of Malham Cove in the Yorkshire Dales. These nesting sites in rock crevices are about two hundred feet above the ground. This spectacular rock amphitheatre also plays host to nesting Peregrines and many pairs of House Martins.
On 30th May a single Swift stooped towards our eaves at 9.37pm. This was the first direct interest in our house by a Swift in 2008. On June 26th I was woken by a pair of Swifts screaming past the nest box by our bedroom window at 4.09am, highlighting the long day of a non- breeding Swift in mid summer- they were commonly seen gathering to roost at 10pm, sometimes sharing the airspace with Noctule bats. The summer of 2008 was often wet, windy and cool. This meant that non breeding Swifts were often absent for days- for example, none were seen around local colonies between 5th- 14th July. The adults feeding young at these colonies were forced to gather their insect food very low over rivers and water meadows.
Swift landing on nest box-
But on fine days they returned. On 14th July a Swift perched on one of the nest boxes briefly and during warmer weather at the end of the month visits by prospecting Swifts increased. We were also treated to spectacular screaming flypasts by up to seven Swifts but to my knowledge no further contact with the boxes was made. Will 2009 see a Swift entering one of my nestboxes?
Swifts 2008