Sorry its been such a long time since my last blog. We have been away again and have not been able to access cameras. Lots has happened. Very soon after the last post there were only 2 chicks in the bedroom nest and only one in the other nest. I have briefly been home over the last week and on one occasion could only see 1 in the bedroom nest. Went into the attic to find that one chick had gone walkabout and had got stuck under a board. Following other swift blogs I had heard that an abandoned chick had been moved to another and successfully adopted and fledged. With that knowledge I felt confident to pick it up and return it to its nest. This was late last week and it is well and being fed.

Two short clips firstly from bedroom nest showing the 2 chicks.

Second clip from the chimney nest. With only one to feed note how much bigger this one is as they hatched at the same time.

Great weather for swifts. Warm and sunny. yesterday evening at 9pm there were 8 swifts screaming round the house and this morning I counted 9. Have not yet had the time to sit outside and see how many are nesting in the house but I think we have 4 pairs. 2 nests I can not access.

Short clip from yesterday the bedroom nest just to show how much they have grown in 1 day.

A short clip from the chimney nest showing parent with chicks.

Just a small update. I now am sure that there are 3 chicks in both nests. The bedroom nest with the best views was left by the adults late this evening and this short clip shows 3 chicks.

Its warmer today and the swifts seem to have enough confidence to leave the chicks. Its out of focus but here is a short clip from the other camera showing 3 chicks in the nest.

I am lucky now to have two nests and a total of 5 chicks.

Its been a while. We have been away in Greece. There were a few swifts there (making me wonder why ours come all the way to the UK passing the Med with great weather and plenty of insects to the rain and wind here) but the birding highlight was the fledging of 5 swallows from a nest about 2 feet above a comfortable sitting place used most of the time.

Arriving home there was at least one swift on both nests then yesterday I got these 2 clips.

I was very lucky catching them at hand over. I think from their size that they hatched yesterday. One arrives to feed the two chicks while the one “at home” goes off to catch more insects for the chicks. This confirms that 2 chicks have hatched in this nest. I think at least one has hatched in the other nest but no confirmation yet. The camera on the other nest is too close so not in focus and hard to see detail.