Some fairly light rain this morning then brightened up this afternoon. Adults out most of the day and feeding the chicks well. Both sets of parents are very attentive to their chicks and feeding the chicks well. Looks like a hot and sunny week so ideal conditions for them. Three clips tonight first two from the chimney nest. First showing a chick stretching its wings. A bit earlier than expected. Second parent arriving with food and finally a parent arriving in the bedroom nest and getting a bit overwhelmed.

A better day today, it couldn’t be worse than yesterday. Dry most of the day and overcast. Parents out most of the day after a lye in this morning. The chicks in the bedroom nest didn’t wander at all today even though there is not much room. Clip of them followed by clip of the welcome to one of the adults returning to the chimney nest.

Got tied up last night so apologies for missing the blog. I will talk about yesterday as today it rained heavily all day and apart from a couple of trips out the adults have been in all day. Yesterday two of the chicks in the bedroom nest went for a, short, stroll this time. I was quite worried about them again and kept restraining myself from intervening again. Very relieved late last night to see a full nest with two adults and three chicks. The chimney nest is much less dramatic. It’s a shame the camera is not well focused but the two chicks are behaving. Clips of the wanderers and a full nest followed by short clip showing the two chicks in the chimney nest.

Busy day swift wise. This afternoon found only 2 chicks in the bedroom nest. Could not see the third anywhere on the camera so entered the attic to find the missing chick. It had gone walkabout again but this time was about a meter from the nest obviously not sure or strong enough to return. I used my patched up fishing net to drag it then push it back close to the nest. I then watched and it started wandering away again and was completely ignored by the adults. This has happened before in that nest and we lost a chick. I then went up again and got it into the nest where it was fed. I expect this to happen again and do not have high hopes for its survival. Clip of all three being fed after I returned the wayward chick to the nest

Was a fairly normal day. Great swift weather and whilst out in garden had up to 4 swifts screaming round the house. Then this evening one of the chicks from the bedroom nest decided to go walkabout. This has happened before and twice in previous years have had to rescue one with a fishing net. One year one got to a place I could not reach and it perished. Hence the sheet you can see to block the gulley. I was so worried that I was stitching the perished net for another rescue. Fortunately the largest chick in the nest managed to get back. It was interesting that both parents seemed unaware that a chick was missing but one of the other chicks was looking to were the wayward chick was. One long clip of the wayward chick.

Busy day for the swifts. Warm and humid and sunny. Perfect conditions for swifts. This morning 4 constantly low flying round the house at a time when I knew 1 was on each nest. Tried to catch photo of them flying but using my phone it was impossible. Three clips tonight. Two from chimney nest showing two chicks and feeding time. One from bedroom nest showing all three chicks. The nest is getting full.

Another mixed day weather wise. Rained most of the afternoon. Still saw 4 swifts screaming round the house with 2 inside on the nest. Waiting for a nice evening to see if I can see any evidence of another nest. No clips today as nothing new to show.

Very heavy rain today. Rain started at about 11am then carried on TIL 4.30 this afternoon. Adults out first thing, stayed in for some of the rain then went out again. It’s quite humid but also swift chicks can alter their metabolism and survive several days cold and without food. Our chicks have been all well fed. Two clips one from each nest showing the chicks. They are growing fast now using their wings to move around.

Heavy rain over night and wet and windy this morning. Sun came out for a while this afternoon but still fairly cool. All swifts stayed in TIL almost lunch time. Not much action TIL this evening. With 2 swifts on the respective nests had a screaming party of 4 flying round the house. Two clips tonight of feeding in chimney then bedroom nest. First reasonable view of chick in chimney nest.

Cool,damp day and now early evening it’s raining hard. All 4 adult swifts on the nest. The chicks are growing fast. One in the bedroom nest is much smaller than the others but is very active and getting well fed. Like last night the 3 chicks on the bedroom nest, feeding time on the bedroom nest and the 2 chicks on the chimney nest.