At last I managed to catch the chick being fed. The other egg is still there. I am now fairly sure this is the first brood from this pair of swifts. With all the research I have done I now know that pre breeding pairs look for nest sites the year before they breed usually at the end of the season. Last August I thought I heard a rustling during the night but put it down to the dogs. In the morning the rustling was still there and on opening a wardrobe I found a swift. It had flown through an open window during the evening and found a comfortable nest site. That window is directly below the nest site. Also I have seen no swift louse on these birds. The louse lays eggs that remain dormant until the following year. This I think is more evidence, added to the fact that I have not seen this nest used in previous years, that this may be a first for this nest.

Here is the chick being fed.

I have been busy playing my trumpet over the last couple of days and had a story to relate tonight however at 21.40 this evening at changeover time a little chick was revealed. One swift hatched and the other egg still there. I have been waiting but no recordable views yet. Will try to get a view tomorrow.

Not much to add today. I am just getting a short screaming flight around 10.00. Only seeing up to 3 swifts. I am now sure that 2 nests here have been abandoned this year and am only sure that 2 are active. A few weeks ago I counted at least 8 swifts, now only 3. One nest in the attic has young swifts but I can only see a little bit of tail. Today one of the swifts was wandering about so a very short clip showing the 2 eggs. We did get a better view so happy there are still 2 eggs.

I am not seeing so many swifts flying about in the evenings as usual. The screaming evening parties seem to have stopped for the time being. There is one swift on the nest all the time now and am hoping , if all goes well the first egg should hatch during the next week. I mentioned that this nest is in an old sparrows nest. A short clip where you can see a male house sparrow looking in at the nest. The swift inside takes no notice at all. In old buildings swifts and sparrows nest in the same areas. I believe that if there is conflict the swifts win out every time. Here is the clip.

Little new to report. Warm and sunny over the last couple of days. As before there is one swift sitting on the eggs constantly. From what I have seen still taking 2 hour shifts and both staying “home” over night. Twice over the last couple of days I have observed one of them bringing back a feather and carefully adding it to the nest. I keep trying to get a photo of them flying but they only seem to fly low enough for a decent photo late in the evening when the light is bad. Not to mention the speed that they fly!

One clip this evening, a rare moment when one of them goes for a walk collecting straw etc from old sparrows nests. the main nest is a used sparrow nest.

Not a lot happening at the moment. There is at least one swift on the nest all the time. They seem to take about 2 hour shifts. I will blog every other day at the moment unless there is more happening. A short clip from yesterday showing the 2 eggs clearly.

Today it rained cats and dogs all morning. A short clip showing what swifts do when its raining very hard.

They hunker down together.

Sorry for gap but have been away for a week in caravan. For a change was watching stonechats, whitethroats and skylarks. Now back home and think there may be 2 eggs in the nest now. One swift is on the nest almost constantly now so I will not be able to check it out in person but if you look closely to the first video, on the left hand side it looks like 2 eggs present. Not sure what this means. Checking reports around the country most swifts have hatched. With an incubation period of 19-27 days and a fledgling period of 27-56 days if this egg hatches it will be at least the last week of August before it fledges. This I think will be very late so not sure what will happen.

Video showing 2 eggs clearly.

A short video showing typical late evening behaviour.

A great day for me. I was doubtful about the possibility of these swifts producing anything but as I am going away for a few days in our caravan and may not have wifi or even phone contact, decided to have a look in the nest early afternoon when the adults have been away. I cant see into the nest so took a video on phone with flash light on. It was a stretch but managed to get this dreadful quality video.

I have been lucky the past couple of years with 2 fledging first year 3 last year but there is one egg this year. Both adults staying over night returning about 18.30 and leaving about 10.00.

Have been out most of the weekend so have just observed early morning and late evening. They are spending a lot of time on the nest, both of them staying over night. I would have hoped that if there were eggs that we might have young in the nest but no signs yet.

Just a short clip showing how they are most of the time in the nest.

A couple of days of lovely weather. Sun, warm and at last not too windy. The swifts are spending a lot of time in the nest. They appear very affectionate with each other. A couple of clips from earlier today.