Greatly relieved this morning to find 2 swifts in the bedroom nest. Probably less so than the singleton who had been waiting for several days for his or her partner. I still find it amazing that they have not seen each other since last July. Separately they have flown to Sothern Africa for the winter then returned to find a small hole in our loft and arrive within 3 or 4 days of each other.  Here is the evidence.

I have been lax with my blogging. The latest news is that the single chick in the chimney nest fledged last Monday 17th July. I hope it was okay as we had a severe thunder storm the next night when the parents spent the night in the nest without the chick. This is fairly normal behaviour. A couple of clips of this chick before it fledged.

The other pair in the bedroom nest are growing and will fledge soon.  A couple of clips the first showing wing stretching and the second showing them with one patent.

I forgot to mention last time that on that night while out feeding the other birds saw 15 plus swifts flying around the house. This is the most I have ever seen at one time. There is another colony just up the road and I think both colonies were flying together. Seeing them just before dusk really makes you think they are flying just for the fun of it. A view of our bedroom pair. at the end of a long hot well fed Sunday.

And a short clip showing how the single swift in the other nest has grown.

One chick with two parents grows quickly.

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.

Not much to add. Whilst in garden still have up to 5 swifts screaming round. One swift is incubating the eggs most of the time. Occasionally they seem to have the urge to fly together. A glance at the bedroom nest showed 3 eggs. Swifts have either2 or 3 eggs. Short clip showing the evidence.

Will be away for a few days. Should be back in time for hatching

The second camera is now in situ. Of necessity due to cramped attic round a chimney the camera is too close so a little out of focus.

This is a picture from it that shows 2 eggs in nest.

A very short clip from the bedroom nest also showing 2 eggs.

I think its 2 eggs.The swifts are still out and about most of the day. Swifts do not sit on the eggs as much as other birds. Possibly because of the location in a warm loft space.