This has been a good season for the swifts and a good season for the swift conservation activities of Susan and Jerry Pride:
Fledgling sitting on its parents on 2 August just before it left.
April:
- Installed four new boxes at own house.
May:
- Two pairs of swifts returned to breed at own house.
June:
- Presented the Swift Talk to Sustainable Harwell.
- Visited Suffolk and Cambridgeshire on holiday and noticed many signs of active swift conservation including swift boxes on communal buildings and elaborate swift towers. Hopefully our own area will be more like this one day.
- Installed three new boxes at own house.
July:
- Visited the open day at the home of Mark Glanville in Bristol – an event in Swift Awareness Week.
- Installed one new box at a neighbour’s house.
- Attended a Swift Walk in Bicester presented by Chris Mason – an event in Swift Awareness Week.
- Ordered 10 new boxes for neighbours – delivery awaited.
- Visited the Cambridge area and called in on John Stimpson, who has made 27,000 swift boxes, and on Dick Newell who publishes an excellent blog (Action for Swifts) on installing swift boxes and swift bricks . Dick took us to see the swifts in the belfry of his local church at Landbeach.
- Observed six swifts entering four nests in St Matthew’s church – where we first observed them 25 years ago.
- Discussed swift conservation in the church with Jonathan Mobey, the Rector.
- Observed non-breeding swifts entering three nests at own house, including one only installed in June. Hopefully they will return next year to breed.
August:
- Observed 13 active nest sites in the local neighbourhood including two in own house.
- Installed second new box at a neighbour’s house.
- Met with Tony Hughes, Chairman of the PCC Buildings Committee, to discuss swift conservation in the church, and visited the belfry.
September:
- Surveyed the Village Hall and presented ideas for swift boxes.
- Observed a single swift returning each evening to a nearby property between 1 and 7 September. This is remarkably later than usual for swifts to be here.
Anyone in Harwell who would like an assessment of their house for suitability for a swift box should contact Giles.
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