Steve Piotrowski (with additional notes from Philip Pearson)
Flying start to Swift conservation in Suffolk
A
depending upon the availability of nest sites. They nest under roof tiles or in holes and apertures of buildings and walls and are faithful, returning to use the same nest year after year. The nest consists of a small cup formed from material such as feathers, paper, straw, hay and seeds, collected on the wing and glued together by saliva. They only have time to rear one brood during their short visit to the UK, laying a clutch of 2-3 pure white eggs. After 19-25 days incubation, the eggs hatch, with chicks fledging six to eight weeks later.
s I sat in my Bungay garden at the end of July, squadrons of 30-40 Swifts were circling overhead and screaming as they dipped down to swoop low over rooftops in which they were nesting immediately opposite my house. I wondered how long they would stay before making the long journey to their African wintering grounds, a distance of about 7,000 miles.
– Voracious insect consumption – Swifts eat a wide range of invertebrates (312 different species having been recorded) and a single bolus (food ball) brought to chicks may contain between 300-1000 individual insects and spiders. These chick balls are collected in a pouch under the adults’ beaks and contain insect prey that includes: beetles, aphids, flies, hoverflies, craneflies, moths, butterflies, thrips, leafhoppers, ants and lacewings. During bad weather, eggs may be abandoned, while chicks have the ability to survive without food for several days. They achieve this by becoming semi-torpid and slowing their rate of development. 6
THE HARRIER – September 2011
In 2010 flocks were still screaming in Bungay on August 1st, but the next day there was an eerie silence for they had suddenly disappeared overnight – not one single straggler remained! Sure enough, this year the Swifts departed on exactly the same day
