Wildlife in the Garden - June 2014

[Maggi Young]

Some wildlife in the garden is bigger than others  - pic  from ( https://twitter.com/SutekiDesign4u )

[Roma]

This indignant little face was looking at me when I put the kettle on this morning so I had to rush out in my nightie and refill the nut feeder

[Anthony Darby]

Just tried to find the "like" button. 

[mark smyth]

Just tried to find the "like" button. 

I look for it everywhere!

[mark smyth]

two two-day old swift chicks being fed

[Matt T]

That's lovely to see, thanks Mark. Screaming swifts are a sound of my childhood - they used to nest in the eaves above my bedroom window. Living here, we don't get swifts (the occasional stray one that's lost, maybe) so I do miss them in the summer months.

[Anthony Darby]

Many years ago, my sister got a phone call one Saturday, which I overheard. Her friend's dog had found a baby "swallow". We were visiting the next day, so I offered to check it out. Turned out to be a fully feather, but very young swift. I took it home and tried it on moths. It seemed to like these, and four of five big moths from the moth trap, and plenty of water, per day seemed to keep it going. A week later we headed off to Norfolk for a caravan holiday, so no moth trap. Still, the toilet block provided enough for the first few days, then the bird started exercising its wings. Just a rapid shoulder "shrug", but very frequent. I couldn't keep up with the moths, so had to find a substitute. That came in the shape of Clement Freud's "Minced Morsals". The very active baby took to them, but the water intake increased. We kept the bird in a plastic ice cream tub with no cover, and it was quite content not to move. When we got home after our holiday, I could reinstate the moth diet. The four or five per day went up to 40 or more as it was very active, vigorously shrugging those wings. Then, one day, when my Dad was speaking to the milk man (remember them) at the back door, the swift landed at his feet, having flapped its way from round the corner in the kitchen. He put it back in its tub. The next day, when my Dad was again out at the back, the swift came out through the door again, but this time shot through his legs and over the 5' back gate and away! It must have been with us for about 5 weeks.

[Matt T]

Glad to hear that you managed to successfully fledge you swiftling. It was fortunate that you had the moth trap to keep it well fed!

The fate of your swift was much happier than that of the white-throated needletail that turned up on Harris last summer: http://www.western-isles-wildlife.com/bird_sightings_june2013_outer_hebrides_wildlife.htm

[mark smyth]

waxworms seems to be the preferred diet for hand rearing swifts but theyre expensive

Matt it was terrible news last year about the needletail. Why not put up some boxes and blast out the lure. You never know what happens.

[Steve Garvie]

waxworms seems to be the preferred diet for hand rearing swifts but theyre expensive

Matt it was terrible news last year about the needletail. Why not put up some boxes and blast out the lure. You never know what happens.

Wonderful piece of footage Mark, thanks for posting!

I've always thought of swifts preferring to nest in the eaves of higher buildings. Do they ever use single story buildings and is there a way to attract them?

[mark smyth]

Steve I'm just about to go to work but in brief my boxes on the gable are 3m up and the under eave boxes are under 2m. I know of nests that I can put my finger just inside the entrance. More later but for now non breeders have returned

11am today

[mark smyth]

I've always thought of swifts preferring to nest in the eaves of higher buildings. Do they ever use single story buildings and is there a way to attract them?

Swifts nest from any height from 8 feet / 2.4m to the highest points is tower blocks across Europe. Attracting swifts have never been easier. We know so much more now compared to when I started in the late 90s. It too me to 2007 to get my first pair. By contrast a young guy over here who started in April '13 picked up two pairs within four weeks. One pair bred and one pair were a practice pair ie too young to breed. 1st, 2nd and 3rd year birds will pair but its not until they are 3 that they are old enough to breed. This May two pairs and three singles arrived at the guys house. He now has five pairs with three pairs on eggs. Amazingly three pairs of house martins have decided to nest under his swift boxes.

To buy a ready made swift box will cost £15 up to £55 but one made from 10mm exterior ply will cost around £3 plus £1-2 for the nest hollow. My local builders yard cuts the wood to size for me and I screw them together. An hour the other day was all it took for me to get the wood cut for a triple chamber box and assemble it. We always say put up at least two boxes because swifts will fight over boxes


Attracting them is very easy. Non breeders are about to arrive and will be looking for nest sites. They are attracted by other swifts and can be fooled by playing calls from an active swift colony. You can play this from a mini hi-fi to a tweeter inside or hung from a cup hook under the boxes. I can send the calls on a CD
Everything you need to know is here http://saveourswifts.co.uk/attractswifts.htm

[mark smyth]

I now make the entrance hole in the bottom corner so its level with the base of the box. It saves the swifts lifting their little legs up to the edge.

The front is the last piece to go on. The box can be attached to a wall via two holes drilled in the back of the box.

The nest hollows are budgie concaves that can be bought from any good pet shop. If the concave is in the box the swifts will lay eggs first and make the nest around the eggs adding to it daily until the eggs hatch

[mark smyth]

Who can ID all of the nesting material?

[fredg]

Not exactly in the garden.

I shot this with my little field bridge camera ( hand held) so it's not really suitable for full screen