Protecting the common swift – are they reaching vanishing point?
As the days lengthened and we once again basked in the sun’s warm rays, the distinctive cry of, “The swifts are here!” rang out from a Midlands suburb.
It was our mother.
Ever since we can remember, her excitement for the arrival of the common swift (Apus Apus) to UK skies has marked the countdown to summer. Despite there being hundreds of species of swift, it is only the common swift that chooses to breed here. Swifts are highflyers and spend the majority of their lives up in the sky. They eat, sleep, bathe, and even mate up there. In fact, the only time their feet touch something solid is when they nest and lay their eggs. These impressive creatures are able to snooze one side of their brain as they fly and then switch to the other side – if only we could do the same!
With their long, pointed wings and forked tails, these airborne arrows soar high in the sky. Usually around dusk, swifts like to let their hair down for the evening. They get together to form “screaming parties” which are exactly as they sound – groups of swifts, flying around shrieking.
In April, these pale-throated swifts head over to the UK from Sub-Saharan Africa and stay till September. Not ones to outstay their welcome, they’re the last migratory birds to arrive and the first to leave. As the fastest bird in level flight, swifts can fly at speeds of up to 70 miles per hour and travel distances of 500 miles (800 kilometres) per day. The British Ornithology Society (BTO) has done some wonderful work tracking these incredible little birds using geolocators to try and understand more about their migratory behaviours. You can read about it here.
Swifts may do a lot of flying but there’s no such thing as burn-out for these chaps. They even have an exercise regime during their brief downtime. As the Joe Wickses of the bird community, they make sure they keep themselves fit when nesting by performing ‘press-ups’ with their wings. This ensures they build up muscle strength ready for when they, once again, take to the skies.
During the breeding season, swifts mostly nest in buildings rather than in trees and cliffs as they did in years gone by. By using their saliva to hold together their nests, they take recycling to a whole new level. Two or three eggs are laid, hatching after around four weeks. Chicks need a plentiful supply of insects to eat so, if you’re lucky, you might spot parent swifts with throats bulging with bugs. They must collect tens of thousands each day to sustain their offspring until they fledge the nest at eight weeks old.
But things aren’t too rosy for our swifts. They’ve faced a huge decline in numbers since 1995 – over half the population has disappeared. Our mum has spoken of her sadness at how few she now sees each year. So, what’s causing this? The main reasons are a loss of nesting sites and dwindling insect numbers.
Swifts mate for life and return to the same nests each year. Not so long ago, swifts were spoilt for choice when it came to nooks in roof spaces but, heartbreakingly, with each passing year, there are fewer and fewer nesting spots up for grabs. Modern buildings and new roofing rarely offer gaps for birds to nest in. And it’s not just finding homes that swifts are struggling with, it’s also becoming increasingly difficult to obtain food as insecticides are wiping out a large portion of the insect population.
The situation is deeply troubling, but there are ways in which we can help to improve the state of things. Buying a swift nest box will give a pair of swifts a home that they can return to each year. If you’re feeling creative, you could even make your own. An even better option, if you’re building or renovating a house, is to install a swift brick which will blend in with the main brickwork. Worried about your home being defaced by unsightly bird droppings? Don’t be. Swifts are tidy birds and make much less mess than your average teenager.
By making these small changes, hopefully some day soon, we’ll look up on a summer’s day to see the sky teeming with our fleeting friends once again.
Posted by Laura