While Swallows and House Martins are still making the most of our summer and its insects, far too soon as it always seems, Swifts are already departing our towns and skies in early August to head back to Africa where they winter south of the Sahara.

Swifts are renowned as superb flyers and can travel up to 500 miles a day and indeed, spend most of their lives on the wing, feeding, sleeping, and mating, writes our trustee, Adrian Podmore. It is also possible that they may be able to ‘snooze’ with one side of their brain asleep and then switch to the other side.

Their food consists of flying insects and spiders which are collected in the back of the throat in a special food pouch which can contain over a thousand insects. These birds drink either by catching raindrops in the air, or by flying low over water, while they will nest in holes and crevices, particularly inside old buildings and under rooves.

However, Swifts have suffered a dramatic decline in recent decades, perhaps 50% in the last 20 years. Reduction in insect numbers due to pollution and pesticides, habitat destruction and the modernisation of many buildings where they used to nest are all factors.

We are now in the process of setting up a new group called Barnes Swifts. A couple of initial, late evening surveys this summer in Barnes identified one hot spot where birds were nesting but we really need your help to build a better picture of where these birds nest. Once we have this, the aim will then be to help increase the existing colonies by installing Swift boxes for householders who are interested, preferably before the end of next April. We will begin looking at sourcing some funding to purchase boxes and help with installation costs but for now, if you are interested in becoming involved with this project or have any information about nesting Swifts in Barnes please do get in touch with us – email Adrian.