At 10:50 a.m. this morning, I saw a single Swift as it flew past my flat window.
I have seen very few Swifts this year to date and this is my first record for my SS15 local area.
This used to be a species that I saw regularly around St. Nicholas Church every year but the scarcity of sightings both locally and elsewhere in recent years is undoubtedly a very concerning reflection of the sharp and continuing decrease in the Swift population across the UK.
In the UK, the Common Swift, usually referred to as just the Swift, is a summer visitor from late April to late August.
The UK's Swifts are in serious trouble. It is estimated that their population decreased by 66% between 1995 and 2022 and a further decrease in the last 3 years seems inevitable.
This sharp decline is due to the application of pesticides and habitat destruction which has affected their insect food supply. However, the modernisation and refurbishment of many buildings (including churches) has also resulted in the loss of essential roof nesting sites.
Unless some proactive assistance
is provided, there is a very real prospect of Swifts becoming extinct in the
next 30 years or so given the current population trend.
More information can be found at Swift Conservation.
The RSPB have launched their Swift mapper which can be found here. This enables anyone to easily record their Swift sightings and contribute to the national database.
In addition to the Swift seen in the UK each summer, I have also seen 2 other European species on many occasions, principally in southern Europe: Alpine Swift and Pallid Swift. I have, however, recorded both these species in the UK, the former at RSPB Minsmere in Suffolk in May 2003 and at Chafford Hundred in Essex in April 2010 and the latter at Kessingland in Suffolk in April 2010.
I have yet to see a Little Swift or White-rumped Swift, both of which are expanding their range in to southern Spain and breed very locally there.
Love nature .... act now
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