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Has anyone in the UK got Swifts yet?

TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
in Wildlife gardening
I’m eagerly awaiting their return….
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  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    Derbyshire @pansyface? I may have to give that a visit next time I’m down there. 

    That’s exciting to hear if he definitely did see them. 

    They’ll not be far away from me then. 

    Fingers crossed. 
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    I haven't heard a skylark or a curlew for decades.😞
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Apparently there has been a rare influx of Alpine Swifts to the UK this year. Sightings were reported all over the country but typically none around here. :(  I've yet to see more than the odd fleeting glimpse of single swallows. No martins and yet and still no sign of the cuckoos.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • bcpathomebcpathome Posts: 1,313
    It’s like that here in Buckinghamshire too except that we also have the much unwanted HS2 railway running through near us as well . It’s decades since I heard a cuckoo or anything remotely like a skylark .We do get Martins every year but ,they always come back to the eaves nest ,repair it and raise usually two broods . They are extremely messy and very noisy but I love it when they come ,wheeling round and round in the sky and sitting momentarily on the barn before wheeling round some more . Bit early yet I think .
  • LunarSeaLunarSea Posts: 1,923
    We had House Martins back in the village on 11th April. They didn't stay though - just came for a recce and then back to open water to feed up. Saw a couple this morning but gone again by this afternoon. Same pattern each year. They'll be back to stay in May sometime. Swifts are usually back en masse first week of May but will be feeding over open water for a while.
    Clay soil - Cheshire/Derbyshire border. 

    I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    We don't get swifts here, but I saw a swallow the other day which is very early for here. Usually around the end of the first week in May or so. 
    I often see curlews on lower areas on hills in certain areas - Glenshee is full of them. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    I was driving around Northumberland last weekend and saw a lot of swallows. I don’t get them here. 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Maybe not any suitable sites for them @TheGreenMan? We have a farm along the road and there's always some there, but this one was quite random and in a busier, more built up area . 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • TheGreenManTheGreenMan Posts: 1,957
    You’re probably right. I imagine if I hopped along to the farms over yonder I’d see some. Why would they come to the housing estate when they have farms nearby 😂
  • ButtercupdaysButtercupdays Posts: 4,546
    My daughter saw 'our' swallows outside their garage for the first time yesterday. Such a sense of relief when they've made it back again :)
    The curlews have been around about a week or so, punctuating my gardening with their lovely skirling calls, but not heard the lapwings yet. Daughter says she's heard skylarks too, but I can no longer hear them over my tinnitus :(
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