Swifts in Barnes Walk

Join us on an evening stroll led by our trustee Adrian Podmore to discover where Swifts are nesting in Barnes.

In late April and early May, one of our most iconic birds returns from its wintering grounds in Africa to once again, share our urban environment. Though Swifts only spend three to four months with us, departing by late July and early August, they bring spectacular aerial action as they wheel around the skies, especially in late summer when family parties of birds can be seen screaming through the air in aerial chases.

These birds do everything on the wing, including eating, sleeping and mating and only land when they’re ready to nest. It is believed that while flying, they can ‘snooze’ by switching off one side of their brains. Living for as long as 20 years, in one day, they can travel 500 miles and eat 20,000 insects, washing them down by catching raindrops in the air or more usually, by flying low over water and skimming a mouthful from the surface.

After leaving the nest, the youngsters will keep flying non-stop for three years!

However, the Swift is in trouble with the population of these amazing birds plummeting by around 60% in the last three decades. Swifts are now on the Red List of conservation concern. This is primarily due to the declining insect population as a result of pollution and pesticides but building renovations have also substantially reduced access to suitable places to nest, particularly under eaves and in roofs.

The good news is that there are things we can do to help, particularly putting up nest boxes. Birds are communal so a minimum of two to three boxes is usually best while sound equipment playing the calls to attract birds can also be helpful.

An inaugural Barnes Swift group has been set up and is currently awaiting news on potential funding. However, if you would like to be involved, have any information on where Swifts nest each year or are interested in putting up some boxes on your house, please do get in touch and let us know.

We are very interested in any sightings of these birds in Barnes, especially if you think they may be nesting so please include date, time and location and email us at website@barnescommon.org.uk.

The best time to discover where Swifts are nesting is usually an hour before dusk so partly based on any sightings we receive, we will organise two summer evening walks around Barnes to see if we can find any breeding pairs.

So please do send us your sightings and hopefully we can build up a better picture of the local population in Barnes.