Swifts In South-East London

[Jason Green]

I have seen swifts quite commonly in Greenwich, around 30 times so far plus two 'screaming parties'. How many have you seen?

[Dan Salter]

loads.
But i do live in a rural area..but not sure this will make too much difference?

[aeshna5]

A couple of weks back I counted c60 at the end of my road over the allotments. More regularly I see up to c30.

Sad thing is they'll all be gone within a couple of weeks + yet it feels as summer is only just starting! I wonder how their breeding season has gone with so much cool + wet weather, making aerial insects more difficult to find?

[smartie]

They are all over the place here. Regular screaming parties over the garden and I see (or hear) them almost every time I go out.

[richardkm]

Here in Buxton Spa there are plenty of swifts, they come screaming round my house, sometimes at head height, a wonderful sight. They arrived two days late this year, on May 3rd. Shame that they will be going soon

[Bad bird watcher]

One of my favourite sounds and signs of summer. I too will miss them when they've gone. I counted around 50 one early evening (North Kent) but usually no more than a dozen or so and some days none at all. They do move around a lot ahead of the weather though

[oseor]

We had quite a few from May onwards but just lately I've only seen a couple very high in the sky. Perhaps they've moved on early after the poor weather we've had... I miss them!

[John]

Sadly the numbers around me have drastically gone down. I reported earlier in the year that from where I live to where I work (Coventry to Leamington) I normally passed 4 colonies of Swifts and yet there were none this year.

Thankfully a few (less than ten) have appeared at the first colony. The next two colonies have not appeared and the last Colony (near where I work) has drastically reduced from the norm of 50+ to single figures this year.

Sadly, as aeshna5 has said, these Swifts will be departing our shores soon.

John

[Dogrose]

I haven't seen so many this year and last year, I thuoght it might be because I moved last spring and they just aren't so common here anyway but maybe there are less everywhere?

[naturelover]

Originally Posted by smartie

They are all over the place here. Regular screaming parties over the garden and I see (or hear) them almost every time I go out.

same here i live in the fens.