Monday 13 July

With one of our birds succumbing to the heat and dying on our web camera at the weekend it was a relief to find that the vast majority have survived the recent long, drawn-out heatwave and 5 nest boxes are now empty as the young have already fledged. We now have 38 active nests with 70 young and 8 eggs still to hatch. We also managed to ring many more of the young and were even able to capture 9 adults whose young were old enough to fledge soon. Of these 6 were birds that have returned to the tower having rings that we fitted in previous years, whilst the other 3 were birds new to us and so were fitted with rings to help us track them in years to come.

Monday 6 July

It was another hot day in the tower and there are 44 active nests. The first few chicks have fledged with many ready to go in the next week so. 22 of those were given their shiny new rings to take with them to Africa. We now have 86 young and 10 eggs
still visible in the tower. Unfortunately we also found two dead adults, although their chicks still seem healthy and hopefully the remaining bird in both pairs will be able to keep up with their demands.

Monday 29 June

After an incredible heatwave last week with temperatures in up to 36 degrees Celsius and so much hotter inside the tower we approached the nest boxes with some trepidation this week wondering how many chicks may have perished in the heat but were very
relieved to see that we had only lost a couple of chicks and a couple of eggs and that the chicks left were not only looking healthy but had been growing quickly. So much so that we ringed the first 11 young today and now have 88 young and 14 eggs
visible. We even found 4 boxes newly occupied that have until now been empty. Despite the hot weather it seems that we are set for a very successful breeding season.

Monday 22 June

It was hot today, the tower was like a sauna and the swift chicks were feeling it. Many chicks were hanging their heads over the side of the nest or even climbing out of the nest to cool off. There are 48 nests now containing 75 young; 18 nests held a
single adult and a further 18 nests held pairs of birds. At least 12 more eggs should hatch and 7 more nests had birds sitting on either eggs or chicks. Many of the chicks are well feathered already whilst others are eggs or just hatching so it could
be a long season.

Monday 15 June

The swifts have weathered the strong winds, low temperatures and rain of the last week and today there were 55 young and 11 eggs visible in the 44 nests that are occupied. A couple of chicks have perished over the last couple of weeks but those that remain
are growing quickly and the falling wind speeds and warmer weather predicted bodes well for the number of insects on the wing and the swifts’ ability to feed the many hungry mouths remaining.

Monday 8 June

Despite last week’s wet and windy weather, the adults are clearly managing to find a good amount of food as the chicks that were naked, blind and newly them. We now have 43 occupied nest boxes and another 3 showing signs of use. We counted 23 young and
36 eggs but many young and eggs were being sheltered from the cool weather by sitting parents. Looking at the previous weeks’ observations this season and counting eggs that we have seem on previous visits but weren’t visible today we may have up
to 68 eggs still to hatch.

Monday 1 June

The swifts are back in numbers now and the early morning saw screaming parties of 25-30 birds flying around the tower. Inside, with the cooler weather, we found 42 adults sitting tight on their nests no doubt incubating clutches. Despite the birds determinedly
sitting on their eggs we still managed to count 40 eggs and last week’s hot spell has brought about the hatching of our first chicks with 6 naked and bling youngsters visible.

Monday 25 May

The start of warmer weather last week brought many swifts back on the southerly winds and it was noticeably busier looking from outside the tower with screaming parties in full swing. Inside today, on what is predicted to be the hottest day in May on
record, our findings confirmed that the swifts are back in greater numbers and have immediately got down to breeding. We now have 36 boxes occupied and found 56 birds on the nest (20 in pairs and 16 single birds). We counted 38 eggs but records from
last week suggest there are more that were obscured by adults sitting tight.

Monday 18 May

After a cool week with northerly winds it has been a slow start to the season with birds returning to occupy their nest boxes more slowly than we had hoped. Today we found only 21 boxes occupied with 23 birds on the nest and 16 eggs evident. As the wind
is predicted to turn to a more southerly direction and temperatures are forecast to rise in the coming week we hope that more birds will return and that their numbers increase.

Monday 11 May

The weather was cool and overcast today in Oxford but the last week has seen Swifts returning in increasing numbers and the screaming parties around the tower were in full swing from early in the morning despite the cold weather. Although many adults
were on the wing we still managed to count 19 birds on the nest and now have at least 8 eggs.

Monday 4 May

It was cool and overcast this week as we climbed the tower to survey the swifts and clearly not inviting enough for many of our first returning birds to be out on the wing. We found fourteen birds on the nest, twelve of them already in pairs and two single
birds presumably awaiting the return of their partners or whose partners enjoy a bracing early morning flap whatever the weather! The temperatures are expected to rise this week, which should see more birds returning and more activity around the tower
from earlier in the morning.

Thursday 23 April

Great news for all you swift-watchers and diary readers! Swifts were seen around the tower today, an early return presumably prompted by the warm sunny weather.