The Eynsham swifts are doing well - we counted 5 more active nests than last year, a total of 25, including one pair investigating a house martin nest from last year, which is highly unusual. Richard Mabey said that his swifts did not appear this year so perhaps we are bucking the trend. There are more nests in some roofs and the noisy groups of swifts seem to have noticed the boxes as they prospected for new nest sites. This year more nest boxes have been used, but by sparrows not swifts. Maybe swifts would be more likely to move in if they were in more sociable groups, so perhaps we could add more boxes next year.
There were often groups screeching round our streets with at least 30 overhead. A good spot was the middle of Acre End Street at dusk. Sadly, we won't see the spectacle again until next year. You can find the map of nest sites here... Do let us know of any additions or corrections.
Sarah Couch