Swifts suffer after miserable UK weather

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jul/26/swifts-weather

Version 0 of 1.

The arrival of warm, sunny conditions has come too late to help one of the UK's most well known summer birds, the swift, which has been hit by this year's miserable weather.

Flocks of swifts are already starting to head back to Africa, where they spend the winter, following a "disastrous" breeding season, conservationists said.

The wettest April to June on record has meant fewer flying insects for swifts and their chicks to eat, leaving the birds struggling to rear their young.

Adults have even been pushing unhatched eggs out of their nests because a lack of food has meant they have not been able to feed themselves sufficiently as well as incubate eggs and feed chicks.

Although the warm sunny weather in which the UK is now basking will mean plenty of insects for swifts to feed on ahead of the long flight to Africa, the RSPB said the poor weather in the spring was "the last thing" the species needed.

The birds have been struggling in recent years, with numbers falling by almost a third (31%) between 1995 and 2009, and conservationists say they expect to see falls in the breeding figures for this year.

Edward Mayer of Swift Conservation said: "It has been a disastrous summer for many swifts and we fully expect to see a decline in the breeding figures this year.

"People are telling us that the number of swifts that arrived here several months ago was pretty consistent with last year, but after that they disappeared again as they flew away to wherever they could find food.

"We've seen adult birds struggling through storms and ending up underweight because the cold and wet weather has meant fewer flying insects for them to feed on. They are nesting, but as far as we can tell, without much success."

Aside from the weather one of the main problems swifts face is a lack of nesting sites in the roofs of UK buildings.

Renovation of old properties and the creation of new homes with no access or space for nests is leaving them homeless, the RSPB said.

Martin Harper, conservation director for the RSPB, said: "The last thing this struggling species needed was to be hit hard by the wet weather this year.

"But they are at the mercy of more than just a wet summer. Their ability to nest depends on our buildings having spaces for them.

"They fly as many as 6,000 miles each spring to get here from Africa to breed, only to find that changes in the way we're building and renovating means there are fewer nest spaces."

He said the right choices needed to be made when building and developing so swifts were not left homeless.

Members of the public are urged to submit details of swift nests and birds giving their characteristic "screaming" call which usually means they are nesting nearby, to help developers, local authorities and people consider the needs of the species when building or renovating.