Bristol Swifts 2025 Blog - Bristol Swifts

Welcome to our 2025 blog page which will feature regular updates from our swift colony and the other wildlife seen in our wildlife-friendly garden in Bristol. We have 25 swift boxes around our house – see this link. 23 boxes have cameras fitted which gives us a wonderful glimpse of their secret lives from inside these hidden spaces.

We are planning on opening our garden once again for a Swift Awareness/National Garden Scheme charity afternoon in the summer. As the event is weather dependent we won’t decide the exact date until much nearer the time, so keep an eye on this page. However it will be on a weekend sometime between mid-June and mid-July. Here is a link to the 2024 blog.

Sunday 6th April

I had a very excited lady from Pensford contact me yesterday afternoon. She had just seen two Common swifts flying overhead heading towards Bristol. Her enthusiastic email got me going and I stayed out until it got dark just on the off chance they might have been my birds. Alas nothing turned up but it was a very pleasant way to spend the evening sitting outside watching the skies with a glass of wine. There was however not far from me a sighting of an Alpine swift yesterday afternoon along with a steady passage of Sand martins and Swallows at Severn Beach.

Saturday 5th April

April began where March left off with high pressure firmly in charge. A nagging easterly wind at the beginning of the week pegged the temperature back. That eased from midweek and yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far reaching 22C here in Bristol.

April is the time I expect to see my first swifts back. The earliest one ever to arrive back returned on 20th April, however around 25th April is more usual for them to appear so not long now. Spurred on by the good weather I finished off putting up the last of my boxes so I’m all ready to go. It’s just as well because more and more Common swifts are arriving at the traditional stop-over locations in southern Europe. On Tuesday over 5000 arrived back at Dunes de Prunete in Corsica, see the latest numbers from Trektellen.

Yesterday was an outstanding day for butterflies. During the afternoon I saw a Holly Blue, Brimstone, Comma, Speckled Wood, Orange Tip, Small white and Peacock. I can’t remember another day like it where I saw so many butterflies in one go in the garden. I’ve still not seen my first Swallow yet, but they have been seen locally to me. I did hear my first Willow warbler of the year though which was lovely. And finally the Great tits in the back garden have just started nest building. I watched the female gathering moss from the lawn yesterday afternoon.

Sunday 30th April

Taking advantage of the fine weather last week I put up some of my swift boxes. It was a bit earlier than I normally do as I usually try to get them up in the first week of April. I do this mainly to avoid any other bird species taking a fancy to them but the weather conditions were just perfect. A few days before whilst out walking I came across some seed fluff from wild Clematis vitalba, more commonly known as old-mans beard. I gathered some as I think it has great potential for nesting material. It looks like grey moss and is very warm and soft to touch. As a trial I’ve lined all of my nest cups with it. Hopefully the swifts will like it too!

The number of Common swifts arriving at their traditional stop-over points in Southern Europe is beginning to rise according to the latest figures from Trektellen.

Saturday 29th March

A round up of what happened here since last weekend. The beginning of the week was reasonably warm and dry week for this time of year. The welcome Spring sunshine brought out the first Slow-worms from their winter hibernation. I’m still waiting for mine in the garden to appear but I found these three not far from me at Watercress Farm under a piece of corrugated iron heated up by the sun.

Some more good news on the hedgehog front. We now have definitely 3 back. There’s possibly even more than that but it’s so difficult to identify them individually other than their sexes. therefore all I can rely on is group photos for accurate numbers! In the photo a male and a female are inside the feeding cage as another male approaches outside. Needless to say there was a bit of argy-bargy when all three got together. Thankfully nothing too serious and all three departed on their way a few minutes later.

Saturday 22nd March

The week started out cold with night frosts but by Thursday it had completely changed to a warm and sunny 20C. This spring-like warmth brought out many different species of bees and butterflies. I saw several Brimstone, Peacocks and Commas fluttering across in the garden.

The Blue tits have started nest building in the box in the conifer tree. They’ve been taking in lots of moss gathered from around the pond. To help them I’ve also put up an old hanging bird feeder filled with extra nesting material. It’s great fun watching them pull out bits and pieces and so easy to make. All you need is an old suet ball bird feeder and stuff it full of hay, feathers, moss, sheep wool and even dog hair and then sit back and watch.

A male Blackcap has just returned to the garden and has been singing for the last few days. They don’t sing from the top of a tree like Blackbirds do but rather from deep inside a hedge or a bush. His song is very beautiful and in my opinion rivals that of the Blackbird. We also had a singing Chiffchaff stop for a short while on its way north. It’s song is rather basic when compared to the Blackcap, but still pleasant enough on the ears.

The frog spawn in the pond has just begun to hatch and the clumps are now covered with hundreds of wriggling tadpoles.

Further afield down in southern France and Spain the first few Common swifts are just beginning to arrive at their traditional stop-over points. The main group however won’t arrive for another few weeks, usually around mid to late April. See this link

Thursday 20th March

The Spring equinox happens at 9.01am this morning. During the equinox, the Earth’s axis and its orbit line up so that both hemispheres get an equal amount of sunlight and darkness, roughly 12 hours each. From tomorrow as the Earth’s axis tilts more towards the northern hemisphere so we will start to get more sunlight each day whilst the southern hemisphere will get less.

First house martin spotted at Portland Bill yesterday.

Wednesday 19th March

The first Swallows of the year arrived yesterday. One was seen down at Portland Bill on the south coast and a couple on the Severn estuary near Weston-Super-Mare. The wind is going round to a warm southerly, so expect lots of summer migrants to arrive over the next few days.

Sunday 16th March

Following on from yesterdays post I’m delighted to report that we now have two hedgehogs back. The first hedgehog, a male arrived back on Wednesday. He was on its own for a couple of nights before a second hedgehog joined him. On closer video examination this one turned out to be a female. In the photo below the female is on the left and the male on the right. The male was quite aggressive towards the female pushing and shoving her around, but despite his belligerent behaviour she still managed to get some food. Just as well as last night was very frosty. The food I provide is a 50/50 mixture of meaty cat food and specialist hedgehog biscuits, roughly about 100g per night. An adult hog will eat about 75g per day. I don’t want to make them completely dependant on my feeds as I also want them to eat some of the pests in my garden. So my aim is to provide them with some food but not all they need. Last year I had 4 hedgehogs regularly feeding at night, so on average they got about 25g each which is about 1/3rd of their daily requirements. Hedgehogs will eat almost anything including bread, nuts and milk, but these foods are bad for them are to be avoided at all costs.

Saturday 15th March

A round up of what happened in the garden last week.

The frogs that arrived in some numbers last weekend went onto lay over 20 clumps of spawn, however their activity was cut short by the cold weather. By Wednesday the pond was all quiet again. However it’s meant to warm up next week so I’m hoping they’ll be back again. My first toad spawn of the season appeared on Thursday.

Both Blue tits and Great tits are actively going in and out of several of my bird boxes. Both seem to have a favourite box each and spend most of their time around it, but they also like to visit other boxes too and quite often I see them sussing them out as well. I often hear them tapping at the entrance holes on their favourite boxes. I don’t know why they do this as both holes are plenty big enough but it seems to be something they like doing.

And finally some really great news to report. Last September all my hedgehogs suddenly disappeared in the space of a couple of weeks. Despite me continuing to put out food right into November I never saw them again and feared the worst. Therefore last Tuesday when I saw what looked like hedgehog poo in the garden I couldn’t believe my luck. That night not wanting to get too over-excited I put out a small dish of hedgehog food and trail camera, more in hope rather than expectation. The following morning on viewing the footage I was so delighted to see one hog feeding. Here is a short video of its activity. Also in the film and not so welcome was an inquisitive badger. It sniffed at the hog a few times before thankfully begin scared away by its alarm call. I’ve now re-instated the larger feeding cage which offers the hogs more room inside and hopefully will protect them better if the badger becomes overly familiar!

Sunday 9th March

My first frog spawn of the season has just appeared this morning. I don’t know why but it’s extremely late when compared to previous years. In the the last 7 years the first spawn has always arrived around the 20th February, never this late in March! Here is the dates: – 2018 – 20th. Feb. 2019 – 19th Feb. 2020 – 10th Feb. 2021 – 27th Feb. 2022 – 24th Feb. 2023 – 18th Feb. 2024- 17th Feb. Maybe it was something to do with the very dull and cold weather we had in February?

Saturday 8th March

A few years ago Roxanne Ismail and Tessa Chan filmed a short video in our garden called The Swift Conservationist. Unfortunately not long after it disappeared on the Internet. However as luck would have it we met Roxanne this week at our annual National Garden scheme event. This chance meeting brought back fond memories and reminded us what a lovely little film it was. With their kind permission we’ve now added it to our YouTube channel as it’s one of our favourites. Although it was about swifts it also featured my old friend Rob the Robin who lived with us for over 5 years. Sadly Rob’s no longer with us anymore but we’ve never forgotten him. He was such a charming little bird and we loved him very much. Although other Robins have come and gone in the garden since then none have come close to replacing our old friend Rob. To see the video click here

Friday 7th March

Last August after my blog had ended fellow swift enthusiast and poet Philip Dunkerley sent me a poem he had written called Perpetual Swift. I think it’s excellent and really captures the essence of the swift perfectly. Here is a link.

Sunday 2nd March

Whilst I’m still waiting for the first frog spawn to appear in my pond that wasn’t the case just a mile away at the local Sneed Park nature reserve. Last Thursday I had an urgent email asking if I could help move some frog spawn that had been laid in a puddle about 1/4 mile from the lake. When I arrived I was absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer amount. It was everywhere I reckon there must have been well over 300 clumps. The problem was the puddles were quickly drying up and some of the spawn was already high and dry. If I left it to the weekend when help was available it would have been too late. So without further ado I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in. A couple of hours later after filling over 20 three gallon buckets full my work was complete. It was hard graft but the sun was shining which made a difference. At the end although I was exhausted I left with a real sense of achievement. Below are a few photos.

On the birding front last week I heard my first Chiffchaff of the year. A little earlier than normal but a sure sign that Spring is on its way. Also lots of reports from around the UK of Sand martins arriving back.

Saturday 1st March

It’s the first day of Spring and it won’t be long before my swifts arrive in a few weeks time. However before they do there are lots of other things happening in the garden.The first frog spawn has yet to appear in the pond. This is a good week later than normal, so I expect the prolonged cold snap in early February has held it back. I’m lucky to have five species of amphibians in the pond. Frogs and toads and all 3 species of newt – the great-crested, palmate and smooth. However the most abundant by far are the frogs and there must be well over 100 or more. They are so loud you can hear them croaking from quite a long way away.

Spring flowers are appearing everywhere. The early snowdrops and aconites are virtually over now but they’ve been replaced by a carpet of daffodils, crocus and primroses. Welcome food sources for the buff-tailed bumble bees who have been out and about for some time now looking for nectar.

Not much activity on the bird front other the Blue tits and Great tits sussing out which nest boxes to use. The most welcome return however is the singing Blackbird who’s beautiful song can rival any other songster and is my favourite by a long way.