What to do if you find a grounded Swift.

Place the bird in a box with several small air holes in it a shoe box with a lid is ideal, lined with a couple of layers of kitchen roll. 
Place the box in a quiet, warm place away from any noise and interference.

Refer to the First Aid Page on the Swift Conservation website for information on what to do next
                                                or
Contact the Wenhaston Swift Action Group

 

How to tell the difference between swifts, house martins, sand martins and swallows
Watch this short video by Simon Hooton from Suffolk Wildlife Trust

 

References to further information
 

Suffolk Wildlife Trust

Go to Site

Biodiversity: swifts, a bird you need to Help.
June 2019 Bulletin of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Mangement
 

Go to Site

 

 

 

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Wenhaston's swift arrivals and departure dates

 

YEAR w/b first seen w/b last seen
2010 9th May 1st August
2011 1st May 7th August
2012 20th May 29th July
2013 5th May 28th July
2014 4th May 20th July
2015 3rd May 9th August
2016 1st May 24th July
2017 30th April 30th July
2018 6th May 5th August
2019 4th May 26th July
2020 1st May 10th August
2021 8th May 13th August
2022 10th May 17th August
2023 29th April 6th August

 

Annual swift count
 
Since 2018 we have all gone out to observe and count swifts flying overhead from various points around the village at exactly the same day and time. This way we are as sure as we can be, that we’re not double-counting. We carry this survey out twice, once in early July and a second count in late July.
We use a method that Alan Miller introduced and the figures below are the maximum numbers we’ve seen in the second late July count. They can’t be read as actual numbers because there are so many variables, but they do give us a good idea of what’s about
 
2018        126
2019        151
2020          76
2021        102
2022        102
2023        123
(we think the majority adult swifts arrived and left early in 2020)
To see this year's recorded locations of nests, boxes and screamng parties, look at the RSPB Swift mapper site
Visit   swiftmapper.org.uk  and zoom into Wenhaston