This weekend I have had my eyes to the sky looking for the last of our regular summer visitors that always fill the skies of East Anglia, I had already seen my first Swallow and House martin on the 11th of April now I am waiting for my first Swift.

There have already been sightings of a few birds this last weekend but I still have to see one myself, last year I saw my first one on May 5th the previous year April 27th so I am due my first sighting any time now, whilst the blackbirds in the garden are already feeding their first broods the Swallows, martins and Swifts have yet to mate, make nests and raise their young before the long journey back to Africa.

The swifts will be the last to arrive and the first to depart, studies have found that some young will be on the wing for nearly two years before landing and breeding , they ‘power nap’ in the air. soon our warm summer days will be filled with the sound of Screaming swifts around the roofs of houses along with the martins, and swallows skimming low over the surface of ponds and rivers, but before then they need to rest and feed up after the long journey to our shores.

Two swallows at WWT Welney, Norfolk