You can read the last blog that I did in January 2024 on the progress of the Bishops Waltham Swift colony here . That covered the years up to 2023; and in 2024 numbers remained fairly static to the previous year with a small decline from 91 to 88 in the number of chicks reared. This was put down to the weather patterns in the early half of the season, which led to cold overnight temperatures and mornings up to the middle of June which meant that fewer insects were flying, mak

Highcliffe is one of the areas of Winchester that we survey for nesting Swifts every year.   This suburb is made up of two large areas of housing built by Winchester City Council for rent, mostly between the two World Wars, with a substantial number of houses dating from the late 19 th and early 20 th centuries, much of it terraced. As in so many urban areas, opportunities for cavity-nesting birds such as Swifts, House Sparrows and Starlings to breed in gaps or crevices in