Except for a few stragglers, swifts that spend three months each year flying high above High Barnet and New Barnet seem to have said farewell and set off on their long migration flight to Africa via France and Portugal.

There has been encouraging news this summer from enthusiastic members of the Barnet Swifts Group with several reporting successful breeding -- including one house in High Barnet where four pairs of swifts had their nests.

The swifts arrive in early May and as the summer progresses, they can often be seen circling above.

This summer there have been several reports of groups of as many 15 or more flying around together towards sunset, swooping, swirling and squealing high in the sky.

On one evening at least 30 were seen flying together off Wood Street and that has been the case in some previous summers with counts of 20 to 30 circling above Manor Road and Mays Lane.

Many sightings have been around local green spaces including Dollis Valley, Whitings Hill, Whalebones, Byng Road playing fields and allotments and Shire Golf Course.

Robin Bishop saw a group of around 15 above Fitzjohn Avenue – see his photo above.

The owner of one nearby house is fairly sure that a pair nested again in the swift nesting box installed by her late husband.

By far the greatest success is reported by a house owner off Wood Street – see above – who saw two pairs nesting in swift boxes on the side of the house and another two pairs nesting in vent holes under the eaves.

In addition to the four breeding pairs, other juvenile swifts were seen taking an interest in other boxes and vent holes.

Last year a young swift fell out of one of the nests which was collected within an hour by a volunteer from Swift Rescue (on Facebook) and was successfully released two weeks later after spending time at a rehabilitator at Aylesbury.

“All in all, a happy ending with the added bonus of being able to hold in my hand a completely unafraid swift. I can confirm first hand that they are absolutely beautiful.”

Another householder in Leicester Road, New Barnet, reported that a nest under the eaves had again been occupied this summer.

There appeared to be two other nesting sites nearby and each evening around a dozen swifts could be seen circling around together.

David Martens, who founded the Barnet Swifts Group, was delighted there had been another successful year for swifts visiting the town and he hoped that more of the swift boxes and swift nesting bricks which have been installed on local houses might be occupied next summer. 

He hopes that swift enthusiasts will log on to websites to help track the movement of swifts and encourage more house owners and builders to install swift box and swift bricks. 

https://www.swiftmapper.org.uk/

https://www.swift-conservation.org/ 

https://actionforswifts.blogspot.com/?m=1

 (also has a FB page)