Ropley Environment & Nature

If you look high up on the west wall of the church building, you will see, under the eaves, five nest- boxes. They are a special type suitable for swifts. Swifts, like swallows and house martins, are aerial hunters, feeding on insects which they catch in flight. They have a very short breeding season arriving at the beginning of May and are gone by late August. As this summer is the first breeding season in which our nest-boxes have been available, I was keen to find out how many of the boxes contain nests. By late June, adults which have bred successfully are feeding young so it is easy to check whether boxes are occupied by watching for adults entering and leaving as they bring food to their offspring.

I chose a calm and sunny afternoon on June 26th to park myself in a shady spot with a good view of the swift boxes. Equipped with binoculars, notebook, canvas chair and a flask of coffee, I settled down for two hours of swift watching. Swifts were present, flying over and around the church, on 18 occasions during the afternoon. “Screaming parties” were witnessed five times. Screaming parties are formed by groups of swifts flying fast and low around buildings while constantly emitting their loud screaming calls. Screaming parties are an indication that swifts are nesting nearby.

Within 15 minutes, I spotted a swift entering box 5 and the same box received a visit from an adult bird on 3 further occasions. Later, I witnessed two adults leaving box 5 one-after-the-other. So, good evidence of nestlings in box 5 being fed by both of the parent birds. Although there is no evidence of breeding in any of the other 4 boxes, swifts were seen flying back-and- forth close to the boxes, apparently prospecting them as nest sites for next breeding season. These were probably one year old birds which are known to accompany the adults on their migration to Europe. They do not breed but return to Africa for their second winter. The following spring they migrate again to Europe as breeding adults, possibly occupying a nest site which they have found during the previous summer. So, the young birds which, all being well, will fledge from box 5 will complete two migrations to Southern Africa before breeding in Ropley in 2027. Swifts are constantly on the wing – they even sleep while in flight and alight only when breeding, so our young swifts will be in constant flight for 2 years before finding and occupying a nest site.

 

An organization called “Hampshire Swifts” monitors and promotes the preservation and extension of swift nesting sites in the county. St Peter’s Church is now registered with Hampshire Swifts as a nesting site and, hopefully, will continue to be monitored in future years.

I hope that you found this interesting. My intention is to tell you about the wildlife which we are trying to nurture on the site of our “Eco-church” so watch for my next article.