Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Nature notes: why I would join a march to save the swifts
When I was a child, the summer skies above my head were full of swifts, the air filled with that distinctive scream as they swooped and dived after their food.
Even a few years ago I feel sure that they were there, crowds of them in the skies above Harringay.
Now think about this year, better yet look up. If you see more than one or two it's quite a treat. I feel the absence even more this year, as I walk around Railway Fields with groups of primary children. If I spot one, I point up eagerly, "Look a swift!" but, by the time they have focused up, the sickle-shape has passed over.
Where once I would have heard their high-pitched calls all the long summer evening as I sat in my garden, now I strain to catch the sound of them at all. It feels like a small victory if I manage to do so.
These are the gloriously warm, sunny days of June, but the swifts are not here.
Nature writer Patrick Barkham agrees,
"One swift. No – three, darting through the blue. Three birds. It’s like returning to the place where you grew up and finding your old home bulldozed. Reality does not compute with the picture you remember. I knew the swift for its screaming parties, marvellous groups of 20 or 40 or 60 or uncountable numbers of birds racing together through the sky, flicking their wings, calling in apparent glee."
So what's gone wrong? Why is this bird in such rapid decline? The British population has declined by 51% between 1995 and 2015. And the rate of decline is increasing: down 24% in the five years to 2015.
The answer is complex but certainly involves humans.
Habitat loss in Africa from where they migrate, habitat loss here. Climate change which affects weather patterns en route. We also build our houses differently now. Where once there were eaves, holes in walls and derelict outbuildings for them to nest in, modern homes are built to discourage not encourage nesting birds. I think of the low eaves of buildings on the Greek Islands or the Croatian coast where humans and swifts co-exist side by side, the adults swooping low over our heads on their way to their nests, so low we instinctively duck and our evening meals are accompanied by the frantic twittering of baby swifts. Utterly thrilling.
And, of course, the huge elephant in the room. The rapid decline of the insects, the flying food of the swifts.
But people do care. This week, 16-23 June, is Swift Awareness Week, the world's first, which aims to raise awareness of their plight and find ways to combat the problem. Activists are putting up swift nesting boxes on their houses and lobbying councils to do more.
Hackney Council are ahead of the curve again with proposals to put swift boxes on new build council housing and retro-fit where possible existing council houses.
Let's lobby Haringey to do the same.
Patrick Barkham wants us to go further,
"We should be marching on Westminster about this threat to life. And yet, if we imagine hundreds of thousands of us brandishing banners depicting moths or birds, shouting, “Save our swifts!”, it is preposterous, or comical. It shouldn’t be."
I miss them. There is pain in this loss. I can't bear the silence. Nor can I accept that my kids have to get on a plane to experience the excitement of watching multitudes of swifts dipping on water or screaming across blue skies.
I'm up for that march, Patrick.
Count. Me. In.
Tags for Forum Posts: nature notes, swifts
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by EMC2 on
-
With you 100% there Liz- we're just back from two weeks in Portugal and the central town of Manteigas was alive with screaming swifts - lots of nests under balconies, making us realise what we're now missing. I remember they used to bomb along the side passage between us and our neighbour, but sadly no more..
-
Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
-
Same in Paris a few weeks ago. I was hearing and watching large numbers of them soaring and swooping right in the centre of the city. If they can survive and thrive there, London should be a doddle with a bit of will.
-
-
Well I was wrong, they still bomb along the side passage, although there are a lot less. I was standing outside with a neighbour chatting last night and realised we have a family (I hope) of swifts nesting under the eaves just next door.
I will try and get a better picture.
-
Permalink Reply by Liz on
-
Yesterday, while taking a group of 7yos around Railway Fields I did a little dance of joy while pointing upwards because 10 swifts were screaming over our heads which the kids actually saw and we identified them. Still not enough but nevertheless a joyous moment.
Nice pic
-
-
Good news is there is definitely a nest, but almost impossible to get a picture of them entering or leaving.
-
Permalink Reply by h4k on
-
I love them too. I think loss of mature trees is one issue in local decline. I think there must be a kind of cloud of insects associated with the canopy of big mature trees as you can watch the swifts patrol those areas at certain times. In the area of backgardens between my road and the next at least 6 really big mature trees have been taken out in the last ten years.
Imagine the impact of the feeling Network Rail are planning. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/may/09/revealed-networ...
I'd love to put up nestboxes for swifts but no idea how to get over the practicalities eg getting something installed that high up the side of the house, and putting them in the right place so they will be used. I have quite a few nestboxes for other birds in the garden and they are ignored year after year !
Never found out where 'my' swifts live. Anyone seen swifts swallows or house martins nesting locally?
-
Permalink Reply by matt on
-
Insects also in massive decline in the UK so guess that's the problem and that in turn is caused by intensive agriculture, use of pesticides, huge fields without hedgerows, huge lost of meadows etc
-
-
RE that march for swifts
Chris Packham has asked that we put 22nd Sept into our diaries!
-
Permalink Reply by Protheroe O'Shea on
-
The Swifts are in full force over Lothair Rd South. It's an amazing sight and fantastic to see so many.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
