Swifts, Swallows and House Martins
Swifts
Swifts are the last to arrive (mid-May) and the first to leave
(starting mid-August). They are the ones that nest inside roofs
and fly around in groups screaming. They are dark sooty brown and
have very narrow, stiff sickle-shaped wings. They leave at the end
of August and fly non-stop to their winter quarters, returning to
Britain the following May.
Swallows
Swallows have very forked tails, blue plumage and a chestnut face
and throat. They build their open mud nests on top of ledges inside
sheds, garages and barns or in the entrance porches of houses.
House Martins
House martins are the smallest of the three. They have blue plumage,
all white below, a less forked tail than the Swallow and a prominent
white patch on the rump. Their nests are made from mud on the outside
of buildings under the eaves and are fully enclosed except for the
entrance slit. Like swallows, house martins arrive back in April
and start to leave in late September.
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 A
few pertinent facts about swifts
- swifts live in the air as fish live in the sea, coming to land
only during the breeding season
- swifts use very little nesting material glued with saliva, and
so create very little mess
- swifts deposit little or no guano below their nestsite
- swifts rarely penetrate further into the roof than the plate
(top of the house wall)
- swifts feed their chicks food balls containing 300+ insects,
up to twice an hour, and so are an excellent natural control
For more detailed information about the common swift Apus apus
in Britain, consult:
- Birds of the Western Palearctic Vol IV, publ OUP
- David Lack's classic work "Swifts in a Tower"
- The BTO Migration Atlas and Atlas of breeding birds
- The RSPB leaflet on swifts
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