Swifts (the birds, not Taylor)

[MotherOfCatBoy]

Anyone seen any yet? I think I saw two this morning, circling high up, but I’m not an expert and they could be house martins. I can’t wait to see them, they are such a sign of Summer.
I’m in South Wales btw.

Seen swallows where we are but not swifts.

@velvetydogtoy also lovely! Swallows are so graceful.

Really beautiful - I love watching them. As you say - you know that summer is just around the corner when they return.

I've seen swallows and house martens but not yet any swifts yet in Lancashire.

Swifts have a quite distinctive shape - a sort of sickle shaped curve, longer in relation to their bodies than the others - and I think do more high level soaring around rather than acrobatics over water like the swallows and martens.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed and will look out tomorrow to see if there are any more. Could well be house martens (martins? Sp?). And look up dates they normally return. It’s usually May but it’s still early I think…

Someone on another thread (maybe gardening) said they'd seen some, not sure where.

I saw a few swifts this morning, I'm in Bristol. Very exciting to welcome them again, start of summer!

Oh, the other thing which may help ID them is the Merlin app - we got it recently after seeing people on here enthusing about it, it's brilliant for sound identification. It confirmed one of our sightings as swallow rather than marten.

Ooh @RhinestoneCowgirl maybe this is it then!

@ErrolTheDragon that sounds useful. I have an app called “chirp-o-matic” which identifies song (loved the name, very Douglas Adams); will try Merlin too.

(edited for spelling because auto correct is bloody wrong, again)

Yes! I noticed yesterday that they’re back.
Easy to tell from house martins once you know. Swifts have long torpedo shaped bodies and long curved wings. Their call is described as “screaming”. They tend to fly very high up and very rarely land. House martins are smaller with much chubbier shorter wings and a broad forked tail. They tend to fly lower and fly from place to place more.

I saw about half a dozen high in the sky later on about lunchtime, and could hear them too. They’re back!

A little bit early for them yet I think. I'm in west London and they usually start appearing around the end of this month.

None up in sunny Aberdeen yet - plenty of house martins and swallows

I haven't seen any yet, but it's usually around now we get our first sighting (SE London). I wonder if the weather has delayed them.

When we go to Scotland, we see no swifts, but we do see lots of swallows and house martens.

When they're a long way up;

1. Screaming C shapes - Swifts
2. Tail like sticking two fingers up - Swallows
3. Everything else - Martins

I worked on a farm just as the Swallows were coming in one year. I'd never seen them up close and they were incredibly noisy, chattery birds on every cable, line and surface, all looking for the best barn edges. And so brightly coloured :)

I miss all them now. People have knocked the nests off their houses, not enough bugs to sustain them, not enough gardens to give mud or the bugs that sustain them. I'm doing well to have any small birds, never mind the migratory ones.

Thanks for the pics @Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g - I think they’re swifts… sound like it too. Not many, half a dozen or so. Maybe more will turn up over the coming days. We’re on the edge of a city so don’t tend to see swallows until we get a bit further out into the countryside. We definitely get house martins but these sound different.
I have a few books on them, but every year seeing them with the naked eye still makes me squint and doubt myself!

I saw some in London on Friday. We're near a reservoir and they always make a beeline for it (arf)

Not here yet in Edinburgh - I’m starting to look out for them though, I get so excited when they arrive!

Someone in our village heard a cuckoo yesterday.

I’m in Oxfordshire- there were definitely some here yesterday.

Saw one of the 3 mentioned similar birds the other day, not sure which it was. Hants Wiltshire border.

But I do love sitting out and watching them circle on a clear evening . Went to Southern Italy last year and they were tearing around the skies there too.

I spotted a few house martins checking out the nest under our eaves here on 22 April, then they disappeared again. I was a bit concerned they might not come back because some cheeky sparrows had been using the nest. However, they arrived back yesterday and have been in and out of the nest so it looks like they're back for the summer now. I love it when I know they are safely home.

I've seen a handful of swallows over the nearby river, but no swifts. I've never seen them here.

I'm in Central Scotland, they usually turn up around the end of the first week in May. I worry every year that there will be none. We have a real mimic of a starling nearby who does impressions, including the swift " scream" , it's nearly fooled me a few times!

Just checked my Facebook page, I noted the swifts arriving on the 9th of May last year and in 2015.