17th November 2024
We had a wonderful day with the young people at Lewes STEM Festival today! They were making minibeast homes to encourage more insects and invertebrates, making flying Swifts, and learning about how to keep Lewes as a Swift-friendly town!
15th October 2024
We installed seven more Swift nest boxes and two more artificial House Martin cups around Lewes today! That makes a total of 194 Swift boxes and 16 House Martin cups since we started in 2019!
12th October 2024
Today is World Migratory Bird Day!
Just as in our Swift-friendly town idea, their theme this year is protecting insects, the basis of all like on earth. What can you do in your space, big or small, to encourage insect activity?
RSPB have shared this article about the migration mysteries of three birds - including Swifts. Find out where our Swifts are now!
Three marvellous migratory birds
19th September 2024
At a full council meeting of Lewes Town Council today, councillors formally agreed to support our proposal of declaring Lewes as a Swift-friendly town! We give special thanks to the Mayor of Lewes, Councillor Imogen Makepeace, for her enthusiasm in taking this idea forward.
We have started a new page on this website to chart our progress and activities. As well as Lewes Town Council, we hope to involve other community environmental groups and residents.
The Mayor of Lewes holding the "Swift" version of the Town Council flag.
3rd September 2024
We had some special guests at the AGM of Lewes Swift Supporters at the Linklater Pavilion.
Councillor Imogen Makepeace, Mayor of Lewes, introduced the proposal the Lewes Town Council and Lewes Swift Supporters join together to declare Lewes a Swift-friendly town. There will be more news on the success of this proposal later in the month. Here are some excerpts from the PowerPoint we showed to explain what a Swift-friendly town means - and why it is important.
Paul Stevens, Hirundine Champion for Sussex Ornithological Society and Conservation Officer for House Martins Conservation UK, gave an excellent talk, "A Summer with Swifts, Swallows and Martins". He shared some wonderful video clips of the different birds nesting, flying and fledging.
31st August 2024
Thank you to all the people who visited out stall at the Societies Fair in Lewes Town Hall on Saturday 31st August. We enjoeyed talking with you and have followed up all the new requests for Swift boxes!
13th August 2024
Lewes Swift Supporters were included in an item about helping Swifts on ITV Neridian News last night!
7th August 2024
The Swift season has finished in Lewes for this year with no nest entries or exits being observed since 3rd August. The number of different nest entrances we recorded was 84, one more than last year. Fifty to sixty visits were recorded at some of the nests, so we are confident that at least some of the Swifts bred successfully despite the changeable weather. We hope that those nests visited later in the season by younger prospecting Swifts will be returned to next year when the birds are mature enough to breed.
The apparent lack of insects this year has been a concern for all of us who are monitoring these red-listed birds. These graphs of Swift population trends from the British Trust for Ornithology, (BTO), and Breeding Birds Survey, (BBS), show that there is still much to be done to reverse their decline.
Trends in Swift population in the UK
Trends in Swift population in South-East England
Trends in Swift population in Sussex
22nd July
It was windy tonight and it became dark very quickly. The only Swifts we saw flying around were between 8.25 and 9.00 p.m. At St. Anne's Church we saw returns to three of the nests and then one Swift flew into a new nest entrance, the 16th at the church. There is quite a cluster of nests around the main door now, like there was in 2020.
This brings our total to 84 nests in Lewes.
20th July
Warm, still weather has meant a lot of screaming Swift activity both by day and in the evening. We have found two more nests at St. Anne's Church, which brings out total number to 83 nests. This matches our total at the end of 2023.
St. Annes Church East
St. Anne's Church West
14th July
At 7.30 a.m. this morning we met with Izzy Kennedy and Terry Hallahan from the Sussex Barn Owl Support Group for a trial of their thermal imaging camera. They have found it useful to confirm occupancy of Owl boxes and were interested to see whether it would work with Swift nest spaces.
We found that it didn't show a thermal image through the stone of St. Anne's Church or through a Woodcrete nest box. It showed a bit of a "glow" where there are nest entrances under eaves or fascia boards - but with occupied wooden boxes it showed a very clear image indeed!
The thermal image does not clearly show the shape of the bird inside so use of such a camera would not replace our usual Swift monitoring, where we record the Swifts actually entering or leaving a specific nest entrance. Many of us know that some of our boxes are occupied by Sparrows!
To our surprise, while we were at St. Anne's Church we recorded an entry to a 13th nest there! That makes 81 nests now!
St. Anne's Church De Montfort Road Western Road
Hot spot showing presence of a Swift - because we have seen Swifts entering this box
11th July
Another beautiful day, with lots of Swifts screaming around Lewes during the daylight hours. Here is a photograph of one of the party of six Swifts screaming around a colony in Valence Road.
The evening stayed fine too, and two more nest entrances were recorded in Mealla Close, Malling, and an eighth nest entrance at the top of St. Swithun's Lane brings our 2024 total to 80 nests in Lewes.
Mealla Close, Malling
80b High Street, top of St. Swithun's Lane
This updated graph, comparing nest records for 2024 with previous years, shows that the number of nest entrances recorded so far is similar or better, despite the difficult weather conditions.
10th July
After several colder, windy days, the weather was perfect, the sky looked beautiful and we were joined by members of the Wellbeing in Nature group from the Railway Land for a "Wellbeing Swift walk" around some of our Swift colonies. What a pleasure. We saw Swifts entering nests at The Maltings, St. Swithun's Lane St. Anne's Church, and 98 Western Road. One of the nest entrances at The Maltlngs was a new, eighth, nest, bringing our total number to 77 active nests.
Ruth Lawrence joined us for the first part of the walk and read her beautiful Swift poem.
Listening to Ruth's Poem The Maltings 98 Western Road
7th July
We didn't have such good weather for our second and third Swift Walks during Swift Awareness Week, on 3rd and 6th July. It was cooler and more windy so there were fewer Swifts flying around - but those who stayed until the end of the walk were at least able to see some nest entries!
St. Anne's Church 3rd July St. Anne's Church 6th July Western Road 6th July
Andrew Lloyd sent us a wonderful image of Swifts flying over Grange Road on 26th June when there was a "strawberry moon". He joined us for our walk on Saturday 6th July and took a brilliant action photograph of one of the Swifts entering nest 3 at 98 Western Road.
Swifts and the strawberry moon, from Grange Road, Andrew Lloyd
Swift entering a nest space in Western Road, Andrew Lloyd
3rd July
After our first Swift Walk for Swift Awareness Week on Saturday 29th June, poet Ruth Lawrence was inspired to write this beautiful poem. She also shared some of her photographs from the evening.
2nd July
A twelfth nest entrance at St. Anne's Church and two more at the Flea Market brings our total for 2024 to 76 Swift nests.
30th June
To our surprise, we recorded two new nest entrances at St. Anne's Church tonight! That makes eleven nests at the church and 73 nests overall in Lewes.
The West end of St. Anne's Church, showing positions of new nests 10 and 11
29th June
We had a perfect evening for the first of our three Swift Walks this year. It was warm and not windy and the Swifts were out and about!
We saw a screaming group of 25 Swifts above and around the Flea Market, exits from four of the nests in St. Swithun's Lane, entries to three nests at St. Anne's Church and entries to two nests at 98 Western Road. A lovely group of eleven people joined us for the walk and it was good to meet some new people who care about our Swifts.
Market Lane The Maltings St. Swithun's Lane
St. Anne's Church 98 Western Road
A second nest entrance was recorded in Potter's Lane - which brings our total to 71 nests. This graph, comparing nest records over the past few years, shows that we are in line with the records from last year. The 2024 nests are shown in purple.
28th June
Exciting news last night from Malling, Lewes! After two hours walking around in circles to follow the Swifts, Surveyor Emma found two new nests in Mealla Close. From the activity there, she thinks there are probably more nests too! This brings our total number to 70 nests for this year.
22nd June
We had a very exciting 10 minutes at St. Anne's Church between 9.30 p.m. and 9.40 p.m. We saw entries and exits to five of the six nests, screaming fly-pasts galore and 17 bangs by prospecting Swifts. Eventually one Swift entered a new nest for this year, bringing our total number of nests in Lewes to 63 nests.
St. Anne's Church - East section
St. Anne's Church - West section
21st June
After a two hour survey at The Maltings, our surveyors have confirmed a seventh nest there, bringing our total up to 62 nests.
17th June
After several cool days and rather cold evenings, we finally had a warm summer's day! This made a huge difference to the number of insects about - and the numbers of screaming Swifts! Two surveyors carried out a two hour survey at St. Anne's Church from 7.45 to 9.45 p.m. and saw groups of up to 20 Swifts circling nearby and screaming past the eaves from all directions. They recorded multiple entries to four of the nests there which indicates that the parents are busy feeding their chicks.
Further down the town, another surveyor recorded a seventh nest at the top of St. Swithun's Terrace, bringing our total to 61 nests.
Other delightful news came from one of our supporters in St. John's Terrace. We installed a double artificial House Martin cup at her home in December, as part of our attempt to reinstate the previous colony there. She saw House Martins entering and leaving the nest cup and sent us some footage of the action!
13th June
It is not a good evening for Swift surveying, but here are some photographs from the nest cam in King Henry's Road. 
12th June
A second Swift nest has been confirmed in King Henry's Road and a new nest in Potter's Lane, bringing our total to 59 nests in Lewes.
King Henry's Road Potter's Lane
11th June
We've just had a lovely welcome at Wallands School, giving a talk about Swifts to the KS2 assembly as part of their biodiversity week! Such a respectful bunch of children with very good questions! They already have lots of trees, hedges, a pond and bug hotels to encourage more insects and invertebrates to feed the Swifts. One Swift flew over the school just as we arrived - a good omen!
10th June
Yesterday we were very pleased to hear from one of our Swift Watchers that Swifts had returned to his house in Grange Road. This is especially good news because none were seen there last year. Two more Swift nests have been confirmed in The Avenue, making our current total 57 nests.
8th June
A seventh nest in Station Street takes our total to 54 nests.
6th June
A lovely start to our survey at the top of the town! There seemed to be some movement at the entrance of the Woodcrete nest box in De Montfort Road and a photograph showed a Swift's face peeking out. Then, moments later, a Swift flew out of the nest! We also saw entries to nests 1 and 2 at St. Anne's Church and an entrance to nest 1 at 98 Western Road.
5th June
Tonight we carried out our fourth transect survey along two parallel sections of The Avenue and the High Street. This is a trial survey method that we are doing for RSPB. We ended at the junction of Bradford Road and The Avenue and ad the pleasure of watching for 30 minutes as seven Swifts screamed around and banged repeatedly against the houses from 41 to 61! There were no nest entries, so we think these might have been younger Swifts from the second wave, looking for a nest space.
Halfway through transects, we took a detour along Abinger Place to mark the site of the new nest. We returned up St. John's Terrace and watch a mix of several Swifts and three House Martins swooping together between the terraces. The "natural" nest at number 20 is now occupied by House Martins, and apparently they have been investigating the artificial cups which we put up earlier in the year. Just after taking a picture of the natural nest cup, two House Martins flew into it!
Nest site in Abinger Place Natural House Martin cup - occupied!
4th June
The Swifts have returned to one of the nest spaces at Gallows Bank, Abinger Place, bringing our 2024 total to 53 nests!
2nd June
After two rather windy days when seeing Swifts became quite a novelty, the screaming parties returned tonight and it was a pleasure to watch and hear them. A sixth nest in Station Street brings our 2024 total to 52 nests.
Nobody has seen any nest activity at Anne of Cleves House yet, so do let us know if you see anything! Here is a photograph from Douglas Dodds of a Swift about to enter the nest space at the front of the house in 2021.
May 2024
30th May
It was another drizzly night in Lewes but we did see a group of fourteen Swifts over Baxter's Field and an exit and entry at 98 Western Road.
This year we are taking part in a trial of a transect survey designed by RSPB and we had our third survey tonight. The transects need to be two almost parallel roads a certain distance apart, so we have chosen The Avenue, from number 51 to the junction with Offham Road, and the High Street, from the top of St. Martin's Lane to St. Peter's Place. It is interesting to try out something new - but not as much fun as our usual method of "following the Swifts"!
The surveyors in Southover have been busy but have not recorded any Swift nests at the front or rear of Anne of Cleves House yet. If you see any, please let us know! Here are some photographs of where they have been seen in the past. They have found a new nest at St. Martin's Lane though, which takes our total up to 51 nests now.
29th May
Another new nest at 98 Western Road brings our 2024 total up to 50 nests in Lewes.
Last night it was very wet so we didn't do a survey. The Swifts may all have been snuggled up in their nests, as the nest cam shows they were in King Henry's Road.
Five nests at 98 Western Road Two Swifts snuggled in their nest in King Henry's Road
27th May
With the second wave of Swifts arriving and the regular monitoring by our surveyors, we are continuing to find new active Swift nests. From last night we can confirm two more nests at the Flea Market and a fourth nest at 98 Western Road. In Western Road, after the entry of the first Swift to nest 4, a second Swift made seven failed attempts to enter the same nest space, and banged at or near the entrance 18 times! At one point it climbed half way in and hung on for a few seconds before flying off. After 30 minutes it flew away, hopefully to try again successfully later....
That makes 49 nests in Lewes now!
Three nests at the Flea Market Four nests at 98 Western Road
26th May
It was wonderful to hear from two of the residents in De Montfort Road this morning that there are now two Swifts in their nest box!. It is one of the Peak nest boxes which we funded and installed in April 2021 because our surveys has shown that there were lots of Swifts flying around the area. Congratulations to the lucky residents - this gives hope to all of us with waiting nest boxes!
25th May
A very active evening with groups of up to 15 Swifts screaming around the top of the town. We're up to 45 nests in Lewes now, with another one in Bridgewick Close, two more nests in Station Street and another one in St. Martin's Lane.
24th May
Our total number of nests for 2024 is now 41. Last night we carried out our second transect surveys in The Avenue and the High Street and we saw screaming parties of up to ten Swifts over the junction of The Avenue with Bradford Road. We were very pleased to hear from one of our supporters, who lives there, that a Swift entered a nest space under the eaves of her house, especally since Swifts have not used this nest for the past few years.
Here is a photograph from a video shared with us by Lewes Swift Supporter, Michael, of a Swift going up to the box next to his house in De Montfort Road and appearing to pass food to another Swift in the box.
23rd May
We're up to 39 nests in Lewes now! Last night two more were spotted above the Julie Kuyath shop in Station Street. Tonight, Sharon fixed the nest cam in the faithful nest in King Henry's Road. By 9.20 p.m it revealed that both Swifts were in the nest and there are also two eggs!
22nd May
The number of confirmed Swift nests in Lewes is now 36!
We have just set out our May newsletter to all Supporters who have registered as "members" to receive emails from us. Get in touch with us if you would like to subscribe: lewesswifts@gmail.com One of the benefits is that members are given the first option of joining our walks and talks!
20th May
All our surveyors have been out monitoring their area of Lewes now - and we now have recorded 30 nests altogether!
Around the UK, some Swift groups have been busy rescuing Swifts already. Remember, Swifts are aerial birds, feeding, drinking, mating and sleeping in the air and they only land to breed. If you ever find a Swift on the ground, it is in trouble. Never through it into the air, or from a height, as this may cause further injury to an exhausted bird. Put it in a box with air holes and contact your nearest Swift rescue service, for example, East Sussex Wildlife Rescue and Ambulance Service. Their rescue line is 0300 10 26 999.
A rescued Swift from another Swift group
10th May
We recorded two more nests at St. Anne's Church, Western Road, Lewes, tonight, which makes six nests there altogether.
Our total number of confirmed nests has now reached 26 nests:
- Western Road - 3
- St. Anne's Church - 6
- Valence Road - 1
- St. Swithun's Lane - 5
- The Maltings - 5
- St. Martin's Lane - 2
- Station Street - 1
- De Montfort Road - 1
- Bridgewick Close - 1
- Flea Market - 1
9th May
Suddenly, we are up to 20 nests confirmed! These are the experienced breeding Swifts who are, thankfully, returning to the nest which they are frequented for several years now. Sounds of calls from some of the nests when the Swifts fly in at dusk suggest that they have met up with their mate successfully too.
The nests so far are: One at the Flea Market; one in Bridgewick Close, Malling; one in Station Street; one in St. Martin's Lane; four at The Maltings; four at the top of St. Swithun's Lane; one in Valence Road; four at St. Anne's Church; and three at 98 Western Road.
First nest in the Station Street colony and fourth nest at St. Anne's Church
8th May
We recorded a third nest at St. Anne's Church tonight - one Swift few quietly in to a nest space above the left-hand border of window 3. A perfect, calm evening but fewer Swifts flying around the town.
St. Anne's Church
7th May
Three more nests were recorded last night in Lewes! One returned to one of the nest spaces at the old shop in Valence Road and two returned to nest spaces at St. Anne's Church. That makes ten altogether so far!
Valence Road
St. Anne's Church
6th May - Tonight we saw parties of up to ten Swifts flying around and feeding between bouts of rain. We have now recorded seven nests in Lewes!
Top of St. Swithun's Lane, Western Road and The Maltings
3rd May - The first nest entries in Lewes were recorded tonight! One Swift entered a nest space at The Maltings and one Swift entered and exited the colony at the top of St. Swithun's Lane.
In Western Road a Swift was heard calling from one of the nest spaces last night and tonight but there were none flying around.
They are being very quiet, as they usually are when they first return from their long journey from Africa. We hope to see them screaming through our skies soon, like this:
Photograph by Barry Griffin of the Swifts above St. Anne's Church
April 2024
As part of our "Celebrating Swifts" season at Lewes Climate Hub, 32 High Street, Lewes, we had a wonderful day on 27th April. Edward Mayer, of Swift Conservation, gave a brilliant talk to share ways of improving our natural environment for wildlife and for us. He drew attention to the correspondence between a decrease in Swift numbers and a decrease in biodiversity - and vice versa.
Visitors to the Hub took the opportunity of having a go at our Swift Quiz, making a flying Swift, and adding their footprint to our "Taking Steps for Wildlife" collage. We are open for more visitors from Wednesday 1st May to Saturday 4th May, 11.00 a.m. to 3.00 p.m.
A flying Swift, Looking at Swift information, and making steps for wildlife
Quizzing, making flying Swifts and more quizzing!
On 10th April we were busy around Lewes, installing more Swift nest boxes and House Martin cups.
Abinger Place, North Way, Talbot Terrace and St. John's Terrace
March 2024
There are only a few weeks to go until the Swifts start returning to Lewes!
To celebrate their return, we are hosting a fortnight of activities at Lewes Climate Hub, 32 High Street, Lewes, from 24th April to 4th May. We hope that you can join us!