Over the winter we installed two nest box WI-FI cameras in two of the eight swift nest boxes that were installed in the belfry 4 years ago.
Having travelled over 5,000 miles from sub Saharan Africa on the 29th of April a swift entered nest box 5 our first confirmed sighting of a swift in the St David’s nest boxes. Several days later up to 4 swifts were sighted flying close to St David’s tower. On the 14th May a second swift joined the first in box 5 and mating occurred. On the 30th May we are pretty sure one egg was laid with a further egg on 1st June. Swifts normally lay a batch of 1-3 eggs and it takes about 19 days for the chicks to hatch
At the beginning of June the birds were dutifully brooding the eggs:
This winter we hope to modify at least two of the nest boxes so we can position the cameras to get clearer and improved images.
We are an independent voluntary group not connected to any of the many Parish groups Anyone interested in our project or who can contribute a donation or perhaps help with raising funds can contact me. Also if you have a smart phone you can view the camera footage, if you are interested in doing this please let me know nick.mallalieu@gmail.com