Thetownend.com

....bit of thrill for me today, in spotting the return of the Old Town swifts.  Over the years I've noticed they nearly always turn up  on May 3rd, and so its proved this year.
 
  Apparently, they always return to the same nesting sites,  which are in the roofs of houses around OT streets.

  So the puzzle is...what did they use before the houses were built?

i'd guess holes in trees?

i saw a kestrel hovering opposite st josephs school the other day which i was impressed with.

  I guess its possible....must have been a radical step though to go from trees to houses.

   Never seen an urban kestrel, I think their numbers have gone down a bit in recent years, so a good spot.

i thought you could answer the puzzle reg?
damn i dont know if i got it right now.

 Its just something that has rattled around in my head...never done any research into the subject.  I believe you can put up boxes and swifts wil use them, so holes in trees sounds good.  I suppose as they're only here for about 3 months its not so important as say teh barn to the barn owl.

I glanced out the side of the big box bay window in our bedroom the other day to see the start of a nest being built on the top of our telephone junction box between the bay and a down pipe, tucked in behind the clematis. The next day it had been properly built up, with a coating of mud and a nice lining. The next day there were three little blue eggs, and that night there was a little thrush sitting on them looking back at me. It's pretty much been there ever since. It's like having one of those glass sided nesting boxes they have on TV. I'm like Bill Oddie.

  :) pics please.

Reg...i think Swifts go to different countrys,and before houses were built probably didnt nest here.....birds adapt,Seagulls and magpies being prime examples.Mapies used to be country birds,and the gull obviously coastal,not no more,both very urban birds now.So my guess is that Swifts really only started nesting here when the conditions were right.

  Having done a bit of research, it appears that swifts were nesting in eves since Roman times, I guess nests must turn up archaeologica sites, or maybe Roman historians recorded them.  Its true that some birds adapt but others don't...the common gull and magppie do well because they are aggressive.

 Walking about earlier, there are a lot of black caps around....not kiwi cricketers, but the small warbler....a fun bird to watch.  Apparently although most of them are migrants, some now stay for winter, because of the milder conditions.

The Mrs took some I'll see if I can wrap my head around the techi business of posting them.

Also Swifts rely solely on insects for food unlike other birds,so its important they come here when the weather is muggy and insects are rife for the chicks.

 True.....I also like the fact, that they collect all the bits for their nests, when flying.   So they catch bits of straw,  fluff etc , which are floating about in the atmosphere.