I missed #SwiftAwarenessWeek, but after a week away, a pleasure to come home last night & watch 2 pairs of #Swifts returning at dusk to my #Swift boxes. Such a privilege to be playing landlady to these amazing birds! 😍🙏 @rspb.bsky.social @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social @johncortes.bsky.social
The Italian for swift is rondone, which is linked to the word for ‘patrol’. Patrolling implies ownership, agency, a sense of responsibility: the naming is a powerful, if subconscious, act of recognising the birds as co-citizens.
#swiftawarenessweek
wreckageandshimmer.substack.com/p/shimmering...
A Common Swift flying to a nest box attached to the eaves of a cottage with its throat pouch bulging with insects it has caught to feed its chicks. Photographed with a remote camera on a house extension rooftop, triggered by a wireless remote release. (Wiltshire)
A Swift returns to its nest with a crop full of food for its young.
It's thought that a single bird may gather 100,000 insects in a day.
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
5 ways to help Swifts: buff.ly/DV0fTsF
📷 Nick Upton
Common Swift in flight
Common Swift entering nesting box
Common Swifts #giveswiftsahome #swiftawarenessweek
On TripFiction: how #TheOneTrueThing's big house is the setting for #swifts, #Artweeks and growing awareness of social injustice, privilege, climate emergency & the need for change. www.tripfiction.com/talking-loca... #SwiftAwarenessWeek #LiteraryWanderlust #travelbybook @tripfiction.bsky.social
Pleased to be @tripfiction.bsky.social talking about #TheOneTrueThing and how its big house provides the setting for #swifts, Artweeks, & considerations of privilege, social injustice, #ClimateEmergency and the need for change. www.tripfiction.com/talking-loca... #travelbybook #SwiftAwarenessWeek
It's #SwiftAwarenessWeek 2025 and our #SaveOurSwifts campaign has been featured today on @bbcscotlandnewsnot.bsky.social - thanks to Carno Media Ltd for coming down to meet the GSA Biosphere Partnership and D&G Climate Hub and spotlighting our swift boxes project.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
A swift exit at our local church all the nest boxes are busy! #swiftawarenessweek OM1, 150-400 and 2x @omsystem.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @shropshirewildlife.bsky.social
Swift chicks in nest box
Pair of adult swifts
It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek 💚
Swift numbers have fallen by 76% in Wales since 1995 but, of the 3 swift family nest-cams we are monitoring, all 3 have chicks and, given the weather conditions right now, one brood look as if they might be ready to fledge!
Need help identifying swifts? bit.ly/4keHnEx
#SwiftAwarenessWeek This month’s prompt at my local writing group was migratory birds. I wore a piece about swifts called The Same Sky. It got a bit narky at the end!😳 🧱… devizeswriters.wordpress.com/author/deviz... #WritingCommunity @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social
A close up of a Swift's face, side on against a dark background
Did you know Swifts can fly up to 2 million miles during their lifetime – that’s equivalent to more than four trips to the Moon & back!
They are the fastest birds in level flight, with an impressive top speed of almost 70mph!
They eat, drink, sleep & even mate whilst flying.
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
It's #SwiftAwarenessWeek! Learn more about @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social's incredible fight to make #SwiftBricks compulsory in new buildings in new book #NatureNeedsYou: bit.ly/3IapWYD
It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek : 28 June - 6 July 2025 and we can all do our bit to help these amazing birds.
Hannah Bourne-Taylor @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social pictured speaking about the swift brick campaign and #NatureNeedsYou at the Chalke History Festival.
#ChalkeHistoryFestival
Did you know? Swifts eat, sleep, drink, mate, & even bathe on the wing...rarely landing except to nest.
They can switch off one half of their brain to rest, drink by gliding low over water to take sips, & fly through rain to bathe! 🌧️
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
📽️ @theHALLofEINAR
It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek !!! Last night whilst enjoying a post work beer we were regularly interrupted by 5 very loud Swifts… the sound of summer indeed!
I did a blog last week which you can catch on my Substack: open.substack.com/pub/knapsack...
Hooray for Swifts!!! 🙌 🙌 🙌
Oh, & for moments like these, with swifts & more in, I highly recommend this gorgeously passionate & gripping book, & campaign from the incredible @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social. Email your MP to help save these extraordinary birds for #SwiftAwarenessWeek! -) -) -)
Cute Swift fact:
Swifts' Latin name 'Apus apus' comes from the Greek 'a pous' which means 'without foot'.
Their legs are so short it was believed they didn’t have any feet! 😭 💚
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
🕊️ It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek! Young swifts are filling our skies with joyful screams & daredevil flight—catch them before they head to Africa!
tverc.org/tverc-news/2...
📢 And if you spot any #swifts, don’t forget to share your records with us!
In pictures – June’s best #BuiltEnvironment images. From Construction Management magazine.
#CIOB #construction #building #bridges #HS2 #ConstructionManagement #SwiftAwarenessWeek
@bas.ac.uk
Counting swifts when they are swirling fast overhead is tricky. Best to snap a pic and count the dots. Here, over West Raynham this morning I reckon there are 33 in shot. Nice how some reflect the sun off their wings #swiftawarenessweek @jonathanpomroy.bsky.social @hannahbournetaylor.bsky.social
Swifts are #NatureChampioned by @gmacdonaldsnp.bsky.social with @rspbscotland.bsky.social.
Learn more about these incredible birds! 👇
www.scotlink.org/species/swift/
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
First bird of my day: swifts from the conservatory window, flying with their morning gracefulness, through the oblongs of blue. (It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek - lots of events around the country) #FirstBirdOfMyDay #WhatsYours
www.rspb.org.uk/whats-happen...
For anyone who loves swifts in the UK, there are lots of evening talks, walks and concerts taking place all week. In Winchester our swift population has risen as a result of citizen action. #swiftawarenessweek
Quite a display this evening...
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
A Swift in flight, displaying its long curved wings and streamlined body, against a blurred background of green foliage. Under its small head, at its throat, a round bulge is visible - showing the Swifts' special throat pouch full of tasty insects ready to regurgitate as a 'bolus' (pellet) for its hungry chicks.
Did you know? Swift parents feed their chicks by regurgitating 'boluses' of food.
Caught on the wing & stored in a special throat pouch, they can contain up to 1000 insects!
Check out that throat pouch 👇
📷 Martin Abbess
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
Here's two arriving home, blink and you'll miss them 😀
#SwiftAwarenessWeek
An adorable close-up view of a Swift lying down, wings tucked in, looking towards the camera, showing its large, dark eyes and detailed feather patterns on the head and upper chest.
It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek! 😍
Swifts are back for summer, filling the skies with screaming calls and rapid, swooping flights.
We’ll be sharing the love all week... but first, over to you.
Help us kick things off & share your Swift snaps and videos below! 👇
This image is an id plate that describes the common swift (Apus apus), a fast-flying bird with dark plumage, long sickle-shaped wings, and a forked tail. It typically lays 2–3 eggs and can live up to 17 years. Swifts feed on flying insects and are present in the UK mainly from May to August, nesting around towns and villages, with an estimated 59,000 breeding pairs. The graphic is labeled with clear icons and text on a blue background, and includes a photo of the bird in flight.
It’s #SwiftAwarenessWeek!
These amazingly adapted #birds eat, sleep & mate on the wing! 🐦⬛🌀
📝Add them to your GBW list if they’re nesting in your home or feeding low over your garden
🐞 Gardening for wildlife helps boost their insect prey!
#CitSci #UKBirding
