The Swifts of Dervock Presbyterian Church!

When my friend Francis Devine heard about the wonderful Swift colony in Dervock, he was inspired to write this prose. * * * * *The Swifts of Dervock Presbyterian Churchfor Dick Glasgow and Stewart Laverty

Whether screeching black arrowheads ever flashed over the earliest dwellings in Dairbheog is unknown, but soon after 1835, when the spire of Dervock Presbyterian Church first stood proud in the north Antrim skies, Swifts - for some then gabhlanai gaoithe - began investigating its possibilities.

Caretaker Stewartie Laverty had craned skywards since he was a wean to watch the birds swirl around the steeple, their squealing screams heralding summer, fields of pastel blue flax, ripening oats, margins of pale yellow meadowsweet. Each late April, he searched the skies, ear cocked as he tended his duties for that heart-lift anthem that wound itself around the stone as joyful solstice garland.Today he leads the faithful to the tower top, dark perforated zinc sheeting inside the louvres acting as screen to allow them unobstrusively observe the nesting Swifts without disturbance. Thirteen families are documented, the enumerators' smiles broad, a mystery of two centuries solved, allowing Stewartie a quick laughing calculation as to how many Swiftlets had been baptised in his lifetime.by Francis Devine * * * * *

My Swifts have surprised me once again!

My Swifts have surprised me once again! 😮

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I spent most of yesterday in my garden again & despite frequent checks back to watch for any signs of life in the nest box, I saw none. Nor did I see any Swifts in flight the whole day, so I felt sure that they'd actually left & the last youngster must have fledged with them.

However, as I walked down my garden with my dogs this morning, around 9.30am, I was surprised to see 3 Swifts in the sky just to the West of my garden.

So it looks like the adults & last youngster must have spent another night in the nest box. Unfortunately I only had a landscape lens on my camera, so I was only able to get black speck shots of them. Now I'm wondering, will this really be the last time I'm going to see them .... or will they surprise me again! 😉 😀

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This is the landscape shot of them at 9.30, taken from my garden.

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This is the crop from that image showing the Swifts, 

as no more than three black dots.

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This is a Swift-eye view of my garden, looking South, 

from the access hole to their nest box.

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… and there they were – Gone!

Late on the evening of the 30th July, my last youngster, alone in the box since the 29th, was joined just as it was getting dark, first by one parent & then 10/15 mins later by the other parent.

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Their night vision must be excellent because they both just zoomed in, as if from nowhere, straight back into their nest box ... at speed. It was a very quiet evening & I clearly heard the woosh as each one flew back in & the slight clunk as each one hit the nest box entrance.

Early the next morning, the 31st July, it had fledged & they had all left, presumably for Africa. I can't believe just how much I miss their daily activity already, still, that's my first Swift nesting season over & my first pair produced 3 youngsters, so well done to them, it's wonderful to see my wee colony finally up & running. 

My boxes went up in 2015, in a rural location here in north Antrim, with no Swift activity, so 3 years is no time at all to have to wait for them to get started & now I have 2019 to look forward to ... onwards & upwards. :-)

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