Bristol Swifts 2025 Blog - Bristol Swifts

Welcome to our 2025 blog page which will feature regular updates from our swift colony and the other wildlife seen in our wildlife-friendly garden in Bristol. We have 25 swift boxes around our house – see this link. 23 boxes have cameras fitted which gives us a wonderful glimpse of their secret lives from inside these hidden spaces.

We are planning on opening our garden once again for a Swift Awareness/National Garden Scheme charity afternoon in the summer. As the event is weather dependent we won’t decide the exact date until much nearer the time, so keep an eye on this page. However it will be on a weekend sometime between mid-June and mid-July. Here is a link to the 2024 blog.

Saturday 15th March

A round up of what happened in the garden last week.

The frogs that arrived in some numbers last weekend went onto lay over 20 clumps of spawn, however their activity was cut short by the cold weather. By Wednesday the pond was all quiet again. However it’s meant to warm up next week so I’m hoping they’ll be back again. My first toad spawn of the season appeared on Thursday.

Both blue tits and great tits are actively going in and out of several of my bird boxes. Both seem to have a favourite box each and spend most of their time around it, but they also like to visit other boxes too and quite often I see them sussing them out as well. I often hear them tapping at the entrance holes on their favourite boxes. I don’t know why they do this as both holes are plenty big enough but it seems to be something they like doing.

And finally some really great news to report. Last September all my hedgehogs suddenly disappeared in the space of a couple of weeks. Despite me continuing to put out food right into November I never saw them again and feared the worst. Therefore last Tuesday when I saw what looked like hedgehog poo in the garden I couldn’t believe my luck. That night not wanting to get too over-excited I put out a small dish of hedgehog food and trail camera, more in hope rather than expectation. The following morning on viewing the footage I was so delighted to see one hog feeding. Here is a short video of its activity. Also in the film and not so welcome was an inquisitive badger. It sniffed at the hog a few times before thankfully begin scared away by its alarm call. I’ve now re-instated the larger feeding cage which offers the hogs more room inside and hopefully will protect them better if the badger becomes overly familiar!

Sunday 9th March

My first frog spawn of the season has just appeared this morning. I don’t know why but it’s extremely late when compared to previous years. In the the last 7 years the first spawn has always arrived around the 20th February, never this late in March! Here is the dates: – 2018 – 20th. Feb. 2019 – 19th Feb. 2020 – 10th Feb. 2021 – 27th Feb. 2022 – 24th Feb. 2023 – 18th Feb. 2024- 17th Feb. Maybe it was something to do with the very dull and cold weather we had in February?

Saturday 8th March

A few years ago Roxanne Ismail and Tessa Chan filmed a short video in our garden called The Swift Conservationist. Unfortunately not long after it disappeared on the Internet. However as luck would have it we met Roxanne this week at our annual National Garden scheme event. This chance meeting brought back fond memories and reminded us what a lovely little film it was. With their kind permission we’ve now added it to our YouTube channel as it’s one of our favourites. Although it was about swifts it also featured my old friend Rob the Robin who lived with us for over 5 years. Sadly Rob’s no longer with us anymore but we’ve never forgotten him. He was such a charming little bird and we loved him very much. Although other Robins have come and gone in the garden since then none have come close to replacing our old friend Rob. To see the video click here

Friday 7th March

Last August after my blog had ended fellow swift enthusiast and poet Philip Dunkerley sent me a poem he had written called Perpetual Swift. I think it’s excellent and really captures the essence of the swift perfectly. Here is a link.

Sunday 2nd March

Whilst I’m still waiting for the first frog spawn to appear in my pond that wasn’t the case just a mile away at the local Sneed Park nature reserve. Last Thursday I had an urgent email asking if I could help move some frog spawn that had been laid in a puddle about 1/4 mile from the lake. When I arrived I was absolutely flabbergasted by the sheer amount. It was everywhere I reckon there must have been well over 300 clumps. The problem was the puddles were quickly drying up and some of the spawn was already high and dry. If I left it to the weekend when help was available it would have been too late. So without further ado I rolled up my sleeves and got stuck in. A couple of hours later after filling over 20 three gallon buckets full my work was complete. It was hard graft but the sun was shining which made a difference. At the end although I was exhausted I left with a real sense of achievement. Below are a few photos.

On the birding front last week I heard my first Chiffchaff of the year. A little earlier than normal but a sure sign that Spring is on its way. Also lots of reports from around the UK of sand martins arriving back.

Saturday 1st March

It’s the first day of Spring and it won’t be long before my swifts arrive in a few weeks time. However before they do there are lots of other things happening in the garden.The first frog spawn has yet to appear in the pond. This is a good week later than normal, so I expect the prolonged cold snap in early February has held it back. I’m lucky to have five species of amphibians in the pond. Frogs and toads and all 3 species of newt – the great-crested, palmate and smooth. However the most abundant by far are the frogs and there must be well over 100 or more. They are so loud you can hear them croaking from quite a long way away.

Spring flowers are appearing everywhere. The early snowdrops and aconites are virtually over now but they’ve been replaced by a carpet of daffodils, crocus and primroses. Welcome food sources for the buff-tailed bumble bees who have been out and about for some time now looking for nectar.

Not much activity on the bird front other the blue tits and great tits sussing out which nest boxes to use. The most welcome return however is the singing blackbird who’s beautiful song can rival any other songster and is my favourite by a long way.