Double Brooded Swifts
May and July 2025
On August 6th I got a phone call to tell me there's a late pullus to ring and
there's a swift always on a nest where a single pullus had fledged. My first
though was it's a dead swift which we've seen before a couple of times. When I
got there there wasn't a swift in the nest box so I had a quick look inside. I
was amazed to see 2 healthy pulli c4 days old. This could be the first record
ever of swifts being double brooded. Is it the same pair? Did a new pair take
over? The plan was to return on August 8th and go through the recordings on a
DVR to look for rings on adults. That morning I got a phone call to say a swift
was caught on nest material and hanging from the nest box. An orange ring could
be seen. I went straight away. It's just 2.4 miles 3.8km by car. By 11.15 the
swift was rescued and photos taken. It was SH39538/orange 63, that was ringed on
July 8th exiting a nest box, proving it was a resident swift with a 2nd brood.
Messages were sent to contacts in Italy and Israel to ask if they had seen or
heard of double brooded swifts. They hadn't
Mark dont put all your eggs in one basket!! The real excitement
will come when the young are ringed and colour ringed at the end of August and
fledge in mid September
This is their approximate timeline
This could be the first time its been seen and recorded in the UK, Ireland and Europe.
An adult on the nest https://youtu.be/2unVDAmupU8?si=Q_pu4Bi1W32kKd7J
