Date: 2017 June 9
The swift tower was built in 2011 on Logan's Meadow nature reserve, by Cambridge's River Cam, and close to a new cycle/pedestrian bridge over the Cam (as reported here on BBC news). As often the case with swifts (Apus apus), it took them a while to discover the new nesting spaces, despite playing attraction calls. I've already reported elsewhere of starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) nesting in at least one of the boxes in 2013, but in 2014 swifts were finally seen entering some of the boxes (see here), and have bred every year since. Increase has been slow, but by 2018, there are at least 4 definite pairs breeding, and (as at my own house), once there are swifts present, and perhaps when birds raised here reach breeding age after around 3 years, the numbers can quickly increase.
I thought I'd do this webpage, with some of my photos, as many people still seem to say "but it doesn't have any swifts...". It does, and has for a number of years now.
There are entrances to the swift nest-spaces on both the front and back of the tower, and indeed some on the sides.
If trying to describe which box you saw a swift enter or leave, we have found that the best method is to specify Front/Back/Side, and to count from the central box on either front or back, counting how many boxes east (or west), and up (or down). The central box is numbered as (0, 0). East is 'towards the river', and West 'away from the river'. Using east/west is preferable to right/left as it means that a box has the same coordinate whether you are looking at front or back. There are 17 boxes across the tower (and from top to bottom), so the maximum number east/west (or up/down) is 8. Some of the side-entrances have been used by swifts, for example "Side, East 7, Down 4" - this particular one was used by swifts in 2017 and 2018 - it's painted with a light-pink 'half-moon' in the photo below. As far as I can see in the photos (below), there is only one entrance on the horizontal and vertical lines through the centre box: the one in the middle at the very bottom of the front of the tower. If swifts ever use it, I guess we'd call it "Front, East (or West) 0, Down 8".
Date: 2017 June 9
Front of Cambridge Swift Tower.
The boxes are painted different colours, and the entrances have different-shaped 'canopies' - some of these have dropped off, or the
paint has flaked off, leaving a white patch - there seems to be some evidence that swifts have discovered these in preference
to others that are still painted as intended!
Date: 2017 June 9
Back of Cambridge Swift Tower.
The boxes are an assortment of different lengths. There are some 'slot' entrances for bats too, and although not visible in the photo,
where a box overhangs the one below, there are some swift-entrances on the underside. You can see 5 of the 'side-entrances' at lower-right.
The topmost of these (nearest the metal stanchion) is "Side, East 7, Down 4" (mentioned above) and used by swifts in 2017 and 2018.
Information of course not guaranteed to be complete. A box is 'definite' if chicks are seen looking out; extremely likely if swifts are seen going in/out multiple times; but uncertain if only seen once (they often 'try out' boxes without using them).
The following 4 boxes were in use by pairs of swifts in 2018. There may be others, and reports are always welcome.
Box occupation was believed to be the same in 2019. In 2020, multiple in/out activity was only seen at 3 of these, with "Back, East 5, Down 4" maybe unused. In the 2021 season, by the end of June 2021, "Back, East 5, Down 4" appeared to be in use again, and new ones "Front, East 1, Down 3", and "Front, East 3, Down 5" had multiple activity, making a total of 6.
Date: 2017 July 26
Swift entering box "Side, East 7, Down 4".
Date: 2018 June 13
Swift having just left box "Back, East 5, Down 4" (the box two above where the swift is seen in the photo).
Date: 2018 June 13
Swift entering box "Front, West 1, Up 4" (bottom left of photo). See photo below with chicks
looking out of this box.
Date: 2018 June 15
Swift entering box "Side, East 7, Down 4" (as seen in use last year above).
Date: 2018 June 15
Swift leaving box "Side, East 7, Down 4" (same box as previous photo). This swift
left just 4 minutes after the one entered above. Probably a typical exchange of adult birds, whether
incubating eggs, or feeding young. One adult in, other out.
Date: 2018 July 16
Two swift chicks looking out of box "Front, West 1, Up 4" (as seen above in photo a month ago with an
adult swift entering). The lighter feathers on the head are characteristic of fledglings.