Swifts

A quiet day, with a bit of catching up on the laptop, in the house and in the garden.
There's an active local swift conservation group in our neighbourhood, as in several others in Sheffield. With their advice and encouragement, we put a double nest box up under the eaves last year. No takers as yet, but this year we're intermittently playing swift calls from a nearby window, as apparently that can encourage the birds to investigate. Meanwhile, they swoop and scream above the garden, and over nearby buildings, with their customary grace and vigour. However, numbers are in severe decline in the UK; it's partly down to loss of nest sites, as older buildings are renovated and bird-friendly gaps are blocked up.  But it's also down to loss of edible insect populations, thanks to 21st century farming practices.
We'll see, about the nest box. Fingers crossed. Meanwhile, when the little birdsong player is on, it feels as if a crowd of swifts has already set up home in the back bedroom :-)