DawnSE22

Yes we are lucky that swifts seem to be doing okay in ed. Ive been keeping records for the bto since moving to the area in 2004 and numbers seem to have remained the same. A few times in July once the juveniles are on the wing I have counted over 50 from my garden! I guess with all the Victorian housing swifts have been able to find nest places despite all of the refurbishment in the area.

Hi Only Me Yes swifts can use nest boxes, while house martins and swallows use nest cups that look like their natural mud nests. It would only be worth putting up swift boxes though as the others do not breed in ed, although there are breeding house martins on Burbage Rd in Dulwich. You won't be able to buy them locally, but can get them online. The cheapest and lightest option would be a wooden box for about ?13 plus p&p or you can buy schwegler ones from Jacobi Jayne for about ?55. These are made from woodcrete so are heavier and have a 25 year guarantee. Have a look at the shopping page on the swift conservation website for links. I volunteer for swift conservation and offer advice to home owners in South London about the different boxes and where to site them etc so you are welcome to pm me if needed.

Wolis - why do you keep missing the point? Did I say any where that house martins breed in Ed?? Er, no. What I did say is that the other posters may have seen house martins migrating over Ed as I have. How can you comment accurately when you weren't there and they did not give a description? Anyway, if I wanted to check out a bird that I wasn't familiar with I would look at my volumes of Birds of the Western Paleartic and not the RSPB website. You did make one good point though, swifts are declining and need all the help they can get from homeowners - eg leave existing nest holes in place or put up nest boxes at least 5m from the ground. I've put a box up this year and plan to install 4 more when we have some repairs to our roof. Playing swift calls will help to attract them to new nest places. Check out Swift Conservation's website for more info.

Wolis - Why do I need to go to the RSPB site when I know the difference between a swift and house martin call? 2 posters said that they saw or heard house martins, just because swifts breed in the area it does not mean that they didn't see house martins on migration. Although, I am presuming that people commenting on a nature thread would know the difference between the 2 birds, as other than feeding at around the same altitude they are pretty distinctive.

Wolis - if you were commenting on the house martin post - what makes you so certain that they weren't house martins? I regularly see them migrating over Ed in spring and autumn and birds from the Dulwich pop also use Dulwich Park to feed.

Mrs Lotte - yes so I understand and we have changed our mind since declining the place as we have heard some really good things about the school since then. We are arranging to go and visit it to see for ourselves. It was just a bit of a shock not to get one of our earlier preferences, two of which we are nearer to and thought we would be offered. Now the dust has settled, and we have read some of the stories on the forum we feel lucky to have been offered a place at a local school!

Below are the current allocation details for Heber and Goodrich schools as provided to me by southwark council today. We were offered our 6th choice (Goose green school) but we will automatically go on the waiting lists for the schools higher up our preference lists. We initially declined the goose green place online but have been told by Southwark council that this won't make any difference as the place will still be allocated to us until or unless an alternative place is found (seems strange to give you the option really). I have found Southwark council incredible quick and helpful if you email them ([email protected]). Good luck with getting the school of your choice everyone. HEBERSCHOOL ? 60 PLACES FOR RECEPTION 2012 Total applications 403 Siblings offered 35 children Looked after Children 0 Social/medical 0 Distance 25 children Children with full statements of special educational needs 0 Furthest child offered a place on distance lives 191 metres from the school GOODRICHSCHOOL ? 90 PLACES FOR RECEPTION 2012 Total applications 343 Siblings offered 39 children LAC 0 Social/medical 0 Distance 60 children SEN 1 child Furthest child offered a place on distance lives 674 metres from the school

Sounds like a male swallow to me. They have long tail streamers. They are migrating now whereas swifts and house martins generally arrive in uk in may.

I think Tropica is right, the bad weather seems to have delayed them, as I've just had 24 over my house! I have recorded swift numbers since 2005 and this is comparable to other years, so it seems that swifts are probably holding their own in ED at the moment, although I don't know what numbers were like before then. Despite this, swifts are still extremely vulnerable since they rely so much on us for places to nest, particularly when so many houses are getting refurbished. UK wide they have experienced massive decreases like many of our migrant birds. I guess I posted this, as I wanted to raise awareness about how they can be helped and to try and get people to contact the council to ensure that they are doing all they can to protect them.

Has anyone noticed a decline in swifts this summer? For those who haven?t looked up to the skies recently, they are the sooty brown birds, that have long, scythe-like wings and a short, forked tail that fly over the rooftops during the summer months screaming. They use old buildings to nest in, which is why the Victorian houses found in ED are ideal. Sadly, their numbers have crashed (55% in the South East from 1994 to 2007), partly because when people refurbish and repair their roofs they don?t leave the kind of small gaps they need to get in and nest. If you are having some work on your roof, please consider the following advice from Swift Conservation (www.swift-conservation.org): 1. Leave existing nest sites undisturbed 2. If re-roofing or replacing soffits or bargeboards make new access holes in the same place to replace the old ones 3. And if these are not possible, install a nest box Southwark council is supposed to be helping swifts by getting developers to install suitable nesting sites (swift bricks) as part of its sustainable design and construction plan, which came out over a year ago, but so far the council has not got one developer to include swift bricks in their builds (such as the new Harris academy school on Forest hill Rd). If you?re interested in helping swifts, check out the above website and please consider raising this issue with your councillor. Richard Thomas was very supportive when he was a councillor and James Barber has offered to follow up on this issue, but the more people that raise it, the greater likelihood of action. Many thanks Steven