Table of Contents 1.

Throughout my childhood, the sound of screaming swifts always seemed to herald the start of summer. Their return has always been of particular interest to me as it was one of their number, who seemingly misjudged a flight (or more likely a landing) and ended up stunned on the floor close to me; that sparked my interest in birds many, many years ago. That particular swift recovered and joined its flock, nesting in the eaves of the former Victorian schoolhouse opposite my home.

Growing up in a predominantly rural county, the sound of swallows twittering overhead was something we looked forward to. The sounds also acted as a prompt to open the carefully crafted hatch fitted to the old shed door by the previous occupants of the house we used to live in. The hatch provided access to the roof space in which a returning family of swallows nested and successfully raised many young year after year. It was an ideal location next to farmland, which provided grazing for horses and cattle.

Since then, I sadly moved away from the house with its returning swallows, and over the years, swifts, in particular, have increasingly become a rarity. We are all aware of the more obvious reasons for the decline. Wetter spring weather reduces the number of insects, which not only impacts swallows, swifts and house martins but other species, such as blue tits. These wetter conditions are undoubtedly linked to the changes in our climate but other factors, it would seem, may also be having an impact.

These views are purely my own based on my own observations, and I’m sure that those far more qualified than me would be able to provide facts to support or disprove my theories, but I have seen changes in my local farming community’s activities which would seem to be reflecting on the number of the summer visitors we see. Close to where I now live, there are a number of fields owned by a local farmer who, until recently, used to put out a modest-sized herd of cattle to graze. Having grazed the cattle would do what cattle tend to do, which, in turn, would attract a lot of flying insects.

Fast forward a few years, and the cattle have gone, only to be replaced by a few sheep occasionally, and even then, they appear very infrequently. The fields have been left to their own devices, which, in its own way, isn’t a bad thing. However, the loss of the cattle has, it would seem, resulted in a noticeable reduction in the number of insects flying around. It won’t come as any surprise to learn that the number of swallows, swifts and house martinis flying over the nearby houses, including ours, would also seem to have reduced.

Mix into the changes in farming practices the use of pesticides, and the results are obvious, but not as obvious as when you see (or not as the case may be) the loss of some of your favourite birds. For years, I have signed every petition going to try to persuade successive governments to do more for nature, but without much success. So, with the election not that far off and the skies quieter overhead, I hope the next government will take climate and wildlife issues more seriously than they have in the past.