Leeds Swifts October 2026 Newsletter
Swift Sanctuary round-up - an unusual season! By Linda Jenkinson
It’s been an unusual year from the start with the first grounded Swift being reported on 28 April while I was taking my pre-Swift season break. Thankfully our Swift Sanctuary Support Team stepped up enabling me to manage the case remotely. As happens with many returning adult Swifts, it was obvious by the asymmetry of the wings in the assessment photos that this bird had suffered a coracoid fracture (part of the shoulder) and sadly wasn’t saveable. A member of the support team was then able to act quickly and take the injured Swift to the avian specialist at Holly House vets who has been supporting Leeds Swifts over the last few years.
Northerly winds then slowed down the arrival of Swifts and Hurindines in May. The early heatwave which followed triggered an intense period of continuous rehabbing which lasted from 1 June all the way through to 8 September. This year is the first time I’ve completed over 100 consecutive days of rehabbing without a break. The total number of birds in the house at one time is also a record at 48, reached on 23 July, which is one up on last year. This is the latest peak in bird numbers since I started rehabbing (previously it has been between 14 and 19 July).
Having frequent, lengthy and severe heatwaves has been a challenge but, in some respects for Swifts, the early heatwave gave us better rehabbing successes.
Many unfeathered Swift chicks fell from nests in the first heatwave across the whole of the UK. The good news is that virtually all of the ones I received were saveable and, because of their young age, they were easily stabilised and spent the rest of their chickhood in rehab.
Sadly though, the adverse consequence of the heatwave was that it probably resulted in a high chick mortality in the rooftop nests. Many chicks would have been too young to wander and fall from the entrance hole.
Fewer chicks in nests in July meant that we didn’t get the usual exponential rise in admissions in the first two weeks of the month when the heat intensified. The July Swift intakes are usually extremely critical chicks, between 18-25 days old, starved, severely dehydrated, half the weight they ought to be and very difficult to save.
Instead we had a steady flow, peaking in the third week and arriving in a better condition. As a result there were fewer overnight deaths of new intakes and a speedier recovery period for most. Critical chicks need intensive care and regular rehydration during the day and overnight so having fewer very poorly chicks is good for my energy levels too.
Something unusual to note for the season is that Swift chicks that were fully developed and due to fledge stayed with us much longer than expected – instead of the usual 42 days, over 50% of chicks were older when they decided to leave, some more than 50 days.
We can’t begin to speculate on the cause of this but it was also noticed by Louise at Bolton and Bury Swifts. We’re both pretty good at accurately assessing the ages of chicks but we were independently beginning to doubt ourselves until we had a chat and compared notes!
Swift success
The great news is that out of 79 Swifts received, 80% were returned to the wild. What’s lovely is that eight out of the 10 adults that were received were flown (80%) – usually we only have a 50% success rate or less with adults because they are often mortally wounded.
Every finder of Swifts receives one of our own Helen Lucy’s lovely informative booklets either as they deliver a Swift themselves or if one of our taxi volunteers picks up a Swift. If Swifts are delivered via the UK Swift SOS team (or even via an Uber) the finder is sent a booklet in the post. These are always gratefully received.
More good news is that five out of the six Swallows received were fledged successfully (83%).
Bad season for House Martins
Sadly, it was the House Martins that didn’t fare well this year. Many pre-fledgling chicks arrived in a critical state during the intense heat showing the same unusual symptoms which we can only attribute to heat stroke. They didn’t respond to emergency care and died after a few hours. With a normal rehabbing success rate of between 70-100%, it’s been very upsetting that only nine out of 26 were saveable (34.6%).
Rehabbing success of House Martins across Yorkshire and other parts of the UK will be discussed with the rehabbing community to ascertain whether this was just a local or a countrywide issue. It will also be discussed with our two avian vet specialists.
Swift hero rescuers!
Over the season we've had some amazing examples of some rescues of birds that can only be described as heroic! Here are our top Swiftie heroes.
No 1
Coming in at top spot is our favourite 2026 heroic rescue from an unknown finder who contacted Sheffield Swift Network (SSN) to say they’d found a naked Swift chick inside a discarded MacDonalds chip carton in the city centre!
One of the amazing volunteers from Sheffield Stringfoot Bird Rescue, Rokhsona Nassiri, dashed over to the city to retrieve it and she then drove it up the M1 to the Leeds Swift Sanctuary. Not only that, she then donated £20 to contribute to its care.
The chick was named “Small Mac” 😂 (see pic above and left) and was about 12 days old when it arrived on 27 June. Like so many chicks this year, Small Mac stayed with us for 31 days before we were able to watch it fly, fully developed, on 27 July.
No 2:
Elsewhere an adult Swift entered a house through an extractor fan and wedged itself behind a kitchen wall panel. The homeowner had to remove a section of the wall panel with a saw to rescue the bird.
No 3:
And finally, an adult Swift was seen hanging by string from a gutter. The finder climbed up to untangle it and bring it to the Sanctuary then climbed up a second time to remove as much string as possible to prevent it happening again.
You're all true Swift heroes!
Season's reflections from the Gledhow colony - by Martin Calvert
The 2026 Swift season started early at the Gledhow colony on 23 April with the arrival of the first bird.
This is the earliest arrival recorded so far, beating the 2025 arrival by three days.
Six birds in total were roosting by the end of April including two pairs. It is likely that these early pairs were occupying their boxes from the previous year as no box hopping was noted with these birds. However, single arrivals in two other boxes soon got together to make a new pair.
Irish Swift expert, James O’Neill, has ringed and studied Swifts at a colony in Ireland and his findings are that Swifts are generally site faithful, but that pairings change a lot from year to year. Unlike previous thinking, it would appear that a majority of Swifts are not faithful to their partners of the previous season.
Other strange things happened early in the season. One bird arrived on 3 May but something spooked it two days later and it left, not seen again in that box. One of the birds in an early pair disappeared after eight days, presumably predated, but maybe moved elsewhere. Another bird was probably predated whilst hanging out of a box in the middle of a fight over box ownership.
The first pair to get together laid their first egg on 12 May, way ahead of the next first egg on 22 May. However, one of this early pair disappeared on 24 May, leaving three well incubated eggs and a widowed Swift. Again, this bird was probably predated. In total, at least four adults mysteriously disappeared during this season.
From our experience, we can concur with the James O’Neill findings that many Swifts do change or have to change partners from year to year. Throughout May, pairs formed and by 3 June the pairings had settled down. Most of the pairs formed within a week of each other so nearly all the eggs were laid between 22 May and 2 June.
The first chicks hatched on 12 June, followed by many others up to 22 June. Just the eggs from two pairs were laid after this date.
After a lovely spell in May, the first half of June was often cold and windy but despite the resulting difficult feeding conditions, most pairs incubated their eggs successfully 24/7. Only one pair didn’t incubate well and their eggs didn’t hatch.
After the middle of June, the weather was glorious for adult Swifts leading to an excellent breeding season. Chicks in nest boxes do get hot and look very uncomfortable, but there were no heat related deaths in the monitored part of the colony.
In total, 45 eggs were laid in the fully monitored nest boxes. Of these, three eggs were abandoned when an adult disappeared, two eggs failed to hatch due to poor incubation, one egg was deliberately ejected by a Swift and another egg was accidentally knocked out of a nest. Thus 38 chicks successfully hatched from 45 eggs in 19 clutches laid by 17 pairs.
The two extra clutches were 1: the clutch of three eggs abandoned when an adult disappeared and 2: the poorly incubated clutch of two eggs that failed to hatch. Both these pairs laid second clutches of one and two eggs respectively, hence the 19 clutches.
Only one chick died in the monitored boxes in 2026. This is quite remarkable and indicates a good supply of food for the adults to find. Deaths are often as a result of the smallest chicks not surviving but this year all the chicks made it to fledging, apart from one 12-day old chick that appeared to choke to death.
Thus the average eggs per clutch was 2.4 and fledged chicks per clutch 2.0. This figure is slightly lower than usual mainly due to there being two clutches of just one egg and one nest with just one chick out of two surviving.
A special mention of the family in nest box four. They produced two eggs and the chicks hatched on 24 June. Unfortunately one parent went missing, presumably predated on 7 July when the chicks were just 13 days old. From then onwards, the single parent managed to supply both chicks with sufficient food so that they fledged on 30 July and 1 August. A truly Herculean effort, admittedly helped by the brilliant weather, but one adult to two chicks is tough, bearing in mind that two adults sometimes struggle to feed three chicks. We kept a close on this nest. The single parent often returned every 45-60 minutes throughout the day, with a bolus of insects. What an effort!
Looking at the whole of the street colony, including the fully monitored boxes, there were a total of 47 pairs. Of these 39 pairs probably had chicks (a nest check in the close season is needed to confirm this) and a further eight pairs occupied and roosted in boxes. This is an increase from 44 occupied nests in 2025 when 38 of these pairs bred. Thus 2026 chick numbers are probably just slightly higher than in 2025.
It was a fabulous Summer with Swifts constantly displaying, fully corroborating the link between weather and displays.
There were three late breeding pairs in the street. At least two of these were pairs that were on second clutches after failed first attempts. These late pairs come and go in stealth mode with no displays at all, solely concentrating on feeding their chicks.
This meant that Swifts were present until 6 September, making it our longest Swift season so far. Now, the street is Swiftless, but there’s no seasonal Swift sorrow as we can look back on a very satisfying season with seemingly endless evenings of Swifts doing their awesome thing.
Swift Sanctuary support team
Two of our amazing Swift Sanctuary Support team members, Jackie Moores and Rebecca Matthews tell us about their experiences this season.
Rebecca says: "I really enjoyed being part of a team helping Linda in the Swift Sanctuary this summer. Entering the sanctuary you are greeted with a soft chirring of Swifts in their boxes, and the House Martins and Swallows peering expectantly out of their flexarium.
"Our aim was to make Linda’s life a bit easier by doing practical tasks allowing her to have more time to focus on rehabbing - especially during July which is the most intensive time for Swifts being bought into the sanctuary.
"My one day a week involved driving injured birds to the vets, helping with collections and releases, updating records and changing bedding in the boxes using Jackie’s beautifully folded toilet paper! It was satisfying to see how quickly Swifts gain weight once Linda starts filling them up with juicy crickets!
"It felt like a real privilege to observe Linda’s expert and dedicated care, and to understand more about the complex challenges she faces especially with very poorly chicks who go straight into the incubators. We were able to provide some company for Linda and an opportunity for her to offload when things were feeling stressful, as well as helping keep track of the tennis scores!
"We plan to repeat the support next year, learning from our experience in helping Linda to return these beautiful and amazing birds back to the skies."
Says Jackie: "Prepping bedding and contacting some of the finders were a couple of things I did in the sanctuary this season.
"Whilst watching and listening to a great summer of sport I converted 176 toilet rolls to fold into the required sized bedding needed! I am surprised the bin men didn’t raise any concerns about how many loo rolls I was getting through 🤣 I also had to contend with 'shrinkflation' which affected the bedding as toilet and kitchen rolls shrank in size and quality.
"Using the new “Swift Phone” I sent messages to the finders with updates on the progress of the bird they found. This was from the early days in the sanctuary to the eventual release date. Lots of people replied thanking us for the update and Linda for saving the bird they found. It was lovely to see mentions of children being delighted to hear the news and hopefully this will start a love of these amazing and magnificent birds."
And the final word to Lesley 'The Riddler' Walton who says she was itchy for weeks because she froze, rattled and riddled the wings off about 15,000 crickets this summer. Impressive riddling Lesley!´
What Lesley didn't mention is that, between riddling crickets, she baked two wonderful coffee and walnut cakes, Linda's favourite, to help with dwindling morale (and weight loss).
House Martin Haven Award
In some good news for local House Martins, we were really pleased that the Mercure Parkway Hotel was awarded a House Martin Haven Award earlier this year by House Martin Conservation UK and Ireland.
This House Martin colony is a favourite of Linda's and is where she takes her birds from the Sanctuary when they are ready to fledge.
House Martin havens are a safe and welcoming home for the birds to breed each year. With their red-listed status and risk of extinction in the UK, these havens are essential to their conservation.
It is hoped that awarding certificates and accreditations will help increase awareness about House Martins and enlist more support to ensure their conservation.
Live streaming Swifts
We were delighted to start our very first live stream on YouTube of the nests in our Gledhow colony.
This was an ambition of ours for some time, so we are very proud to have finally achieved it, going live on 24 July.
It was organised by Leeds Swifts supporter and camera whizz, Paul Wheatley, using the knowledge he has gained from successfully live streaming Peregrine nests in Bradford.
We were able to stream one, four, eight or 16 nests at any one time dependent on what was being viewed at Mission Control in Martin's house. This successful pilot means that from next year, folk will be able to view Swifts arriving all the way through the season until the chicks fledge.
This live stream is also now on the website of Dutch Swift aficionado, Jaap Langenbach which lists all the live streaming of Swifts worldwide. See https://gierzwaluw.website/webcams.html
Swift Awareness Week record success
We hosted a record number of ten annual Swift Watches at the Gledhow colony this year, kicking off in Swift Awareness Week and extending them through to 13 July.
We had some fabulous evenings where our visitors were treated to Swifts displaying like only they can, along with a visit to Mission Control to view the Swifts on camera. Only one evening was curtailed due to a heavy storm, but even then our intrepid visitors could still watch the Swifts live on camera.
There were various other viewing parties hosted at the colony along with a visit from sixth formers from Horsforth School and Sixth Form, making over 100 visitors in our Swift Awareness Fortnight.
Swift booklets fly off the shelf
Our superstar Leeds Swifts supporter, Helen Lucy (pictured left) has reached a real milestone with her creative endeavours for our Swifts.
Over 15,000 of her beautiful booklets have now been printed and distributed since she started producing these back in 2023.
These have been circulated far and wide across the city and nationwide, with local Swift groups around the country keen to use these to help spread the word about the importance of Swift conservation to their local communities.
Helen's latest creation is a series of five gorgeous Swift cards. These all flew off the shelf with 800 sold in the first three days. Helen’s raised enough funds through selling these cards to cover the cost of 20 polymer Swift nest boxes which are to be installed at the back of Tesco in Seacroft. The superstore has kindly agreed to have these boxes installed to help mitigate the loss of nests when the nearby tower blocks are demolished.
Top work Helen, you're amazing!
Vital funds raised to support Swift conservation
A huge thank you to everyone who has donated funds to help support our Swift conservation work. You're amazing and we just couldn't do what we do without your support.
Each year we rehabilitate grounded Swifts, Swallows and House Martins and return them to the wild. These birds would not survive without our care. Rehabbing is rewarding but expensive work, costing around £1,000 each year.
We also invest time and money making and installing Swift nest boxes and raising awareness about the importance of Swift conservation throughout the year.
Thanks to your generous support we've been able to continue our work, raising over £1,5000 via our Leeds Swifts GoFundMe page alone.
You can also donate your online purchases into cash for us via Easyfundraising.com. Over 7,000 online retailers participate in this scheme, including big brands such as M&S, John Lewis, Boots, Just Eat, Amazon, Ebay and Morrisons. Just sign up via its website and choose Leeds Swifts as your charity. The retailer you shop with will send us a free donation based on how much you spend. It's amazing how quickly these small amounts add up.
Swift street proves real selling point
Imagine our surprise when Martin saw that a local estate agent was highlighting our Gledhow Swift Street as a selling point for prospective buyers of a nearby house.
Selling points highlighted on the estate agent's marketing literature stated:
'The property also benefits from Swift boxes, reflecting the unique character of this special street. 'Swift Park Avenue' is an unofficial name given to Gledhow Park Avenue, where local residents have spent more than a decade protecting a major colony of over 40 breeding pairs of Swifts.'
Let's hope that the new buyers continue to help nurture this thriving colony.
Ringing the changes
In July we had a special event in our Swift Sanctuary - all our healthy Swift chicks were ringed by highly trained ringers, Becky and Pete (pictured right).
This is an important way to try and learn more about the migration habits of Swifts. There's still so much that we don't know but ringing these birds means that we can potentially track and learn more if they are found at any later stages of their travels.
Out and about
We were out and about at various events over the Spring and Summer to spread the word about our Swifts. We love taking the opportunity to talk to people about our favourite birds and try to recruit more enthusiasts across the city to support our work and become Swift champions.
A huge thank you to all our amazing volunteers who give up their time to help with these events. We really do appreciate all that you do - from getting up early to help put up the stall, transporting all the kit, talking enthusiastically and knowledgably to all the members of the public who come by to find out about our work. And to those of you who have helped to make countless model Swifts with children and their families.
We just couldn't do these events without you.
Pictured above and right: Getting busy at the Gledhow Valley Green Fair
Dates for the diary 2026
Wednesday 2 December, 7:30pm:
A year in the life of a Swift, Sherriff Hutton Nature Group
Tuesday 8 December, 7:30pm:
A year in the life of a Swift, Wharfedale Naturalists
Monday 29 March 2027, 7:30pm:
A year in the life of a Swift, Shepley Naturalists
Thursday 21 October 2027, 1pm:
Leeds Swifts talk, Oakwood WI
Tuesday 23 November 2027, 2:15pm:
Leeds Swifts: Re-wilding the urban skies
Watch out for news of our next Leeds Swifts social event in the New Year.
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