Nightjar
The easiest way to find out if the nocturnal and well-camouflaged nightjar is about is to listen out for its distinctive 'churring' call at dusk. A summer visitor, it is most numerous in…
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Nightjars
See one of the UK's strangest birds: the nocturnal nightjar. Witness this insect eating summer visitor make odd wing-claps and calls, or even nesting on the floor if you have a good enough eye!
How to identify swifts, swallows, sand martins and house martins
Learn how to identify swifts, swallows and martins. These birds are all summer visitors to the UK. Here's how you can find the difference between a swift and a swallow or work out what kind of martin you could have spotted!
A Wild Carousel: Swifts, Swallows & Martins - Bridgnorth Branch
This link will open on the Shropshire Wildlife Trust website.
Join Julie Cowley, Swift Champion for Shropshire, for a captivating talk on the remarkable journeys of swifts, swallows, and martins — some of the most iconic summer visitors to our skies.
Sand martins
Watch out for one of the earliest signs of spring - a swooping, buzzing sand martin. We round up some of the best places to see them around gravel pits, reservoirs and large rivers.
Talk: Helping house martins
This link will open on the Suffolk Wildlife Trust website.
Discover the wonderful world of house martins, their ecology, nests and how we can support them, with Martin Tickler
Swallow
Look out for the swallow performing great aerial feats as it catches its insect-prey on the wing. You may also see it perching on a wire, or roosting in a reedbed, as it makes its way back to…
Swallow Pond
This link will open on the Surrey Wildlife Trust website.
A small pond in Pirbright, managed by Surrey Wildlife Trust on behalf of Surrey County Council.
Martins' Meadows Nature Reserve
This link will open on the Suffolk Wildlife Trust website.
These three meadows are among the few flower-rich hay meadows still left in Suffolk. As they have never been fertilised, sprayed or drained, the site supports a wide range of wildflowers. To…
Swift Awareness Week
Swift expert Sarah Gibson explores the early life of these brilliant birds
Celebrating Elke Mackenzie: Explorer, scientist and lichenologist, in honour of LGBTQ+ History Month
Finley Reynolds, Co-Chair of The Wildlife Trusts' Out for Nature network, explores the legacy of Elke Mackenzie—a trailblazing botanist and explorer whose lichenology work shaped natural…
Swift
Swifts spend most of their lives flying – even sleeping, eating and drinking – only ever landing to nest. They like to nest in older buildings in small holes in roof spaces.