When do swifts arrive in and leave the UK?

A summer visitor in the records: sightings jump in early May and fall away after mid August.

When do swifts arrive in the UK?

In the GBIF records, UK sightings of the common swift rise sharply from early May and are near their peak by early May.

When do swifts leave the UK?

UK sightings fall away after mid August.

Where do swifts go in winter?

From December to February the strongest signal in the effort-adjusted GBIF records is around Botswana and South Africa. The globe shows the whole winter range month by month.

Common swift in the UK, month by month

Bars: this species’ share of all UK bird records in GBIF (CC0/CC BY 4.0 only), by month, scaled to the peak month. Based on 362,318 UK records (occurrence search API, country=GB, weekly). Dates come from sightings, not a survey, so treat them as a guide.

See the common swift migration on the 3D globe →

About the common swift

The common swift is a medium-sized bird, superficially similar to the barn swallow or house martin but somewhat larger, though not stemming from those passerine species, being in the order Apodiformes. The resemblances between the groups are due to convergent evolution, reflecting similar contextual development. …

From the Wikipedia article “Common swift” (revision 1361442305), CC BY-SA 4.0, shortened at a sentence end. Winter/summer areas: country containing the monthly hotspot of effort-adjusted GBIF records, using Natural Earth boundaries (public domain).

Other UK summer visitors: see the full list with arrival and departure dates.