Swift Conservation News

Guernsey's Swifts get a Reprieve and New Homes Vic Froome, our man on Guernsey, has helped save a major Swift Colony: Demolition of the housing estate had already started when residents spoke up for their Swifts. With Vic's help, it was swiftly agreed that the demolition would stop, and the Guernsey Housing Association allowed a further delay of six weeks to enable the Swifts to fledge and fly off to Africa. Even better, the Housing Association agreed to buy 50 Swift nestboxes, and then the building contractor J W Rihoy put them up for free!  Even more good news, Vic has been asked to give a seminar to all the property professionals involved, on buildings and biodiversity, and he has also been asked to advise on stage two of the project. You couldn't ask for any more! Left: Swifts' nests found under the tiles of the old housing estate demolished to be replaced by the new one (right). You can see the four new nestboxes just under the eaves.  Upper right, Vic, his work and the estate featured in the Guernsey Times, a great victory for common sense local conservation and for the Swifts too. Photographs © Vic Froome Ealing and Niblock get it right first time... with a little help from Beth! Photograph © Beth Hales A Niblock Building Contractors roofer cuts a hole for Swifts to continue nesting in eaves at the Village Park Estate in Ealing. This hole is a special one to resist entry by Starlings but let the Swifts get back to the same nest sites they used before the old wooden soffits were replaced with the modern Upvc ones. You can contact Niblock here. Swifts usually only nest in pre-1944 buildings. But modernisation of these has lead to a massive drop in their numbers. Swifts create a sense of well-being and eat up lots of harmful insects. They are well worth saving! Beth Hales, of the Village Park Estate in South Ealing, tells us how she saved the Swifts on her estate: We had been given notice that our roofs would be repaired under the Decent Homes programme. As I stood chatting with site manager Mark Lenzi, of contractor Niblock, I looked up and noticed the Swifts. I asked: “what will happen to the Swifts as they nest in the eaves”. Mark was sympathetic, but had no power to change the plastic soffits that would close the eaves. I decided not to let the issue go that easily, as I had spent the last 18 summers enjoying watching them. I got in touch with local RSPB member Peter Bird and the author of the Birds of Ealing, John Green. Together with resident Gary Fisher we wrote to the leader of the Council. At the same time the Swifts were becoming a topic in local Council and wildlife meetings. Within days the Council was talking to the building contractor. With the Council on board, Mark Lenzi agreed my suggestion to bring in Edward Mayer of Swift Conservation, who advise architects and builders on how to keep or encourage Swifts to nest. So I found myself squeezed into a metal portacabin along with 17 roofers to hear a presentation on Swifts. I wasn’t sure if they would take it seriously but as Edward began they quickly became engaged and the talk moved on to the technical details. The result? Niblock installed 70 Swift holes and two summers on it goes to show how an action as simple as cutting a small hole can have such a dramatic impact on local wildlife. The Swifts are still with us! Major Swift Colony wiped out in New Milton, Hampshire? The Bournemouth Echo is reporting the potential destruction of a major colony of Swifts numbering perhaps as many as 50 pairs at the New Milton Housing Estate managed by New Forest District Council. It seems that in an effort to stop House Martins nesting at the estate, the Council put up anti-pigeon spikes under the eaves and in doing so blocked access for the Swifts when they returned from migration. These spikes have been known to fatally injure Swifts trying to access their old nest holes elsewhere. Efforts are being made by local resident Debbie Podjacki, (who has been enjoying the local Swifts' flypasts for the past 25 years) the RSPB and Swift Conservation to convince the NFDC to change their mind, remove the spikes and restore the Swifts' nest places back to them using well proven low cost low impact techniques. They have told us that they are reviewing their actions, we just hope they will decide in the Swifts' favour. Then they will still be around to eat up all the local flies and mosquitoes in the years to come! See the original article here.      Photograph © Debbie Podjacki Spectacular new Swift Tower goes up in Cambridge  An art-work Swift Tower - is this a UK first? Housing developers contribute to a fund to finance urban art.  Guy Belcher of Cambridge City Council came up with the brilliant idea of a Swift Tower on Logan's Meadow Nature Reserve (Pye Fen) which would be not only an attractive urban artwork, but also a dynamic piece of living kinetic art as the Swifts display in the summer with their spectacular screaming flypasts. Artist Andrew Merrit was commissioned to produce a design inspired by the African sun, and local Swift experts contributed their knowledge to make it a practical breeding place for Swifts. The structural engineer was George Voyias of Ashton Consulting Engineers. The tower structure was made by a steel fabrication company, but the wooden nest boxes were made by volunteers led by Dick Newell. The tower also has places for bats to roost in , making it truly multi-purpose, Swifts, Bats and Art too!    Photograph © Dick Newell A Very Nice Swift Story! SWIFTS by Abbie Hart aged 6 years and 1 month  Once there was 2 poorly swifts and then my Mum saved them and made them better.  She let them go, but one of them couldn't fly.  And then she made it better and she let it go. They ate lots of insects and waxworms.  They were happy. They played with their friends in the sky and they flew past every day, so we knew they were better. But they went to Africa for the winter where it was warm. All the time they were thinking about us. They wished they could have more waxworms. They were too happy now.  They will come back in April or May. We will be happy when we see them again.  And, if they come back in May on my Mum's birthday, they might be happy. And, they are good at flying now - they used to not be. And it's good to fly, because everyone wants to fly. They fly even when they are asleep and eat little bugs in the air.  I love the Swifts so much, they will come back soon because it's nearly Spring. It's good when it's Spring. The Swifts are always happy, they love it. They just love drinking and they are black. They love us and my Dad is making a nest box for them. My Mum says that they are her favourite bird, but they're just my second favourite. My favourites are Long-Tailed Tits and Sparrows and the beautiful Swifts.                                                              Drawings © Abbie Hart Where Swifts still nest in ancient trees..... the Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland We recently visited the magnificent Bialowieza Primeval Forest in North East Poland. What a superb place! And what a surprise too as this ancient forest, where trees are allowed to die and fall and rot naturally, has a resident population of nesting Swifts. In 1985 to 1994 this was estimated as 600 to 700 pairs. These Swifts nest mainly in holes in Hornbeams and sometimes Conifers on open flood plain areas. They breed in groups of a couple of pairs, quite unlike the large colonies they set up in big buildings, but quite like the nesting numbers one finds in a typical suburban Swift colony. We think that this is how Swifts bred before we deforested Europe and eliminated all old and dead trees from our modern managed forests. Of course, Swifts can nest in crevices in cliffs too, but we have never seen large colonies in such places. Visit Bialowieza soon - such beauty cannot last. Above: Swifts' nest in an old Great Spotted Woodpecker nest in this ancient pine. This is at the RSPB's Abernethy Reserve in Scotland where a few Swifts breed in tree holes, believed to be unique in the UK. Photos © Edward Mayer / Swift Conservation (left) & John S Wilson (right) The National Archives hopes to host Swifts at Kew with its new nest boxes The National Archives at Kew have installed some Swift nest boxes! They are the brainchild of Christine Berry, a keen wildlife enthusiast who works there. Christine contacted us and we did a site survey. We recommended locations and techniques to attract the Swifts to them. Situated right by the Thames the site is ideal; it already hosts a good selection of wild birds and other creatures, and has pools and gardens of its own to shelter them. Photos © Edward Mayer / Swift Conservation & Christine Berry / National Archives WWT puts up Swift Boxes on its Tower Hide at the London Wetlands Centre Swifts should love these nest boxes built beneath the eaves of the Tower Hide at the London Wetlands Centre just across the Thames from Hammersmith. The pools of the Wetlands Centre provide masses of flying insects for Swifts to feed on, and many Swifts already visit the Centre just to feed. On the left you can see two of the nest boxes fitted to the Tower Hide; on the right you can see, open, the CD player system that plays Swift calls to attract new birds to look for vacant spaces. Photos © Wildlfowl & Wetlands Trust Swifts get a Tower at the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Andover Here we see Terry and his team mate Ray putting the shingles onto the second tower on the production line.The first tower, set up with help from HM Forces, is on the far right. In between is Cheyenne, one of their superb Bald Eagles, after her long range flight display.  Photos © Edward Mayer / Swift Conservation Staff at the Hawk Conservancy Trust at Andover in Hampshire have taken up the challenge of making and erecting one of the Swift Tower concept designs prepared by Dick Newell of the Ely Swifts Group and featured elsewhere on this web site. Inspired by one of our lectures, they devoted their time and effort to making this superb structure which holds 30 nest places under a roof covered in Western Red Cedar shingles. Visit the Hawk Conservancy to see the Tower and lots more - their flight displays of raptors are just amazing! Dulwich Park's Buildings are fitted with Swift nestboxes! Dulwich Park's Friends have made a big commitment to Swift conservation by fitting one of the buildings in Dulwich Park with Swift nest boxes and an associated hifi system to play Swift calls to lure the birds in. Seven boxes were installed; six Schwegler No.18's (plus the hi-fi system) and one Filchris nestbox. Southwark's Parks department arranged for the installation. Watch this space! Photos © Steven Robinson Tesco Puts up a Swift Tower in Crumlin, Northern Ireland     Brian Cahalane, a member of the Northern Ireland Swift Group wrote to Sir Terence Leahy, CEO of Tesco Plc, and explained to him why Swift numbers were falling through out the British Isles and asked if Tesco could help. Sir Terence replied sympathetically and discussions began resulting in this magnificent tower. The Northern Ireland Swift Group wishes to express their appreciation to Tesco Plc. who funded the project. Thanks to their awareness of the biodiversity in the area, Swifts in Northern Ireland now have twenty new nest boxes which will help their numbers increase in Crumlin. A plaque will be placed below the tower explaining its purpose and giving information on this magnificent bird,  Already it has been visited by school children from the local schools.  It is hoped that Tesco's example will encourage other supermarkets to  follow their lead. Photos © Brian Cahalane Hannover's Bethlehem Church gets Swift Nest Boxes! Rose-Marie Schulz, a Swift Activist in Hannover, Germany, has been running Swift projects for some years now. Here is her latest, fitting 24 nestboxes to the Bethlehem Church, with the help of a large team of helpers, some shown here. You can do the same! With a little help from your friends and some recycled plywood you can build boxes for Swifts and install them in your local landmarks. There's not a minute to be lost.......                                                               Photos © Rose-Marie Schulz Stevenage's Lister Hospital & the London Olympics get Swift Nest Boxes! Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust, working with the Lister Hospital Board and Osborne Construction, have completed installation of eight Swift nest bricks in the new maternity unit at this hospital in Stevenage. It is this sort of thoughtful planning that is going to save Swifts here in the UK, as inaccessible new buildings replace their old homes in open timber eaves and gables. We can ensure them a future only by building in special features where Swifts can breed. But it's easy and it's cheap too! Photos © Tim Hill HMWT We have been working with the London Olympics 2012 project since 2004, providing nest site location advice and training. With just over a year to go before the event starts, things are starting to shape up for the biodiversity element of the project. Here you can see an installation of six nestboxes under one of the bridges being finished near the Olympics Stadium. Photos © E Mayer Swift Conservation New Swift nest place projects get going in Belgium, Lithuania & Italy Scaffold Pole Holes = Swift Nests! Swifts in Brussels have adapted to use a feature of Belgian architecture. Round (or square) holes were placed under the eaves of older buildings, to provide ready-made locations for the timber scaffold poles used whenever the building needed renovation. They were often covered with a decorative feature. On the left you can see one, a carved stone plug in the shape of a lion's head. With the plug slightly open, access is provided for a Swift to nest inside. On the right you can see a line of these holes; some were converted to Swift nest places, two are still plugged, two have lost their plugs. No longer in use for scaffolding, they are in peril of being lost when repairs are made. So Belgian biodiversity activists and professionals are encouraging their conversion to nest places for Swifts, House Sparrows and Black Redstarts. With some success! Left - Photos © Jean-Claude Hardy  Above - Photo © Aline Spriet   New nestholes a-plenty in Melegnano! Left: St. John the The Baptist's Church in Melegnano, a small town very close to Milan, where all the old scaffold holes in the walls of the bell tower were modified to provide nest places for Swifts. These holes are an integral part of historic structures, and were used to support timber scaffold beams. You can see how they have been made smaller with little pieces of brick, cemented in. This gives a permanent, safe, low-cost refuge for breeding Swifts, while excluding feral pigeons. Everyone concerned with this project is hopeful that this idea will catch on across the whole of Italy, and also in other Mediterranean countries where these scaffold holes are still commonplace.   Photos © Arch. Gaetano Arricobene  Project Advice & Design: Mauro Ferri of the Veterinary Service / Local Health Agency of Modena, and Luca Ravizza, Municipality of Melegnano Client: The Parish of Melegnano Contractor: GASPAROLI s.r.l. (Gallarate, VA), Project Manager: Arch. G. Arricobene    Swifts breed as far North as Norway, (we have found them breeding in the roof of a 16th Century church in Bergen) and also in Sweden, Finland, Northern Russia, and of course in the Baltic lands too. Many Swifts there used to breed in the ventilation apertures of modern apartment blocks, but as these are being insulated to conserve power and save costs, Swifts are losing their nest places in great numbers. So enthusiasts are setting up projects to help their local Swifts.   New nestplaces for Swifts in Lithuania Photo © Daiva Norkuniene   Here's one example on a house near Utena in Lithuania. The eaves have been very neatly adapted to take continuous multi compartmented nest boxes, while the chimney stack has a six place nest box also fitted to it. The advantages of nest places like this are they are aesthetically more acceptable than individual nest boxes, architects can "design them in" to their plans. They are also relatively cheap, easy to install and long lasting. They are also less likely to be removed!   Photo © Eve Templeton The colony's nest holes can be seen under the eaves and also under the window to the right of and just below the tower. Swifts get a Good Deal in Cortona, Italy A Swift enthusiast who is setting up her own colony at home in the UK, has sent us these pictures of a D I Y Swift colony she spotted on her travels in Italy. "When I was in Cortona, Tuscany, a couple of years ago, I saw purpose-built Swift nest holes in houses.  As a result there was a huge colony of Swifts. They used to wheel over the high point of the hill town, screaming.  Fantastic." Colonies are easy to create when renovating a building. The holes can be drilled with minimal vibration and mess from outside using a diamond core drill . Nestplaces or boxes can then be created in or on the interior walls. Most have the nest boxes totally hidden within the wall, as shown on the right. The holes may be used during winter by other species  as roosts. Tits, Wrens and Sparrows may seek shelter and manage to survive in this way. These projects can help to replace Swift nests lost in other building re-developments, & vital if Swifts are to survive! Photo © Eve Templeton         Photo © Edward Mayer Photo © Edward Mayer New nests for Swifts in Modena, Italy Modena, an exceptionally beautiful city, has a wealth of ancient historic buildings of supreme cultural value. Amongst these is the Cathedral and its Tower. The Municipality, advised by specialists of the Veterinary Service of the local Public Health Agency, made plans to retain the Swifts nesting in the scaffold pole holes of the magnificent Cathedral Tower. A major aim was to exclude feral pigeons, whilst encouraging Swifts and Bats to roost and nest. On the left you can see the Cathedral and, far right in the photo, covered in hoardings, its Tower. On the right you can see the technique used to convert the scaffold pole holes from places that could shelter feral pigeons to ones that can provide nests for Swifts. All that is required is again the insertion of a piece of brick, but cut to the right size. Simple, cheap, effective! So why doesn't everyone do it?
What were Swifts eating last Summer? Midges and Aphids, mostly!           Midges and Aphids make up almost half the items taken by Swifts for their young in Antrim, Northern Ireland Top - Chironomid Midge © Entomart; Bottom - Aphid giving birth © MedievalRich  As part of continuing research into Swifts' diets, amateur naturalist Marian James examined 10 pellets excreted by the juvenile Swifts in Mark Smyth's colony in Antrim, Northern Ireland this summer. The results are as follows:  There were in total 897 items or identifiable categories: Chironomids 25.7% - non biting midges (possibly Lough Neagh fly) Aphids 18.0% Psyllids 11.6% - sap sucking insects Lonchoptera 11.5% - small spear-winged flies Coleoptera 11.1% - water beetles Phoridae 0.8% - hump-backed flies (resembling fruit flies) Sciaridae 0.7% - fungus gnats Dolichopodidae 0.4% - long-legged flies Muscids / Calliphorids 0.4% - house & stable flies / blow flies Scathophagidae 0.3% - dung flies Hemiptera 2.1% - bugs Tipulid 0.1% - craneflies with traces of Hymenoptera - small solitary wasps Coccinellidae - 11 spot ladybird   The majority of catches was of very small, weak fliers which become wafted by air currents and cannot escape. There was also evidence of spiders, presumably caught at their dispersal or "ballooning" stage. We can see that in Antrim, Swifts are catching a wide range of flying insects for their chicks, but that the biggest percentage is of midges hatching from the local lake. Marian James is conducting further research using pellets from juveniles in Swift colonies in Italy and Germany. If you are interested in participating, and have a supply of Swift pellets from chicks at a specific identified colony, you may contact her by clicking here.
Essex expert gets going with Swift Nest-place Projects
John Smart, a Swift enthusiast in Essex, has been working on several nest box projects. Here is one of them, now complete and awaiting Swift tenants in 2011. These are the Laindon Barns, where 5 Swift nestboxes have been put up on a refurbished ancient barn. Barn refurbishments have destroyed many Swift (and Swallow) nest places. Here is a way to redress the balance. Photos © Dave McGough
Alpine Swifts get reprieve at Camp Nou, Barcelona's football ground   Porfirio Solla, one of our contacts in Spain, tells us that the huge colony of superb giant Alpine Swifts that breed every year in Barcelona's Camp Nou football stadium has had a temporary reprieve. Norman Foster's plans to rebuild the stadium are being reconsidered. This is hopefully good news for a spectacular, supremely charismatic, (and big!) bird. Photos ©  Darz Mol & Matthias Schmidt, Freiburg
London Zoo's Swift nest boxes - Success again in 2010! Swifts have been using our London Zoo Bugs! House nest boxes for a good few years now. They came back and bred again this year! Two nest boxes were in use, and the Swifts produced no less than six chicks that flew off on migration to Africa. This year we fitted CCTV inside the boxes so we can see what's going on. On the left, a photo of a Swift emerging from a Schwegler nest pod. You can see the loudspeakers used to play calls to attract them. On the right, CCTV photos of the two occupied nest boxes, showing almost fully grown chicks. Photos © Darren Tossell / Dave Clarke ZSL
Neat and New!  Swift nestboxes for traditional house eaves Roland Giddy has just converted his eaves to house 4 pairs of nesting Swifts - he used a scaffold to access the eaves, and boxed them in with integral nesting platforms (see right). Above right - the result - a neat and sound home for the Swifts, fitting in nicely with the eaves detail.  This sort of conversion to provide nest places for Swifts replaces others lost during re-roofing. It's low-tech, low-cost, easy, long lasting and effective. If eveyone did this when they renovated their house then Swifts wouldn't have lost half their UK population in the past 20 years. If Swifts do move in, then Roland will convert the remaining eaves spaces to host more. Photos © Roland Giddy  New Swift Colonies set up in M'dina, Malta Following a cessation of the infamous Spring Shooting Season in Malta in 2009 (it has been reinstated this year) Swifts bred in M'dina. Mario Gauci discovered their nest, (below).  A Swift flies over M'dina, Malta - not normally the best place to be a wild bird!  Photos © Mario V Gauci Determined to assist Swifts, Mario started a nest place project - a series of Swift nestboxes fitted into old ventilators on a building facade. As you can see, the Swifts are already interested! Good DIY Nest Boxes can work year after year   Photos © Kirsty Johns   When Kirsty Johns moved into her new home in the Brecon Beacons she found some odd looking boxes on the walls of the gable end. Good for her, she left them in place and was rewarded the next year with the sight of baby Swifts peering out of the entrance holes, getting their first glimpses of their new world! Young Swifts spend a lot of time "sky gazing", watching the skies and their surroundings, getting ready for the big day when they launch themselves on their non-stop flight to Africa. With any luck they will return and breed, maybe in their second or third year. Some Swift pairs make a practice nest the first year that they breed, and just sit in it, then breed for real, laying eggs and incubating them, the next year. Your Swift records go to the National Biodiversity Network The National Biodiversity Network has taken on board the Swift records that you have been submitting to the RSPB. Click on the logo (left) to visit the NBN. We are working closely with the RSPB to record all known Swift nesting sites throughout the UK. A big task, but it's starting to pay off after two seasons. We do it by asking everyone to spot Swifts, and submit their sightings to the RSPB, who then digitise the information and pass it to the NBN, which is aimed at local & national government. As Swifts nest almost exclusively in buildings, and as they are vanishing fast, and as the Town Planning system is a major key to their hoped-for survival, we are delighted this information is now easily available to Planners and local government staff when making decisions about the local built environment. Camden Council builds for Swifts   Camden Council has just installed 10 nest boxes at their Regent's Park Estate to help reverse the national decline in Swift populations. They say "One of the reasons for the decline is modern construction practices which render once-accessible nesting sites under roof eaves inaccessible. The installation of Swift nesting boxes in high-rise buildings is seen as one way to counter-act this problem, providing suitable nesting sites for this fascinating bird. In Camden, local surveys have established the Regent’s Park area as a population stronghold. Using the opportunity we combined our high-rise insulation programme on the estate with the installation of these specially designed brick-boxes." Camden tell us that more installations are planned throughout the Borough. This is splendid news and we hope this project will be a trend-setter throughout the UK and in the EU too. Click here to visit their web site for more details.          Photo © London Borough of Camden We find more Swift Houses in Italy Margaret Jarvis, who lives in Grottamare, Italy, spotted Swifts around a house by the railway tracks. Here is what she saw! Some brilliant person adapted this building for Swifts. We know of lots of Swift Towers in North East Italy, but this is the first such site we have seen in the Appennines. Are there more? Find out and tell us! Photos © M Jarvis  Swifts go "Amber" as UK population crashes Nature conservation organisations in the UK last year put the Swift on the "Amber" list of birds at risk, in recognition of the population having almost halved over the past fifteen years. While Amber status alone will not provide a remedy for the decline, it will bring institutional and political attention to the Swift's plight, and will give added credibility to our campaign to ensure that existing colonies are no longer eliminated quite so casually by builders and developers. It may also help to persuade institutions to help Swifts by creating places for them in new building projects. Swifts get new homes in Haddington, East Lothian Swift nestboxes designed by Edward Mayer at London's Swifts go up on John Muir House at East Lothian Council, in Haddington. This is an initiative of Sustainable Haddington and East Lothian Council, helped with funding from the Konrad Zweig Trust. Thanks go to Don Abbott who manufactured the boxes, and East Lothian Council's Property Department who put them up. The Swift is an Urban Priority Species under East Lothian's Biodiversity Action Plan, and Sustainable Haddington and the Council are planning a summer survey to check numbers, which have fallen drastically in Scotland in recent years.  Photos © Abbie Marland More information from Abbie Marland at Sustainable Haddington     Swifts get more new homes in Northern Ireland The new Municipal Library in Antrim built this year has been fitted with Ibstock Swift Bricks - the result of excellent co-operation between the Librarian, Mark Smyth of the Northern Ireland Swift group and local enthusiasts. The generous and handsome installation ensures the survival of a good sized colony of Swifts, a bird that previously flourished in the area, due in part to the presence of the Lough Neagh Fly, an insect that breeds copiously in fresh water. On the left is the wall with the Ibstock Swift nest Bricks inserted in the upper areas, enlarged and more visible in the photo on the right. Ibstock Swift Bricks are made in the UK from recycled materials and clay, in avariety of sizes and colours, and can be integrated with several brick sizes. You can buy them via our "Shopping!" page. Photos © Mark Smyth  Swift enthusiasts Norman Watterson and Adrian McElhone have been working on a new Swift nestbox scheme at a modern industrial building on the shores of fly-rich Lough Neagh, in Northern Ireland. Swifts gather from miles around to feast on the Lough Neagh flies. The new one-piece nest box has 12 separate compartments for the Swifts; their food supply can be seen waiting for them! On the left you can see the 12 place nest box before it was fitted to the roof edge of the Ballyronan Marina facilities building (right). The myriad black specks visible are the famous Lough Neagh flies, which hatch from the waters to provide food for thousands of Swifts. It is believed that Swifts fly in from as far away as Scotland to feed on this amazing resource. Photos © Mark Smyth Ideal Homes for Swifts in East Dulwich, London   This Victorian terraced house has been ingeniously renovated to provide excellent accommodation for Swifts. The arrow points to one of eleven Swift nest access holes, built in to the under-eaves brickwork. This is the creation of George Mavrias, who as you can imagine, is keen on keeping Swifts flying over his home! It goes to show that where there's a will there's a way, and Swift nestplaces can be created and sustained in nearly all types of buildings. Photos © George Mavrias   New Swift & Alpine Swifts Project in Barcelona   At the request of SEO Birdlife Catalunya, we have been working with Alpine Swift experts in Germany, Italy and Switzerland, to provide help and advice to our Catalan colleagues. Their idea was to use this new bridge being built over the Llobregat River near Barcelona as a site for Swift and Alpine Swift nestplaces. Together we assessed the opportunities and have come up with plans and guidance on how to achieve this aim. The site is ideal; we have seen just this sort of bridge used as a nesting place by Crag Martins in Sicily, in a similar semi-rural environment and we think Swifts should like it too. If you are in Barcelona do not miss the Delta del Llobregat Reserve. It is adjacent to the the airport and is well worth a visit! Photo © SEO Birdlife Catalunya    111 New Cavendish Street, London W1, gets Swift, Bird & Bat Boxes Bat "tubes" & a bird box inset into the wall Triple Swift nest box inside the plant room Plant room exterior with 6 bat tubes visible Swift, Pipistrelle Bat and Black Redstart / Wagtail nest places have been installed in the walls of roof top plant rooms high above Oxford Circus in Central London! The contractors, Faithdean plc, required a multi-species solution to improve biodiversity at this site to meet a Planning Requirement. Swift Conservation was asked to advise, and as a result five key urban species, all know to be present in or near the area, were selected for assistance; Swift, Pipistrelle Bat, Grey and Pied Wagtails, and Black Redstarts. By providing shelter plus food resources on an adjacent "green roof" it is hoped these species will move in and thrive.   Photos © Edward Mayer - Swift Conservation Brighton gets Swift Nest Places & Green Walls too!     New homes for Swifts! The Jury's Inn project built by the Macaleer & Rushe Group, under the planning auspices of Brighton and Hove City Council, is just outside Brighton's railway station. It is fitted with nest boxes for Swifts, a prime urban species at high risk of local extinction, that with luck will find them and move in. The facilities also include "Green Wall" vertical habitats, good for beneficial insects like bees.   Photos © Ben Kimpton The Ecology Consultancy  Swifts get new homes in Guernsey Local Swift enthusiast Vic Froome masterminded a project to convert a wartime observation tower, built on top of an historic mill, into a multi-storey residence for Swifts. Using DIY nestboxes, coated with weatherproof fibre glass, he and his friends have created a superb site for future generations of Swifts to breed in. The fibreglass coated timber multiple nest boxes are fitted to the onservation slits in the wartime look out, high above the countryside at the Vale Mill, a great place for Swifts as you can see! The finished fitted box, one of several installed at this site, together with artificial House Martin nests.                        Photos © Vic Froome Swift nest boxes go up at Lambeth Hospital  Photos © Iain Boulton (London Borough of Lambeth) & (middle) © Steven Robinson (SLaM) Here you can see Swift nest places being fitted to the walls of the ward blocks at the Lambeth Hospital and (middle) the result. Fitting them is easy with the right equipment.  Steven Robinson, a Community Psychiatric Nurse at the Lambeth Hospital (part of the South London & Maudsley NHS Trust) was keen to see Swifts breeding there. With the help of Swift Conservation (who surveyed the site for nest box positions) he achieved his aim; ten new Schwegler Swift nest boxes were installed ready for use in 2008, with some more going up in 2011. Veolia provided the funding, which was sourced by Iain Boulton, of Lambeth Council's Parks and Green Spaces Team while Mitie, the hospital's Estate and Facilities department installed the boxes. A hi-fi system to play Swift calls to assist in encouraging the birds to nest, was set up at the same time. Ibstock Brick introduces a new UK-made Swift Brick UK Brick Manufacturers Ibstock have introduced a Swift Brick made from sustainable and recycled materials. Designed with the help of Graham Roberts, well-known for his Swift conservation work with the Sussex Ornithological Society and West Sussex County Council, and available in three clay colours, it is ideal for use in both new-build and major restoration projects, as shown above in Antrim. Photo © Ibstock Brick Click here to find out more about this Swift Brick and how to obtain it.           Success for Swift Attraction Calls CD! Brian Cahalane of Northern Ireland set up his own Swift colony He used a Swift Calls CD to attract the birds to a previously unused nesting area. This is how he did it - you can do it too!    Photo © Edward Mayer "It is usually relatively easy to attract Swifts to new nesting boxes by using a calls CD. Play the CD on a CD player linked to a separate amplifier, use cheap speaker cable and as many speakers as possible, each one right beside a nest box. I often have twelve speakers going at once. I bought the cheapest and smallest speakers you can buy. Play from late April onwards, continuously from dawn to darkness as loud as you dare, and you will attract Swifts. But it may take two seasons for them to nest. I have been able to attract Swifts from a half mile away and more. I conducted a simple experiment using my wife and son and mobile phones. One was positioned at the house, the other a quarter of a mile away, and myself a half mile away. It's almost a straight line from my house to the centre of the village. A phone call from myself and the CD was switched on at my house at full volume, I could hear it in the village. Swifts began to move towards my house and I could observe them through my binoculars, when they passed my wife she rang me, and when they arrived at the house my son rang me. I have 24 potential nesting sites and often have as many as ten speakers playing at once, positioned at ten boxes. I now have a colony established!" Swift Conservation supplies a Swift Calls CD using recordings from Ulrich Tigges' Berlin Swift Colony. To order click on the Swift button below. Order a Swift Calls CD - click on the Swift! Click on the Swift to learn how to use the Swift Calls CD For further information contact Swift Conservation Back to Contents Thank you for your interest - Please help Swifts!