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A
pair of Swifts
mating in flight
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Photos © Graham Catley
www.nyctea.co.uk
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Events
& Talks -
we do talks, presentations and training
Let
us know if you would like a talk, training or presentation from
us - click
here
to e-mail us.
Your
Swift records go to a Good Home!
The
National Biodiversity Network has just taken on board
the Swift records that you have been submitting to the
RSPB. Click here
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
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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
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We
find more Swift Houses in Italy!
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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
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London
Zoo's Swift nest boxes - Success again in 2009!
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Swifts
have been using our London Zoo Project nest
boxes for a few years now.
This year
they've returned again. Here is one emerging
from the Schwegler nest pods fitted to the
Bugs! House. You can see the loudspeakers
used to play calls to attract the birds.
Photos ©
Darren Tossell ZSL
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Spanish
villa gets new tenants
Swift
nest places have been created in a line
under the roof tiles of this Spanish villa,
Rusticas el Castenar, by Snr Rafael Finat
Riva, in an imaginative and generous
attempt to give them new and safe homes.
One pair of Swifts are already in residence,
but House Sparrows (also a species in serious
decline) have taken over some of the others.
This is a common occurrence, probably best
avoided by providing a generous supply of
nestplaces, placing the ones for Swifts
as high up as possible, and denying the
male Sparrows song perches near places intended
for Swifts.
Photo ©
Rafael Finat Riva
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Help
us Survey Swifts with the RSPB 
Click here to take
part!
Together
with other Swift enthusiasts we are working with the
RSPB to organise a continuing survey of Swift nest places
throughout the UK. If you are aware of Swifts in your
area, then do please log their activity on the RSPB
site. Sightings of low-level screaming flights are what
is required; these are indicative of nesting nearby.
Of course, if you can spot activity at the nest (best
seen just before dusk) or hear the birds screaming from
within the nest in response to others screaming outside,
then you are doing very well indeed!
Nature
conservation organisations in the UK have 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.
Our
Summer Migrants - where are they?
The
British Trust for Ornithology is launching an urgent
appeal for research funds to try and find out what is
happening to those birds, like the Cuckoo, the Swallow
and the Swift, that come from Africa to breed here every
summer. Their numbers are crashing and it seems it will
be only a matter of years before we never ever see or
hear them again.
Visit
"Out of Africa" now to find
out how you can help
Swifts
get new homes in Haddington, East Lothian
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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
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More
information from Abbie Marland at
Sustainable
Haddington
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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.
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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
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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!
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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
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Ideal
Homes for Swifts
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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
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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
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New Cavendish St W1 gets Swift, Bird & Bat Boxes
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Bat
"tubes" & a bird box inset
into the wall
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Triple
Swift nest box inside the plant room
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Plant
room exterior with 6 bat tubes visible
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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
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Swift Pole Colonies
- See our new feature!.jpg)
We
know Swifts will exploit motorway lights
for nestplaces, if they can gain access to make their nests inside. Dick Newell of the Ely Swifts Group is working
on several schemes for Swift Colonies on poles and towers. Dick's idea, inspired by similar
German House Martin pole-mounted colonies, is to produce
a simple all-in-one colony ideal for nature reserves
and industrial sites.
If you would like more information
or to sponsor the erection of such a colony, which can
fit onto the poles used for mobile phone masts,
as well as those used for goods yard, industrial estate
and motorway lights, or even on tall chimneys, see our
new feature - click on the Swift! 
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 This photograph
of a Swift sheltering on a windowsill high above the
French town of Grenoble was taken by Jake Campbell
on May 28th 2007, when the weather across parts of Europe
was very cold and wet. The worst UK summer for 50 years
meant that Swifts struggled
to raise their chicks, as their flying insect food supply
failed and they had to travel extra distances to
where food might be available. Swifts raised only half the number of chicks in
2007 that they
did in 2006, but in 2008 they seemed to have
done rather better, though there were fewer
adults breeding here. The main cause of Swifts' death
is not predation nor disease nor accidents, but in fact
starvation. 2009 was to prove a poor
year for Swifts, most pairs only raised one chick.
Photo © Jake
Campbell
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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.
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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!
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The
finished fitted box, one of several installed
at this site, together with artificial
House Martin nests.
Photos ©
Vic Froome
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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.
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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) the Hospital's estates management
staff and Lambeth Council's Parks & Green Spaces
Team (who funded the project) he achieved his aim; ten
new Schwegler Swift nest boxes installed ready for use
in 2008.
Ibstock
Brick introduces a new UK-made Swift Brick.jpg)
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, it is ideal
for use in both new-build and major restoration projects,
as shown above in Antrim.
Click
here to visit our Shopping! page to find out more about
the Ibstock Swift Brick and how to obtain it. Photo © Ibstock
Brick
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
"If
you have Swifts nesting in your area
it is usually relatively easy to attract them to new nesting boxes,
especially by using a calls CD. However it is much more difficult to attract Swifts to use nest
boxes outside of their comfort zone, and this is where
the CD comes into its own. 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. As I now have a colony established there are now
many visits from Swift "prospectors" coming by themselves to investigate."
Swift
Conservation supplies a Swift Calls CD using recordings from Ulrich Tigges' Berlin Swift Colony. To
order a copy 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!
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Swift
Conservation News 
