Action for Swifts

We have shown that Swifts move into nest boxes with nest forms more quickly than nest boxes without nest forms.

I was idly scrolling through some old Facebook posts when I came across a post describing the additional 24 nest boxes that we installed at Edgecombe flats in 2021 where I was reminded that we painted every other chamber black inside.

A number of times we have implemented nest places for Swifts in thick brick walls (e.g. here), this is just another example where we did something slightly different.

The Cambridge System seems to be well-liked by Swifts.

I have to admit luke-warm enthusiasm for swift towers because so few can demonstrate success.

Back in 2015, we visited Nick Watts at Vine House Farm in Lincolnshire, where we saw his wildlife towers, which we thought were a fine inspiration for a tower suitable for Swifts as well.

With the drive towards zero carbon, external wall insulation (EWI) on older houses will result in the loss of many Swifts and bats, but it is also an opportunity to provide many more nest places.

Although Swift Towers can be quite expensive, it doesn't have to be that way if you use a simple design and volunteer labour.

Judith releasing a Swift.

Sat 3rd -Sun 11th July Swift Awareness Week begins today!

Triangular colony boxes in the apex of a gable have become quite popular.

Some years ago, I visited a friend, Maurice Wilkinson, who had an array of nestboxes for Swifts and House Martins on his house, with a high occupancy rate.

There seems to be a gathering momentum for provisioning nest places for cavity-nesting birds in new development, particularly in the south west, where the Duchy has an ambitious policy of providing an average of one nest place per dwelling.

The SLN Swifts & Planning Group has produced a paper advocating the provision of Swift bricks as a preferred solution for a range of small cavity-nesting species.

Suffolk Wildlife Trust have built a new visitor centre at Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve. 8 S Bricks have been built in to the timber-frame construction, by making entrances in the wooden cladding.

A swift's wing length is about 170mm, thus any box with a minimum dimension less than 170mm will require the swift to bend its wings in order to turn.

Open eaves, with breeding Swifts, are frequently turned into closed eaves with PVC soffits.

Paul Worden (@paulworden2015) is employed as a site manager at Lancaster Royal Grammar School where there is a wide range of buildings dating from 1852 to 2011.

Tim Collins lives in a village just 3km from the shores of Rutland Water.

Swavesey Memorial Hall was built in 1919.

Some time ago, we sent some half-brick entrance pieces to Carolyn Knowlman (sosmartinets.com) for a project in Amboise.

Century House, Swavesey was reroofed 2 years ago.

There is very little research on acceptable parameters for Swift nest boxes, so we have to rely on anecdotes.

Swift boxes are normally thought of as 'external' or 'internal'.

This is the end result of the project reported here: actionforswifts.blogspot.com/2019/09/swift-brick-camera-box.html S Bricks do not have enough headroom to house a camera, which is why 4 out of the 10 Swift bricks in this project are a custom design.