Swift Action
The recent screening of The People’s Emergency Briefing in Brill got me thinking about the positive things we can do right here to mitigate, in a small way, the impact of the climate and nature crisis. Creating better habitats to give nature a helping hand may not change everything but can make a real difference locally. Furthermore, this sort of conservation work has the potential to bring communities together - and reconnect us with the wildlife on our doorsteps.
Swifts are significantly larger than House Martins and Swallows and their call is an unmistakable, high-pitched ‘scream’. Photo from RSPB website.
I’d like to introduce you to a project that Barbara, a friend and previous work colleague at BBOWT, has been facilitating in Crowthorne, Berkshire. Barbara’s wildlife community work always inspires me and the Swift Street project is no exception.
Community action
Swifts are incredible birds, spending almost their entire lives on the wing and returning to the same area to breed year after year. They arrive in the UK in May, having travelled thousands of miles from Sub-Saharan Africa, to look for suitable places to raise their young. The problem is that modern buildings lack the nooks and crannies in which Swifts like to nest and so we’ve lost 60% of our Swifts in the past 25 years.
The Crowthorne Swift Street project is a community-led initiative to help bring swifts back to the town by providing purpose-built nesting boxes and call systems. Working with residents, businesses, the local Men’s Shed, the Parish Council and the Fire Service, BBOWT has so far helped install eleven Swift boxes in the village.
I’d love to start a similar project here in Brill! How about making Brill a community that really welcomes Swifts, with residents, businesses and community groups all playing a part? Recording nesting sites, building Swift boxes and fixing them to buildings, recording sightings - or simply learning more about these amazing birds; there’s something everyone can do.
Swift, House Martin or Swallow? Check this BBOWT article - or click the image above to watch a short You Tube video.
What to do now
If you’ve seen Swifts around Brill or know of a nesting site, remember Swifts in years gone by or would like to welcome Swifts to Brill in the future, please email me - and come along to Barbara’s talk on October 6th. Let’s make this happen together!
Here’s a wonderful fact to finish with: in a single lifetime, a Swift can fly 2,000,000 miles; the equivalent of travelling to the Moon and back four times!
PS! Next year I’d like to link this project with House Martins, another wonderful bird that needs our help. In the meantime, please record House Martin nests on the House Martin Conservation Interactive Map.
