Nesting – Swift Boxes

Once breeding in cracks and holes in ancient trees, swifts have learned to live with humans, building their nests in nooks and crannies under the eaves of our buildings. Unfortunately, as people replace their roofs and soffit boards, insulate their houses and demolish old structures, the swift nest sites are blocked up or disappear.  A pair returning to a previous nest site that has been destroyed can make so many attempts to enter than they damage themselves and die.

We can provide nest spaces for them in the form of nest boxes, specially designed to suit swifts and keep out predators.  These are available from the RSPB (https://shopping.rspb.org.uk/) and online suppliers such as www.peakboxes.co.uk and www.impeckable.co.uk 

However, commercial boxes can be pricey and you can get instructions on how to make your own from https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-swift-box and the RSPB https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8nkBmseeWo 

Our group has been lucky enough to have willing box makers in our local https://menssheds.org.uk/ and they have been extremely industrious this season producing over 70 boxes for us.

Place your boxes at least 5 metres above the ground, out of direct sun and with a clear run all around for when the swifts fly in at speed.

Please follow this link to information about swift callers and lures to attract swifts to nest in swift boxes.

Swift Bricks

The perfect nesting spot for a swift is a swift brick.  This is a hollowed-out brick with a swift sized hole so the nest is completely protected inside the wall.

Hannah Bourne Taylor has led a nationwide campaign for swiftbricks to be incorporated in all new buildings. hannahbournetaylor.com/the-feather-speech-campaign-for-swifts/ 

If you want to add one to your home they can be inserted into buildings but this is a more specialised task.  More information can be found on www.actionforswifts.com/

Feeding

Another reason for the swift population decline, and that of many other species, is the lack of insects.  The birds feed on the wing, scooping up tiny invertebrates swept up in air currents. A swift can catch up to 10,000 insects a day while feeding its young.  There’s no point in our housing the young swifts each year if there’s nothing for them to eat.

All wildlife is suffering as insects are the very basis of the whole food chain.  We need to do everything in our power to encourage insect populations – here are some suggestions.  Sorry if it seems a bit bossy.

1. Keep chemicals and herbicides out of our gardens.  They are one of the main things responsible for the drastic demise of insect life.
2. Love our aphids – vital food for the insects that swifts feed on. Planting companion plants that they love (nasturtiums) can lure them away from our favourites. 
3. Dig a pond. However tiny, a watery area can be a vital part of some insects’ life cycle.
4. Grow wild flowers (weeds).  These grow naturally, have not been bred forcibly and are the most beneficial of all for our insects.  If that is just a step too far, plant flowers that the bees love.  There are plenty of seed packets marked as ‘Good for pollinators’
5. Long grass is wonderful for insects.  If you really love your lawn, have you a small area where the grass could grow long and harbour plenty of our 6 legged friends?
6. Don’t ever have a plastic lawn!! Not only does it make a whole area of our gardens utterly sterile, it kills everything in the soil below too.

When our neighbour looks over at our newly wild garden with a superior sneer as he tends his roses, we hold our heads up and smile.  We are the ones on the moral high ground and the swifts will thanks us with their uplifting summer displays.

More information on Buglife.org.uk  

Rescuing Grounded Swifts – *Important Advice*

If you see a swift on the ground, it is grounded and needs your help..

Swifts arrive back to uk from April/May to nest

Adult swifts can become grounded when returning to their nest sites if fights occur or if they are tired and underweight. Later in the season, chicks often fall out of the nest if they get too warm, too hungry during cold weather or simply if they start to move around to exercise their wings. If this happens they need urgent specialist care.

WHAT TO DO WHEN FINDING A GROUNDED SWIFT? follow the 3 steps

Bring the swift indoors. House in a deep plastic container, or a ventilated shoe box, lined with a folded tea towel. Keep the swift in a quiet room.

REHYDRATE carefully by placing a damp cotton wool bud to the side of the swift’s beak. Take care to avoid the nostrils and don’t try to open the beak as it breaks easily.

Urgently contact your local swift carer:

You can contact Swift & Swallow SOS- Coordinating Rescues & Supporting Finders on Facebook to help you find a rehabber local to you, or browse the list of rehabbers on the Swift Conservation website.

Campaigning

There are plenty of organisations that campaign for swifts.  RSPB, Action for Swifts, Swift Conservation, British Trust for Ornithology

Hannah Bourne-Taylor @WriterHannahBT  has been campaigning with Lord (Zak) Goldsmith to put pressure on the government on behalf of swift.

However, if you want to be more involved, find a local group through the Swift Local Network actionforswifts.blogspot.com/p/sln.html

Climate Change affects all wildlife, particularly migrating birds which are more vulnerable to storms.  For advice on all the ways you can help to combat this locally contact People, Place, Planet Didsbury www.pppdidsbury.org