The RSPB, Calderdale Council and Local People Team Up for Swifts.
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The skies above Calderdale, West Yorkshire, could soon be filled with the sound of Swifts, thanks to a community project creating new homes for these incredible summer visitors. The RSPB has been working with local people, Calderdale Council and Openreach to install 120 Swift boxes across Calderdale this year, giving these amazing birds more places to nest when they return next spring.
The new homes have been installed at houses, businesses, and community buildings, including in Halifax, Luddenden and Hebden Royd and even at Eureka Children’s museum. They bring the total number of Swift boxes created through the Calderdale project to 180.
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Every year, Swifts make an extraordinary journey from Africa to the UK, travelling thousands of miles to spend the summer raising their young. But these amazing birds are in trouble. Swift numbers have fallen by 62% since 1995, largely because they are losing the small spaces they need to nest in buildings. Traditionally, Swifts have nested in gaps and crevices in older buildings. But as buildings are renovated, demolished or insulated, many of these important nesting sites have disappeared. The new Swift boxes will provide safe places for birds to raise their chicks – and hopefully become homes that Swifts return to year after year.
“It has been a brilliant way to engage with local people and explain why our Swifts are under threat. We can’t wait to hear their calls as they return next summer and hopefully choose some of our new nest boxes as their home. Once Swifts have found a place to call home, they will usually return to the exact same nest sitesame place each year. Watching them return is as thrilling to me as seeing the Red Arrows.
This project is a beautiful example of the Calderdale community coming together and taking action for these charismatic birds that really need our help. The sight and sound of Swifts are a magical fixture of a summer sky, and their loss would be awful – they are just so unique.”
This is the second year of the Swift project in Calderdale, which has been championed by Calderdale Council. The requirement for Swift bricks on new builds came into force in the Calderdale Borough Council area in 2004. And the council hasn’t stopped there, since then they’ve been doing spot checks on new developments making sure it happens. Swift bricks are built into walls and provide a safe nesting space for Swifts while blending seamlessly into modern buildings.
Swifts are one of the most extraordinary birds found in the UK. They spend almost their entire lives in the air, only landing when they visit their nest sites. At the end of their long migration, they search for suitable nesting spaces in buildings. By creating more places for them to nest, we can help make sure future generations continue to enjoy their spectacular summer displays.
This project was funded by The Community Foundation for Calderdale, which helps local people do extraordinary things. They fund and support a vast range of activities that help young people, older people and disabled people, as well as homelessness, sports, environmental, education, and mental health projects, plus everything in between. The Community Foundation for Calderdale works with local communities to inspire and encourage projects that they want to see, to make their neighbourhoods happier, healthier and safer places to be.
You can help Swifts by installing a Swift boxes or Swift bricks at your home or community building. Find out how to create a high home for Swifts here.
We’re working with communities across England to create more nesting opportunities for Swifts and give these incredible travellers the welcome they deserve.
If you have a garden, plant a diverse range of native plants that attract insects. In addition to loss of nest sites, the declines in insect abundance is one of the key reasons for Swift declines.
