Swifts are said to symbolise freedom, resilience and an untamed spirit as they soar above us, masters of the air, beautiful and dramatic, one of our fastest birds, flying at speeds of from 24mph to an unbelievable 69mph!
They winter in Africa, pair up for life, and return to us to nest and rear their young in mid spring. Each year they make this arduous journey from as far away as Tanzania or Zimbabwe, taking around five days to return to the same nest in which they have reared their young before.
Tragically, all too often on their return they find that they cannot reach their old nest. The soffits have been replaced or sealed up, and the tiny gaps which allowed them to squeeze through and create a simple nest in the eaves are gone. There are heart breaking videos of distressed birds hurling themselves at now sealed soffits, endeavouring to access the gaps that lead to their usual nesting site.
Swifts are clean birds, the nests are small, they do not create holes or do any damage to buildings and carry no diseases that could harm a human. The nests are made of but a few feathers, dry grass and seeds, held together with saliva. Even the chicks’ droppings are eaten by the parent birds, a survival strategy to ensure no predator spots them, and to reabsorb nutrients.
These birds are incredible natural pest control, one adult consuming up to 20,000 insects DAILY …mosquitoes, aphids, ants, gnats and more.
BUT the number of these beautiful birds has plummeted. Research tells us that they have lived amongst us for millions of years, and colonies of swifts use the same nesting sites for generations, but we are losing them. There is an over 60% decline in their numbers since 1995 – they are now on the red list. What have we done?! In our drive to seal up every last crevasse in our homes we have driven them away. For every ten that whirled across our summer skies in 1995, only three now remain.
But together we CAN change all of this! The RSPB has worked with the building world to create a swift brick, which simply replaces one brick in your home. The brick is hollow and allows the birds access through a small hole in the front. It’s easily installed in a new build or extension, but is not hard to retro fit into an existing wall.
This is an appeal to all of you who build, plan, extend or repair our homes! Please leave holes a swift may use and consider offering to use a swift brick in the build (BS 40421: 2022). Alternatively, you could fit an external swift box to the eaves on a north or east facing house side. A small thing with huge consequences.
