S.O.S. – Save Our Swifts

The screaming of swifts is a sound that says summer is coming. They usually arrive at the beginning of May, and I start listening out for them eagerly. It’s a magical sound. They were a little late this year, due to an over-abundance of winds from the North in May, but they are here in force now.

Swifts are amazing birds. They migrate here every year from Africa and spend their whole lives on the wing – only coming to rest when actually raising young. They eat on the wing and sleep on the wing. They mate for life and are faithful to the same nesting site for life – and there is the problem. Because swifts like to nest under eaves and, as roofs are replaced and lofts converted, these nesting sites often lost. They can be attracted to a new nesting site but not in that first year, so each lost nesting site represents at least one missing generation of swifts. And of course, we need new sites for their babies in future years.

The population is in decline – we have lost between 50–60% of our breeding swifts in urban areas in the last 15 years. In places with a very high proportion of reroofing, roof renovations and loft conversion such as here, it is evident from local residents who have lived in Chiswick for a long time that we have lost even more over 20 years.

Inspired by this, having always admired these wonderful birds that simply say ‘summer is here’ when you see or hear them, Catherine Day, a Chiswick resident and RSPB volunteer, set up the Chiswick Swift Project the summer before last. She is also leading the recently launched RSPB Swift Colony Survey in Chiswick to try and find out how many swifts we have left and in which parts of Chiswick they have their homes.  Dirk & I have been given a patch extending from Rusthall Avenue in the west to Woodstock Road in the east – excitingly, there is at least one occupied nest in this area. And St Michael & All Angels’ Church is doing its bit by installing six swift nest boxes as part of refurbishing the belfry. Once installed, they’ll be playing swift calls to encourage those without nest sites to investigate and, hopefully, set up home next year.

What can we do to help swifts? There are two main things.

1. We can provide nesting sites in our homes. If you are replacing your roof or converting your loft, you can get swift nest boxes that look like bricks which will merge seamlessly with the rest of your brickwork. Or you can buy a nest box to install either under your eaves or on a wall. The RSPB sells them; and the specialist Swift Conservation website has heaps of information about swifts and how to help them. Not only does it show photos of all the different types of swift box available with links to the suppliers, but you can also buy a CD or download an MP3 of swift calls to attract swifts to your home.
2. The RSPB would like to hear about any sightings of low-flying swifts, especially when they go into a nest site. And if you’d like to participate in Catherine’s project in Chiswick or take part in surveying our Chiswick swifts, please contact her by emailing catherine.day.lacia@btinternet.com or phoning her on 07981-195296.  It isn’t complicated and essentially means going out into your home patch of streets on a few warm summer evenings in June and July and watching out for swifts. If you aren’t sure how to identify them, she will help. It’s easy and, once you know, you won’t miss them!

We should help swifts for their own sake but there is a strong element of self-interest too. A swift can eat up to 20,000 flies, midges and tiny airborne spiders per day, so the more swifts, the fewer biting insects to bother us and the fewer greenfly and blackfly to bother our plants. So please help us to help swifts.

Want to know more?  Try these websites:

http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/swifts/introducing.aspx (NB: this part of the RSPB’s website has a link to its general online public swift reporting portal, though this is currently ‘closed for maintenance’. This is because it is being updated to tie in more closely with its new detailed local ‘on the ground’ Swift Colony Surveys, such as the one Catherine is leading in Chiswick.)
http://swift-conservation.org
http://swift-conservation.org/Swift%20Facts.htm
http://actionforswifts.blogspot.co.uk