Swifts - masters of the skies | Berks Bucks & Oxon Wildlife Trust

It’s hard to think of a more evocative bird, its striking scream filling up the air during warm summer evenings. This iconic creature’s profile, whose anatomy has remained pretty much unchanged for about 40 million years, has been raising to popularity in the last few years, and more and more enthusiasts and researchers are dedicating their efforts to its conservation; and this is why it should be so.

I don’t know of any other creature in nature who can reach a 70mph speed and never touch the ground unless for nesting, and is able to eat, sleep, mate, and drink in flight.

Eating up to 10,000 flying insects per day including unpopular mosquitoes, these fascinating natural pest controllers have suffered an almost 70% decline in the last few decades, mainly due to insect decline, climate change, adverse weather during migration, but also due to lack of suitable nesting sites.

Their migration journey is nothing short of incredible, crossing countries and continents from the UK and the rest of Europe to central and southern Africa and back, covering 4,000 miles each way, and returning year after year to that same cavity under a tile or eave, finding it with staggering precision among millions of buildings, guided by a mind blowing inbuilt GPS and geomagnetic field!

These incredibly dexterous aviators of the sky, able to perform the most incredible aerial acrobatics, are called Apus apus (no feet) for a reason, and this is because swifts, unlike other birds, are unable to perch, and if found on the ground it means they are in trouble and need help.

Thankfully now many people know that a grounded swift should never be launched from a height – and not at all in fact – as this risks seriously injuring it or even lead to its death, and help should be sought at once either by calling a Swift Conservation specialist carer, or by contacting Swift and Swallow SOS on Facebook.

Swifts might not feed from feeders or visit our gardens like other birds do, however there are ways to help; wildlife friendly gardening, a pond to attract flying insects, and swift boxes and bricks are all fabulous solutions which can help avert their dramatic decline; let’s not forget that this quintessentially urban, cavity nesting bird, is exclusively reliant on buildings to reproduce, and roof renovations and weatherproofing has often meant that historical nesting sites were sealed off, preventing these birds from reproducing altogether.

Swift boxes at the BBOWT headquarters in Oxford

It takes on average three years for a swift to find a suitable nesting cavity; why, you might ask? Well a fun metaphor I often use is that a swift trying to find and enter a cavity is a bit like trying to locate your garage and then park your car at a 70mph speed…Not easy indeed!

A petition to make swift bricks compulsory in every new build made it to Parliament in 2023, it was however later on declined; the current government has also refused to approve any amendment to their new Planning and Infrastructure Bill, which unfortunately spells bad news for swifts as well as the rest of the natural world.

However campaigners, individuals, and groups, are still fighting for these birds, and swift bricks remain the simplest, most cost effective solution (at about £30 each) to provide secure and long lasting nesting sites not only for swifts, but also for other cavity nesting declining species such as sparrows, starlings, and even house martins.

Councils are still able to include swift bricks and boxes into their plans for nature; a great example has been given by Brighton and Hove Council, who issued a specific guidance note for provision of swift boxes (including swift bricks) in new developments. We can all help avert the decline of these amazing birds by bringing this information to the attention of Local Authorities; for more information please contact your local swift group, nature needs all the help it can get, and it’s not too late to help averting the decline of these amazing and evocative birds.