UK Swift Awareness Week is held each year to raise people’s understanding of these unique birds, and efforts to support them in the borough include a resident’s information sessions, nesting box sharing and advice for residents.
Swifts spend most of their lives high in the sky, only landing to nest and rear their young. They are easy to spot as they look like an arrow in the sky and often fly in groups. Swifts feed on small flying insects, catching them in flight as they swoop low over lakes, meadows, and buildings.
Migratory species
They are a migratory species, spending each winter in Africa but travelling back to Britain every year in April and May. Originally, they would have nested in trees or cliffs but now prefer the roofs or eaves of old buildings including schools, churches and even cemetery chapels or crematoria.
However, some of these nesting sites are being covered up and there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of insects found across the country, unfortunately meaning that UK swift populations are in decline.
Lambeth Council has distributed 50 swift boxes to residents to put up, with council officers assessing the right locations and ensuring that property owners are supportive. The Larkhall Estate and the Stockwell Estate have proved to be successful locations for the borough because the high buildings are ideal for the bird’s needs. The Lambeth Hospital site and the Freemans building in Stockwell Road are other sites in Lambeth where swift boxes have successfully been installed.
A Swifties stall will be held at nearby North Cross Rd Market, East Dulwich on Saturday 27, June to showcase boxes and swift bricks and share fliers. The stall has been organised by Ivanhoe Triangle Green Swifties from Camberwell. This follows an information session run by swift-conservation.org at the Brixton Buddhist Centre on June 16.
Word from the Council leader
Cllr Martin Abrams, the Leader of Lambeth Council, who a passionate supporter of efforts to protect swift populations, said: “Under it’s first ever Green administration, Lambeth Council will prioritise protecting our local ecosystems against the impacts of development and the climate emergency.
“The current situation sadly means that the number of these beautiful and fascinating birds is in serious decline, and I am determined that our borough will do all we can to help.
“They are losing their traditional nesting sites in part because of development, but we are not willing to just let that happen so are determined to work with our communities to create the opportunities they need to thrive.
“I want to really thank residents who are putting up swift boxes to provide valuable nesting sites as well as our passionate community who have shown a desire to learn more about these precious, fascinating and beautiful birds.”
Lambeth is doing its bit to ensure that swifts, and many other wild birds, are given every opportunity to continue to return to the borough and find enough food to survive. As well as ensuring we don’t lose important habitats for wild insects, we’re creating new ones for them, including pollinator-friendly wildflower meadows and grasslands, as well as planting more native trees and hedges, all of which help boost insect populations.
Resident action
Resident Katie Burrell, who lives in Tulse Hill, said: “I would like more swifts, and support there being more spaces for them because they are such wonderful birds. I got 17 of my neighbours to install swift boxes, and the council has been really supportive.
“I’m working with our neighbours to get more boxes installed. I’m lucky to live in a very close community and I was wondering if we have swifts here. I spoke to the Swift Conservation Society and got some advice, put a Q&A together and suggested installed the boxes to my neighbours. They are communal birds, like our community, and you need at least ten boxes to make it work.
“Our neighbours were really supportive and 18 of us now have the boxes. It’s been really lovely, and we have recorded swift calls to encourage them to come and nest in our boxes. I now know what they sound like and love hearing their call. It’s been really doable and felt like something we can do as a community. Having nature in our lives makes me feel much calmer, which is why I started this in the first place.”
The council is also installing bird and bat boxes that can be used by as many different species as possible, including swifts, for nesting and successfully rearing their young. Swift boxes are specially designed to be used by swifts, especially where existing nesting places are limited or missing. Once installed high up on the side of a building they can last for up to 25 years offering swifts opportunities to nest, rear their young and continue to return each year.
Find out more
The swift-conservation.org website is a good source of information for residents who want to find out more and are interested in installing a swift box. To contact the council email parks@lambeth.gov.uk for free advice and free swift boxes from the end of June, subject to availability.
