 Take-Off! A
Swift leaves its nest box in Denmark - our fastest bird in level
flight! Photo
© Inger Lund
Tragically, we have
lost over half our Swifts in just the past 25 years.
Find out here all about these amazing birds, why they matter, and how you can help them. Though Swifts only spend 3 or 4 months each Summer with us, while they are here they bring spectacular aerial action and excitement to our urban lives! Swifts breed from Ireland to Beijing, from the Mediterranean and the Middle East right up to the Arctic, but sad to say, everywhere they are in decline. But you can help them, and you can do it personally, all on your own, or with the help of a few friends and neighbours, and if you can do D I Y, it will cost you very little indeed. Read on!
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Watch the skies! They're back! Swifts
are back! It's now early May and our Swifts are here! Watch the skies
for their dashing drama-filled flights! In cold wet weather they will
be feeding over local ponds, flooded gravel pits and reservoirs, but on
fine days they will be high overhead, feasting on flying insects. They have flown from the Congo right around West Africa and across the Sahara to reach us. Amazing flights of extreme endurance. From Morocco they can, if the weather is good, fly non-stop to the UK. They can do this last lap in an incredible two days. They have come back to us to breed and even though you won't have seen them fly in, they may now be nesting in your eaves.
Swifts have shared our buildings ever since the Romans
came to Britain. They still breed in our eaves and gables, but won't be for
much longer, as modern and renovated buildings exclude them. Unless we help them, Swifts will vanish from the UK. Use the Search Box above or study the Contents Page
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Architects, Developers & Builders
are you working at a Swift nest site? Follow this guidance 1. Leave existing nest places undisturbed 2. If re-roofing, make new nest access holes to match the old ones exactly 3. New build - internal nest spaces are the best 4. If you cannot do "3 " above, fit external nest boxes Installing Swift Nest Boxes? See
our Shopping Page
or
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Online talks - Book one now!
Reduced fees and no travel expenses: Enquiries - Click on the Swift!  Below you will see our public talks programme: Click on the underlined links to book your place 19 May Gibraltar Ornithological Society - ZOOM on-line talk 26 May Bourneville Swifts on-line talk tbc 5 June Bird-Life Malta 6pm UK time ZOOM on-line talk 7 June Bourneville Bio-diversity on-line talk tbc 15 July Grant Arms Hotel Speyside 7pm tbc A real LIVE talk! 27 July Probus Bradford on Avon ZOOM on-line talk 29 July Sheffield & Rotherham SRWT 7pm ZOOM on-line talk See our recent Swifts Talk on You Tube - Click here See our interview with The Urban Birder - Click here Download ZOOM metings software free here Supporting & Enhancing Urban Biodiversity We provide training for professionals in practical Urban Biodiversity techniques contact Swift Conservation for more details Swift Surveys - Click on the logos to participate How to Survey Swifts - download our leaflet here  Add your Swift sightings to BirdTrackand see migration in action! Use the new RSPB Swift Mapper App!  Download hereSupport the BTO's  By participating in the BTO Breeding Bird Survey you contribute to our knowledge of Swifts in the UK |
We have been providing free
advice on how to help Swifts since 2003
Swift Conservation is grateful to 
for its support
swift-conservation.org
name site texts © copyright Edward Mayer 2021 Photographs &
illustrations © copyright as indicated
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