Giving Swifts a Home
The joy brought each year by returning Swifts is undeniable to those lucky enough to experience it, but for this to continue they need our help. The best thing anyone can do to help stem the decline of Swifts, in Keswick or anywhere else, is to provide them with artificial places to make a nest - either built into the fabric of a building (Swift bricks, and soffit boxes), or attached to the outside of a building (Swift boxes).
Swift Bricks and Soffit Boxes
Swift Bricks are about the size of a standard brick, but can be constructed to fit a range of circumstances. They can be easily included at suitable locations in the walls. They can be faced with a variety of materials, so as to blend in very successfully with the construction materials – at best, they can be quite hard to spot!
Soffit boxes are designed to be integrated into the soffits of a building during construction and so are protected from the elements, and likely to last a very long time. But any sort of Swift box can also make a huge difference!
Both bricks and boxes need to be installed at least 5 metres above the ground, and with a clear fly-in of 5 metres in front. An ideal spot for external Swift boxes is just under the eaves. It’s best to choose somewhere that isn’t close to a place where a predator could lie in wait to catch birds entering or leaving the nest site.
It’s a good idea to avoid putting bricks and boxes directly above doors and windows, as other birds may also make use of them, and even Swifts can occasionally make a bit of a mess, even though they’re generally exceptionally quiet and clean! Gable walls are often ideal for boxes, and can sometimes accommodate bricks, depending on the materials used on the outside of the building.
South-facing walls may not be ideal for boxes as, in the event of a very hot summer, the interior may get too hot for the young birds – but this is not such an issue in the Lake District as it is down south! Painting the outside of a box white can help to keep the inside cooler.
Some designs of external box leave the back open, which can improve air flow, but can also lead to rain getting in if there isn’t sufficient protection overhead and the wall surface is uneven.
As Swifts like to nest in a colony, why not install several bricks or boxes quite close together, to encourage this?
Keswick Swifts can show you examples of a number of Swift bricks and boxes.
Action for Swifts have many years of experience of devising innovative solutions for Swift nest sites, and can be contacted via their website www.actionforswifts.com. Their website gives a wide range of helpful information.
Images clockwise from top left: Simon Richardson, Keswick Swifts, Alan Collett, Simon Stirrup, Keswick Swifts, David Naylor.
Swift Boxes
Although Swift bricks and soffit boxes provide the best-protected and most durable nest site solutions, they are not always easy to install unless they can be incorporated during a construction or renovation project. So, in most circumstances, the best way to offer a home to Swifts is to put up one or more Swift boxes on the outside of a building.
Swift boxes come in a wide range of materials at a wide range of prices. Some are available as flat packs, to be put together at home; or they can even be home-made, to a standard design. Fibreglass boxes are the lightest; woodcrete boxes are the heaviest, though for longer-lasting boxes, choose marine-ply wood, fibreglass or woodcrete – some manufacturers offer a guarantee for 25 or even 50 years.
Do Swift boxes work?
The short answer to this is – yes, they certainly do!
A number of towns and villages have had huge success, over a number of years, in attracting many more Swifts to nest in the boxes and bricks that they’ve put up, over a period of years.
However, success is not guaranteed. It may take some time before your boxes or bricks are discovered by Swifts seeking a nest site, and they may get used by other birds such as House Sparrows or Starlings in need of a home – although smaller birds tend to get turfed out when a pair of Swifts wants to take over the box!
Swifts are more likely to find a newly-installed box or brick, more quickly, if they are close to an existing Swift colony, and/or if you use a calling system to draw attention to the opportunities you are offering. In Keswick, the largest surviving colonies are in the Southey Street / Blencathra Street area – we believe this colony has existed for very many decades! – and in the Crow Park Road / The Heads area. There are several other, smaller colonies.
But by no means do all Swifts choose to nest in a colony, and at least one in three of the Swift nests in Keswick are located independently.
Once you have succeeded in attracting one or more pairs of Swifts to use your boxes or bricks, they should come back to you year after year. The average pair of Swifts share 5 breeding seasons, though in one case, a bird lived to the age of 19 and kept returning to the same nest site for 15 years!
Swift calling systems
The idea of a calling system is so you can play a recording of Swifts, close to your boxes or bricks, for a couple of hours each morning and evening, during the breeding system, to attract the attention of Swifts that are actively seeking a nest site.
There are various ways in which you may be able to rig something up for yourself, eg. using an mp3 player and a speaker, or using a stand-alone speaker connected to a laptop via Bluetooth.
There are also commercially available Swift calling systems, eg. those made by PeakBoxes.