Tragically, we’ve lost over half our swifts in the past 25 years, they are in decline everywhere. Swifts have shared our buildings since Roman times. They still breed in our eaves and gables, but suitable nesting sites have reduced dramatically. Modern and renovated buildings exclude them.
The swifts are returning on non-stop flights from Africa, and looking for nesting sites. It’s not too late to put up some swift nest boxes, available from the RSPB, garden centres and several on-line sites. You can find details here.
If you see or hear low flying, screaming swifts around rooftops please email the Three Rivers Swifts group at 3riversswifts@gmail.com, with the postcode, number of swifts and what they were doing. This will be added to the Three Rivers survey and sent to the RSPB and swift tracker.
Without our help, Swifts will vanish from the UK.
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