Keswick’s population of swifts will find some splendid new nesting opportunities when they return from Africa in a few weeks’ time.
Seven high-quality double nest boxes, made of very durable but lightweight fibreglass, have been erected on properties in the Stanger Street area of the town. Their availability will be advertised to returning birds by the sound of recorded swift calls being played.
This initiative is all thanks to retired Keswick builder Mike Hodgson, a resident of Stanger Street, who said: “Years ago, I remember when this street had a really thriving swift colony, and the air was full of them and their calls in summer
“But their numbers here, as everywhere in the town and more widely in Britain, have been inexorably declining over the decades, and swifts have now reached the point where they are considered endangered.”
The main cause is widely believed to be the loss of their natural traditional nest sites, in buildings – under the eaves particularly, but also in holes in the walls – where renovations and modern building techniques inadvertently deny the birds access to the sites.
Experience elsewhere has shown that this decline in swift numbers can be successfully turned around by encouraging as many people as possible to put up swift boxes (on the outside) or swift bricks (incorporated into the fabric of a building).
Mike credits his neighbours and friends Kevin and Caroline Marshall, who also have a property in Stanger Street, whose knowledge and enthusiasm about birds inspired Mike to see what he could do.
Nicki Baker, of Keswick Swifts, said: “This is a splendid initiative, and we’d encourage people in all parts of Keswick to put up swift bricks or boxes on their own properties.
“Swifts have an extraordinary and very demanding lifestyle. Raising a brood of chicks is a very full time job for three or four months each summer. And in the year before they can do this, juvenile birds have to come all the way back from Africa to find and secure a suitable nest site, which they defend for the rest of that season.
“It’s only when they come back for a second summer from Africa, that they meet up with their mate at their own nest site and can get on with raising their first brood. Any loss of access to the nest sites can be quite catastrophic.”
Keswick Swifts can be contacted via [email protected]
