A solution looking for a problem
This is a bit of fun. We were presented with the problem of a building in Swavesey with Swifts nesting on top of the wall in a high gable. The Swifts are sometimes getting into the building,...
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S Bricks in a rendered wall
This is the end result of the project reported here:actionforswifts.blogspot.com/2019/09/swift-brick-camera-box.html S Bricks do not have enough headroom to house a camera, which is why 4 out of the 10...
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Face-plate Swift box
Swift boxes are normally thought of as 'external' or 'internal'. John Crowther of Stroud wanted to retrofit swift bricks into his stone walls.When John removed a stone, he found that there was no...
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Shepcot House Swifts
There is very little research on acceptable parameters for Swift nest boxes, so we have to rely on anecdotes. This is an example of Swifts nesting in a very small space indeed, perhaps giving a lower...
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Eight S Bricks in 6 hours
Century House, Swavesey was reroofed 2 years ago. As a result a number of Swift nests were lost, and the roof was left in a state that Swifts could get into the roof space, resulting in some...
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A neat renovation in France
Some time ago, we sent some half-brick entrance pieces to Carolyn Knowlman (sosmartinets.com) for a project in Amboise. Following this, an opportunity arose during a renovation, where some existing...
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Swavesey Memorial Hall
Swavesey Memorial Hall was built in 1919. It has a number of Swifts and House Sparrows breeding under open eaves. As part of the Over and Swavesey Swift Conservation project, we devised a way of adding...
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Rutland Swift Boxes
Tim Collins lives in a village just 3km from the shores of Rutland Water. In the last 17 years, he has built a thriving colony of 26 pairs of swifts in DIY nest boxes of his own design. Tim's success...
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Lancaster Royal Grammar School
Paul Worden (@paulworden2015) is employed as a site manager at Lancaster Royal Grammar School where there is a wide range of buildings dating from 1852 to 2011. Paul has sent us a simple way to...
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Swifts inside PVC soffits
Open eaves, with breeding Swifts, are frequently turned into closed eaves with PVC soffits. This is an example of such a project in Cambridge in 2020.The pictures below show 5 neat holes in the Soffit...
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Effect of nest box width on wing bending
A swift's wing length is about 170mm, thus any box with a minimum dimension less than 170mm will require the swift to bend its wings in order to turn. This post is a brief analysis of just how much a...
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Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve
Suffolk Wildlife Trust have built a new visitor centre at Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve. 8 S Bricks have been built in to the timber-frame construction, by making entrances in the wooden...
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Swift Bricks - the 'universal' nest brick
The SLN Swifts & Planning Group has produced a paper advocating the provision of Swift bricks as a preferred solution for a range of small cavity-nesting species. It comes from a realisation that...
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Duchy Big Bird Box survey 2020
There seems to be a gathering momentum for provisioning nest places for cavity-nesting birds in new development, particularly in the south west, where the Duchy has an ambitious policy of providing an...
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PVC nest boxes
Some years ago, I visited a friend, Maurice Wilkinson, who had an array of nestboxes for Swifts and House Martins on his house, with a high occupancy rate. Some of the Swift boxes were made of PVC,...
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Cottenham Village Hall
Triangular colony boxes in the apex of a gable have become quite popular. We were presented with an opportunity in a gable which had projecting beams, which could have limited the size of the triangle....
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SAW 2021 Events
Sat 3rd -Sun 11th July Swift Awareness Week begins today!Search for an event near you here #SwiftAwarenessWeek
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An Appreciation of Judith Wakelam
Judith releasing a Swift. Photo Nick UptonJudith's involvement with swifts began thirty years ago when she went to see the late Chris Mead for advice on what to do with a grounded adult swift she had...
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Low budget Swift Tower- Brigsteer Wetlands Reserve
Although Swift Towers can be quite expensive, it doesn't have to be that way if you use a simple design and volunteer labour. This is a good strategy, as Swift towers are known to be difficult to...
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External Wall Insulation
With the drive towards zero carbon, external wall insulation (EWI) on older houses will result in the loss of many Swifts and bats, but it is also an opportunity to provide many more nest places. In...
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A New Wildlife Tower
Back in 2015, we visited Nick Watts at Vine House Farm in Lincolnshire, where we saw his wildlife towers, which we thought were a fine inspiration for a tower suitable for Swifts as well. This vision...
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A proposed Swift Tower Design
I have to admit luke-warm enthusiasm for swift towers because so few can demonstrate success. However, we have enjoyed success with the Trumpington Community Orchard Swift Tower, and at least one other...
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Another Cambridge System implementation
The Cambridge System seems to be well-liked by Swifts. Perhaps they like the seclusion afforded by having to travel through a tunnel to reach their nesting place. Wherever there is unused roof-space,...
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Nest place in a thick brick wall
A number of times we have implemented nest places for Swifts in thick brick walls (e.g. here), this is just another example where we did something slightly different. The wall in question is about 35...
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Dark and light interiors
I was idly scrolling through some old Facebook posts when I came across a post describing the additional 24 nest boxes that we installed at Edgecombe flats in 2021 where I was reminded that we...
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