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The attitudes of housing occupants to integral bird and bat boxes
This post is about an important piece of research at the University of Gloucester, in partnership with the RSPB, by Sarah Roberts on people's attitudes to having cavities for birds and bats in their...
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A living wall for Swifts
This is an example of a simple, low cost way of providing nesting places for Swifts unobtrusively.We previously described Swift boxes on a parapet here including examples in Tel Aviv, Israel. Here is...
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Internal Swift nest boxes at the Hospital of St Cross, Winchester
Thanks are due to Andy Broadhurst of Hampshire Swifts for forwarding this story written by Catherine Gale, a great example of what to do in an empty roof space with open eaves.The Hospital of St Cross...
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Two triangles on modern gables
We like gables because they are often the highest point that you can install a Swift box on a house, Triangular colony boxes always look nice, fitting in with the house architecture, and Swifts seem to...
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Grade I Swift bricks
Thank you to Peta Sams for sending this storyBuilt in 1797, the first iron framed building in the world, Shrewsbury Flax Mill was a very successful and profitable producer of thread until the middle of...
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Caring for God's Acre
We all know that in many towns and villages, churches are an important refuge for wildlife, including Swifts. Swifts often breed under the eaves of churches or in other parts of the fabric and we also...
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Guidance for including bird boxes in residential development
We have recently started walking around new housing developments in South Cambridgeshire to see what is being done in the way of Biodiversity Net Gain. In particular we have been looking to see what...
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Parapet wall Swift boxes in Ely
Elaine Griffin-Singh, a local Ely councillor announced in the local newspaper that she will focus on Hedgehogs and Swifts, so we got in touch. One of the outcomes is a project at the youth and...
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Conservation Evidence
Conservation Evidence is a free, authoritative information resource designed to support decisions about how to maintain and restore global biodiversity. It summarises the results of studies that have...
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Dinton Church
This is a job particularly well done, so should be an inspiration to others. Back in August 2018 Sue Hetherington got in touch about swift boxes in the belfry of Saints Peter & Paul in Dinton,...
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First installation of retrofitted S boxes
These are the first pictures of retrofitted S boxes. The S box is particularly suited for retrofit as it occupies just one course of bricks, and, normally is confined to the outer leaf and the cavity,...
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The Cambridge System with circular entrance pieces
This is a nice implementation of the Cambridge System with circular entrance piecesThanks for the pictures are due to Graham Fry, who lives near St Neots.With rendered walls, one cannot see where the...
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Abbots Ripton Hall
Abbots Ripton Hall is a stately home with parapet walls offering ideal opportunities for Swift nest boxes, and it is the home of Lord de Ramsey who is very much a wildlife enthusiast.For this project...
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Shrimp Cottage case study
This case study shows two things: just how small a space a swift can use for a nesting place and how to provide nesting places when roofs are repaired. by Alan Collett, Aldeburgh's Amazing SwiftsSwifts...
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Ely Cemetery Chapels
Of all of our swift nest boxing projects this has to be the most attractive and stunning. Built in the mid nineteenth century, the twin chapels are situated on a small hill in attractive mature...
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Alsager Town Council
This is a news item worthy of replicating in many places. Thank you to Councillor Jane Smith for sending it to us Left to right: (click to enlarge)Antony Cook, Alsager Urban Wildlife InitiativeNicola...
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Swift Mapper
It has been many years since Geoff Beale set up UK-Swifts to record the locations where swifts breed. Geoff's efforts were taken over by the RSPB and became the Swift Inventory in 2009. Since then a...
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An example of how traditional nest sites were preserved during a building...
This is an excellent case study of what can be achieved to preserve and create Swift nest sites in a sensitive situation Many thanks to Lynda Huxley, Swift Conservation Ireland for forwarding. Lyon's...
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Cameras in Swift boxes
Many people insert a camera into their Swift boxes. Normally the only option is to place the camera somewhere between the entrance and the nest, so at no time can you see the whole "stage". Usually the...
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Innovative use of a cavity liner
When one installs internal boxes, one should try to either make them unobtrusive or an attractive feature.One of the first internal swift box projects we did in 2014 used a 30mm wide cavity liner which...
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