Swifts – masters of the air!

Swifts are unique birds by any standard. At level flight they are the fastest birds in the sky having evolved to be superbly well adapted to a life in the air. They feed, bathe, mate and even sleep – with half their brain remaining awake – on the wing! The only thing a swift cannot do in the sky is nest – and it takes only as little as ten weeks in the year to do that. When young swifts free-fall from a nest for their first flight they will remain in the air continuously for three years, making the two migration journeys from Europe to Africa and back, only landing again when they try to find a place to breed themselves!

This makes them the ultimate ‘flying machine’! In fact they fly an average of 500 miles a day, 1.2 million miles in a life-time. A life-time that can be up to 20 years for a Swift! They live entirely on insects catching up to 40,000 a day, benefiting agriculture and public health, although they get no credit for it.

Swifts are true migratory athletes! For two thirds of the year they are constantly criss-crossing the vast African continent to seek out the swarms of hatching insects wherever these occur – only coming to us for just 100 days, from early May to mid-August – one of the last of our summer migrants to arrive, but often the first to leave.

Unfortunately, Swifts are now Red-listed, and have declined as a breeding species in the UK by 70% since 1995. This is one of the fastest rates of decline for any bird in the UK. A major cause for this is that Swifts nest almost exclusively in buildings. They have shared our buildings for over 2000 years. They pair for life, form colonies with several pairs nesting in close proximity and they prefer the ‘canyon effect’ of our building-lined streets, returning to the same nesting site year after year. The renovation of older buildings & their roofs to modern standards has eliminated many Swift colonies. New building techniques and materials have ensured that almost all buildings are becoming swift-proof. There is compelling evidence that grants to renovate old buildings have unintentionally played a major role in eliminating historic Swift nesting places.

Given that we don’t want to wave goodbye to our Swifts, what can we do to help them?

-Never disturb Swifts at their nests. It is cruel, illegal and kills many Swifts.

-Retain and restore Swift nest places. If they are there already, keep them there.

-They use so little space to nest within a building that even if they are nesting in the eaves and you plan to convert the loft to living or storage space, it is easy to accommodate both your needs and those of the Swifts.

-Install Swift nest places (Swift bricks) in every suitable new building. It is easy, cheap and helps meet your local authority biodiversity requirements. *

-If the location is suitable, ideally a high (4-4.5m) North facing wall, shaded during the hottest part of the day; clear below of extensions, sheds, trees and cables – meeting these few specific requirements could mean installing special Swift Nest Boxes on the high walls of taller buildings can be the main help that we can do for retaining ‘our’ Swifts.

Swift boxes installed in Tollesbury

Jonathan with swift box ready for installation June 2024

As they spend most of their year in Africa, we can have little influence on what might be happening to them there. The decline in their numbers may well be linked to the same environmental pressures that all wildlife is now being forced to adjust to – from climate change, increasing droughts, increasing human populations, de-forestation etc. While they are with us for their short stay here in the UK, to breed & raise the next generation, the only difference that we, as individuals can make is to ensure that there are enough nest sites available to them.

Jonathan with swift box ready for installation June 2025

Want to help?

Given this we want to do our part to help so we have decided to install swift boxes in various locations throughout the village. These boxes have been handmade by Jonathan Smith and then have been installed. Since the installation of some of these boxes we have been so pleased to learn that the boxes have been used for nesting by local swifts.

So we know it works, as the old phrase goes, if we build it they will come, so if you would be interested in having swift boxes installed at your property then we would love to hear from you. Swifts are extremely clean birds and won’t make a mess at your property and won’t disturb you. Installation is free but we do charge per box to cover the cost of materials.

Contact Us Here If you’re interested to find out more or have boxes installed

Article written by Jonathan Smith