Swift Network want to see a larger scale option taken up by local builders and roofers

“Modern roofing and building methods are inadvertently killing our swifts,” says Chet Cunago, from the Sheffield Swift Network.

“They nest on our houses, but all the little holes we used to have in our crumbly buildings have been tidied up.”

Swift groups from across the city are advising homeowners about nest boxes and their installation, and attempting to retain existing swift colonies. Recently S11 Swifts and the High Storrs Environmental group organised a swift box fitting day.

“We rarely see swifts around here now,” said resident Rob Kenning. “I’d learned that redeveloped housing was not leaving enough space for birds and bats, and putting up a box for swifts seemed an easy thing to do, particularly with the advice available from the local swift experts.”

Box installer Jan Bullet has put up hundreds of swift boxes across Sheffield, and says interest is growing across the country. They cost from £20 to £100 for a double family box with painted shadows encouraging swifts to investigate.

Peter Gilbert from S11 Swifts, and the Sheffield Green Party candidate for Ecclesall Ward, said swifts prefer to use the same nest site every year, often for several generations, and if there’s been winter renovation work without swifts in mind, they may return from Africa to find their family home gone.

“It’s like they come back from their holiday, and someone’s changed the locks and they can’t get in, and that can be the end of them.”

Swifts will often swoop at the space where their nest hole was and may kill themselves in repeated attempts to get in. Before humans, swifts nested in holes in large ancient trees, but moved to buildings after our forests declined.

Swifts live on the wing, with juvenile swifts dropping out of their nest hole, then usually staying in flight for 2-3 years before finding a mate and breeding for the first time. So young Sheffield birds born over the last two years will brush their wings against possible sites (and new nest boxes) on their return in May, to see if a spot is hollow, or if another swift is already there.

Members of the Sheffield Swift Network want to see a larger scale option taken up by local builders and roofers.

Last year, the network presented a 1,500 strong petition asking Sheffield Council to make ‘swift bricks’ mandatory for all new builds and extensions. Costing about £20 each, swift bricks include a small hollowed out cavity accessible to a swift inside, and can be included in any building project at second storey height or above.

Because they provide a secure nest site for the life of the building, they’re likely to get used by generations of swifts, and so help bring Sheffield swift numbers back to the days of crumbly buildings. (And if swifts don’t move in, other declining species like sparrows can take advantage instead).

The council said they wouldn’t insist on the installation of swift bricks by developers, but will include them as a suggested biodiversity net gain measure in the new local plan due later this year.

Sky-House and Oakworth Homes have already incorporated swift bricks in their properties, and Chet Cunago says local builders and roofers can really help, by fitting bricks, or using slightly different roofing materials, and even drilling holes if plastic materials must be used. (Builders and roofers can find out more about swift friendly working at: https://sheffieldswiftnetwork.org).

Chet points out that swifts have declined by two thirds in the UK over the last 25 years.

“We can save this species from extinction for as little as £20 per swift brick,” she said.

Chet and Ed Mayer are holding a talk and film show on April 5 - visit: https://www.sbsg.org