Welsh council joins nation-wide effort to increase swift numbers

Emily Price

A Welsh council has joined a nation-wide effort to help increase swift numbers.

The joyful screams of high-flying swifts have been a feature of Welsh summers for hundreds of years – but now the ancient bird is in danger of disappearing from our skies.

Swifts are on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern and populations across the UK having declined by 58% since 1995 – and by 75% in Wales.

It’s thought that the decline is being driven by nest-site loss through refurbishment of older buildings.

A loss of invertebrates and changing summer weather patterns as well as the effects of climate change on winter habitats is also having an impact on the species.

Help

In an effort to help, Neath Port Talbot Council’s Countryside and Wildlife Team has collaborated with the council’s Library Service to put up swift boxes on Pontardawe Library.

These will provide additional nesting space for up to 10 pairs of breeding swifts, to help address the long-term loss of traditional nest sites.

The council says the boxes are a human solution to the loss of nesting spaces in buildings caused by the sealing up of gaps in roofs.

They are screwed into the external walls of a building to provide a space in which a pair of breeding swifts can raise their young.

The boxes are designed to last decades, and an information panel at the library explains what a swift is and what the boxes are for.

Swifts spend the winter in Africa and return to the UK in May to breed.

Insulation

They nest almost exclusively in buildings, making use of holes to raise their young.

However, with lots of old buildings being renovated to improve insulation or simply demolished, swifts are losing their nesting sites.

To establish the boxes, which were put in place a few weeks ago, the Countryside and Wildlife Team secured funding from the Welsh Government Local Places for Nature Fund.

The fund aims to make local areas more nature-friendly and raise awareness of wildlife to residents.

Recordings by members of the NPT Local Nature Partnership has revealed Pontardawe is a hotspot for sightings of swifts in the county.

Neath Port Talbot Council’s Cabinet Member for Nature, Tourism and Wellbeing, Cllr Cen Phillips, said: “Providing additional nest sites in this location could provide a vital opportunity to boost the
swift population.

“Visitors to Pontardawe Library will also be able to enjoy seeing the swift boxes, hopefully the swifts investigating and nesting in the boxes and learn more about this declining bird.”