The common swift

While there is cause to be concerned about the future for many species in Scotland (see Tayside Biodiversity Partnership website), swifts and bats are very much at the mercy of how people manage their usual habitat which is very often older building stock. There has been a notable decline in the numbers of swifts in Scotland in recent years and expert opinion suggests this is in large part due to the way people build new buildings and how older buildings are maintained.

We believe that it is feasible to make provision for swifts to nest in or on your building without compromising to your building’s ability to combat weather and without any known health or hygiene issues.

ARA is running two live projects where displaced swift colonies are being encouraged to return, having been ousted by building works. At Glenhead there are signs of the birds coming back and there has been a single nesting pair for the last few years and, allowing for the juvenile non-nesting period, we hope to see more than one pair this year. We will be installing prototype nest boxes of our own design to see if birds can be persuaded to decamp to a nearby but more practical building. At Cloan the colony of swifts was completely lost but last year a Schwegler triple box was erected and a call CD used to encourage interest from nearby populations. Swifts were seen around the building for the first time in ten years and so we will be keeping a keen eye on the sky around Cloan in May.