Swift nesting boxes installed at Pontardawe Library
The boxes at Pontardawe Library are part of a nationwide effort to increase swift numbers.
Neath Port Talbot Council's Countryside and Wildlife Team collaborated with the council's Library Service to put up the boxes, which will provide additional nesting space for up to 10 pairs of breeding swifts.
The boxes are a human solution to the long-term loss of traditional nest sites in buildings, caused by renovations and 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.
These 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 are on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in recognition of the fact that populations across the UK have declined by 58 per cent since 1995 and by 75 per cent in Wales.
Swifts spend the winter in Africa and return to the UK in May to breed.
Swifts 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.
The Countryside and Wildlife Team secured funding from the Welsh Government Local Places for Nature Fund to get the boxes.
This fund aims to make local areas more nature-friendly and raise awareness of wildlife to residents.
Recording by members of the NPT Local Nature Partnership has revealed Pontardawe is a hotspot for sightings of swifts in the county.
Councillor Cen Phillips, Neath Port Talbot Council's cabinet member for nature, tourism and wellbeing, 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."
The library also has Swift-themed resources for children.
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The Guardian
4 days ago
- The Guardian
Swifts' decline: how can Britons help these remarkable birds?
The swift (Apus apus) is an acrobatic aerial bird, a remarkable sprinter and endurance flyer that rarely touches the ground. When these sickle-winged birds do come down – after several years in perpetual flight, even sleeping midair – it is to nest in the eaves of roofs across Europe after spending winters in sub-Saharan Africa, migrating 7,000 miles (11,000km) every year. They are celebrated by nature-lovers, artists and poets as they race through city skies on long summer evenings, filling the air with their screaming calls. The fastest bird in level flight (top speed: 69mph/111kph), they feed on airborne insects. Swifts are in trouble because of steep declines in insects, but also because they are losing traditional nesting sites. Swifts once nested in caves and hollow trees but moved into buildings hundreds of years ago. Modern insulation, particularly in roofs, removes the crevices and cavities where they have nested for centuries. Grim. Swift populations slumped by 66% between 1995 and 2022 in Britain and have continued a rapid downward trend. Since the last count of 59,000 breeding pairs, the population this summer is set to be just 40,000 pairs. In five years' time, there could be fewer than 25,000, unless action is taken. Declines are not so pronounced across continental Europe despite similar insect declines. Countries such as Germany and France appear to have retained more nesting sites in old buildings than in Britain, where few buildings constructed after 1944 can accommodate swifts. A swift brick is a hollow brick which slots into the brickwork of new or old homes, providing a cavity where swifts can nest. The bricks have also been found to help other cavity-nesting birds, including the rapidly declining red-listed house martin, house sparrow and starling. Other species including blue tits, great tits, nuthatches and wrens will also nest in the bricks. Swift bricks are made by brick manufacturers large and small, and typically cost about £35. There is a British Standard for them and some developers are already fitting them to new homes. Three years ago, the writer and bird lover Hannah Bourne-Taylor launched a campaign to oblige every new home to be fitted with a swift brick. When in opposition, the UK Labour party supported the 'swift brick amendment', first tabled by the Conservative peer Zac Goldsmith, to do this in England. Now in government, Labour is resisting attempts by its own backbench MP Barry Gardiner to insert a swift brick amendment into the controversial planning and infrastructure bill. Labour is reluctant to impose additional regulations on housebuilders as it attempts to address the UK's housing affordability crisis with a big push for new homes. Nearly 30 housebuilders have voluntarily agreed to install one brick for every new home built. Labour's latest move is to suggest adding swift bricks to national planning policy guidance so that all England's local planning authorities insist on them for new homes. But Bourne-Taylor says this won't guarantee more swift bricks, because many planning authorities lack the resources to ensure planning conditions are met. A recent study found developers, who make multi-billions in profits, were not providing 75% of the nesting boxes stipulated in planning permissions. 'By refusing to mandate swift bricks, the government is making it clear to their voters that they do not care about nature because this would be the easiest nature recovery action, ever,' said Bourne-Taylor. 'Loads of people have told me that they will never vote Labour again because of how the government have acted on swift bricks.' 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5 days ago
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Belfast Telegraph
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